dusty vaults, dead ends and false leads. But we all carry a key that can unlock a history long lost to us. It's our DNA. 12 New Zealanders have had their DNA tested, and that's going to help them solve old family mysteries, uncover ancient forebears and even find a fortune or two. Stay tuned for a fascinating ride. Copyright Able 2017 It doesn't take long for the stories of our ancestors to fade into the mists of time. And once gone, it can seem as if they're gone forever. But thanks to the wonders of DNA testing, long lost links can be rediscovered, old family ties can be re-established and the most wonderful histories uncovered. Actors Antonia Prebble and Jonny Brugh are about to uncover links to royalty, the slave trade, aristocratic relatives and some who still choose to live apart from the modern world. My cousin? Hi! Thank you, mwah! That was actually quite scary. My father died about 15 years ago. And people would start saying things like, 'Well, it's a bit of a mystery on my father's side.' Well, this is` This is the mystery. Now, Antonia Prebble has decided to discover what her DNA can reveal. Now, she knows she has Irish ancestry, but what will her DNA test prove? Let's learn a bit more about Antonia and what she knows already. In some ways, I'm not really expecting to discover anything particularly surprising or shocking. Because that's just not really who my family is. We're not really a family with lots of drama or conflict. But I would actually really like to discover something that's different from what I've been told. Because I just think that it would be really exciting. There is one mystery on my father's side. There was a woman called Hannah Hirons, who had an illegitimate son, and to this day no one knows who the father was. So if we could find out who that baby daddy was, that would be pretty fun. (DING!) Antonia Prebble! Hi! Famed Actress,... (LAUGHS) ...gorgeous woman, welcome. Thank you. Sit yourself down. Thanks. You, um, you have` Some of your relatives have rather a penchant for thrones for some reason or other. (LAUGHS) Tell me all about that. Well, apparently, I am related to Princess Diana, yeah. But I'm` Unfortunately, I can't tell you much more. I don't know how I'm related to her. My grandmother insists that I am. She's passed away now. But I have to say, I never really quizzed her about it. Maybe we can discover whether there's any truth or not to that in your journey. Yes, well, hopefully we can. Let's take a look at what we've got so far. OK, great. And, here we go. You have 56% British-Irish DNA, 26.4% north-western European, and, this might surprise you. You've got a touch of Viking in your past. Do I? Yes, you do. Your DNA shows 12% French/German markers. Any ideas where you might be headed? Uh, well, I think I'm going to Ireland. To Ireland, dear? Yeah. Why? Uh, well, I know that a lot of my heritage is from Ireland. Yes. So, yeah, I feel like that's where I'm going to be going. OK, well, I'm going to give you this. OK. And I'll be in touch with you in about 24 hours. OK. And give you some more information. (LAUGHS) OK, thank you for coming in. Thank you. Have a lovely journey. Thank you, I will. Thank you, bye-bye. Bye. Now, it might pay Antonia to practice her curtsy because she's going to be visiting royal relations, a castle, and a family who turned water into something that some people claim to be even better than wine. Antonia is beginning her DNA journey with some information regarding her royal family tree. So, I'm not exactly sure what my connection is to Diana, so I'm just looking back through the family tree. I've always known that I'm related to Princess Diana somehow. My grandmother, my mother's mother, she was quite proud of that fact. Once my grandmother died, no one in my mother's family knew the connection, and they actually couldn't work it out. So, it can only be a good thing to know the precise relationship to her. Here she is. Moment of truth... Diana Princess of Wales is my fourth cousin once removed. So now I'm clicking on William.... The future king of England is my fifth cousin. (CELL PHONE CHIMES) RICHARD: Well, it appears that the old royal blue blood runs thick in your veins, Antonia. So, to find out more, we're sending you off to the Washington town of Sumner, where you're going to meet your cousin, Mary Ann. OK. Off to Sumner. (JET ENGINE ROARS) Oh my goodness! My cousin? Hi! Hey! Yes. Thank you, mwah. So nice to meet you. Yes, you too. Yeah, yeah! Welcome! Thank you. Thanks for having me. Yeah. So, we're... ...royalty! OK. Let's talk royalty. OK. OK, right. Yes. Mine goes back to the Kings of England, King Henry. And I do as well, but through Princess Diana. So Princess Diana's great-great grandfather is my great-great-great grandfather's brother. My goodness! I feel royal all of a sudden! I know! I know! I wondered why I always just felt like a princess. (BOTH LAUGH) So, this is your family tree? It is. It looks enormous, and very well filled in. The royalty is down just a little bit more. On your father's side? On my father's side. Aha. Yeah, it goes` And what's your father's last name? Mead, M. E. A. D He's Mead? Yeah. See I feel like Mead is ringing a bell, but I could be absolutely fabricating that. (LAUGHS) You don't have any Roche, or Roche-Kelly, or anything like that as far as you know? No, not as far as I know. OK, that's fine. That's my grandmother's line. And that's the one that's connected to Princess Diana and, yeah,... How cool is that? ...goes way back. It is cool. It is. It's an honour, actually. So, how do you know how closely linked we are? Am I on your page? Yeah, on DNA relatives. Voila! There you are. There I am! There you are. Third to fifth cousin... Huh! For me, you're the closest-related woman. In the world. In the world. That's been the search. That is blowing my tiny mind a little bit. That's crazy. Yeah. Right, there you are. There I am. There you are. Wow. So can you show me how you're connected to royalty on this? Absolutely. So you just start clicking on the names. It'll point to who. Uh-huh. Edward Longshanks, King of England. Margaret de France. Uh-huh. There's` There's Henry the Third. Here he is. King of England, there he is. They're all here, aren't they? They are. Isn't that crazy? Yep. It is. It's just extraordinary that you can go back this far. 996! It's still going! It's still going! The reaction from people that I tell that I'm officially now related to Princess Diana has been quite funny, actually. Mary Ann was excited by that, I think. I'm very sorry, Antonia, to burst your bubble, but not all of your ancestors were high-born. So your next destination is in Grimsby in England, where you're going to learn how the other half lived. Coming up ` Antonia jets off to the UK, while the intrepid adventurer Jonny Brugh reveals his family's chequered history. We're not sure whether our ancestors on my father's side were slave owners, slave drivers or slaves. Hello, and welcome back. Handing over a teaspoon of saliva is all it takes to unlock the secret road map in our DNA. Because in it are traces of our ancient ancestors that can unlock amazing stories from our past. Waiting in the wings is actor Jonny Brugh. Let's see what he knows thus far. On my mother's side ` she was the only child of a couple of loving, doting parents who moved over here from England. On my dad's side, I've got plenty of Dutch in me. There is some mysterious links to Dutch slavery. We're not sure whether our ancestors on my father's side were slave owners, slave drivers or slaves. Hello, Jonny. Come on in and sit yourself down and make yourself at home. Hello, Richard. Thank you for joining us. Lovely to be here. Now we know something about you` Some things about you. Not everything about you, obviously. Even you don't know everything about you, do you? Well, no. This is part` Part of` Part of this journey... That's right. ...is to find out more. Um, but how did you originally get into show business? What drove you to dress up in make-believe? Hmm. Well, probably having two older sisters who wouldn't stop laughing at me. So I just, kind of, took to putting on sketches for them. OK. Well, you've obviously researched some of your characters` Well, I wouldn't say that. ...but you've been playing a vampire recently? I don't know how would you research a vampire. Put the teeth in. Yes? See how that feels. Yes. Put a big jacket on. Transylvania, what do you think? You've picked vampires. I look forward to going there. Yes, it would be nice, but you're not, because there's no vampire blood whatsoever. Not this time round? There's no connection with Vlad the Impaler... Damn. ...or anything with the Carpathian Mountains. So, um, right, we're going to have a look at your` We've discovered quite a bit about your DNA, as it happens. And we've` We're going to bring it up on the screen over there. Let's take a look. And so, Jonny, we have a high percentage of British and Irish DNA. There's 12% western European; that'll be your Dutch heritage coming through. 7% Scandinavian, so maybe there's a touch of the Viking in there somewhere. We have a bit more to reveal to you when you're on the road. But, for now, I want you to take this device here. Keep it about your person. And I'll be in touch with you in the next 24 hours. OK. Meantime, bon voyage. Have a good trip, and we look forward to hearing all your tales when you get back. See you then. OK, bye-bye. Where Jonny's going, it's his blood that's going to be in hot demand. To find his family, he's going to need a mosquito net and a machete. Jonny's just been given a clue as to what lies at the heart of his family history. Sugar cube. Coffee beans. Oh shit. I've suspected that on my father's side, the Dutch ancestry was involved in the slave trade and the sugar industry. Having that confirmed and` And finding out about my past in this series kind of` It's a little bit scary. But it would be good to know what... what happened. (JET ENGINE ROARS) (CLASSICAL WALTZ MUSIC) We've dispatched Jonny to Amsterdam to find out where it all began for his father's side of the family. (CELL PHONE CHIMES) RICHARD: Well, you should feel at home in Holland, Jonny, because a lot of your family have lived there for centuries. But in 1638, an adventurous branch of the family left to set up home in New York. By the mid 1700s, your fifth-great grandfather, Johannes Van Brockdolking, moved to the Dutch West Indies' colony of Curacao, where things became a lot more dramatic. We've arranged for the Dutch genealogist Denie Kasan to tell you the story of your colonial Dutch connections. And in Curacao, your family was in the salt mining. There was a huge demand for salt from Europe. Because ` now we have refrigerators ` but back in time they didn't, so they` ...preserved meat. Preserved meat and fish, yeah, with salt. And they made a lot of money out of it. You're direct ancestor William Webb Dalking, they had several children. Gerhardas and Matthias is your great-great-grandfather. Unfortunately, Matthias became an orphan at a very young age. William Webb, with his wife. They were passengers of the ship Ceimayo. Unfortunately, the ship went missing. Either it was captured by pirates, because of the huge amounts of salt on the ship, or it went shipwrecked. So their son Matthias, your direct ancestor Matthias, was only 4 or 5 years old. (SIGHS) It must have been... terrifying. So at the age of 15, Matthias moved to Suriname. And there are lots of plantations in Suriname, so there's a lot of work for Matthias in Suriname. You can see here the name. I think this is beautiful. Here, it's his signature. Brugh. Von Brugh. We say Brugh. JONNY: Brugh. Yeah, pretty good. This almanac. Matthias was involved in two plantations called Endragt ` Unity ` and Broederschap ` Brotherhood. So this is De Eendragt ` Unity. They had 67 slaves, and the plantation had 1000acres. That's huge. Coffee. So the owner is W van Brugh Duyckinck. And then later on, Broederschap ` Brotherhood. So here you see that it's also 1000 acres. Then they make a reference to plantation Unity, yeah. Both plantations were in his possession. So 67 slaves working on both the plantations. Yes. What's it like being a slave on this plantation? If it was a sugar plantation or a coffee plantation, or any plantation, it must have been really, really terrible for the slaves to live in captivity. The punishments they had were so severe. Like decapitation of a nose, of an ear, of a leg. If you try to run away, you can be hung by a hook. There was a tremendous amount of fear amongst the slaves. This fear would be... hmm,... passed down generations within slavery and beyond slavery. (INHALES DEEPLY, SIGHS) It really hits you in the guts. It really hit me in the guts that my family may have been part of the brutality. How could you not feel empathy for people that make you millions of dollars who just want to go home. Who just want to be happy. It's just kinda rendered me speechless, really. Kinda makes me sick. Next ` Jonny's in the Caribbean investigating his Dutch slave history, while Antonia fills a gap in her family tree. Oh, wow! Look at him. He, sort of, disappears, and there was one theory that said he'd gone to New Zealand. 1 1 1 Actor Jonny Brugh has come to Suriname in the Dutch West Indies to look for his ancestors' links to the slave trade. See, we live in a country where the indigenous people place so much emphasis on ancestors. It's always struck me that we Europeans don't seem to invest so much energy into ancestry. I haven't, and it's been quite a scary adventure to come down this road into my family's past. (CELL PHONE CHIMES) Hello Jonny. And welcome to Paramaribo. This is the city where your great-great-grandfather, Mathias van Brugh, arrived in 1835 aged 15. We've planned for local boatman Kira to take you up the river to find out what happened to your great-great-grandfather's coffee plantation, Broederschap. (DUB MUSIC PLAYS) Sitting in the boat with Kira, I wondered whether we'd actually find anything. The land seemed so empty of working plantation life ` whatever that is. This land was all plantation? Yeah, this... was only plantation. But everything now grow out to a bush. I had an impression from Denie that Brotherhood was a large, well-known plantation. I think this must be the place. Like, we've reached the place already. It went through my mind that we might also find it full of old machinery. I was morbidly fascinated with understanding it. I thought about how the Dutch exploited the land and the African people. So this side? Mm-hm. That's somebody else's plantation there Yeah. And this river's the border. Yes, so` And this whole side used to Broederschap. I'd tell after a while, that most of the plantations were overgrown since being neglected. There's a sign up ahead. Oh, so they closed it in. Whoa. Broederschap. Uh, Broederschap. What does that mean? That's the place` The name for the place, Brothershood. Brotherhood. Yeah, Brotherhood. Yeah. So this is the Brotherhood plantation. This is the land that Matthias bought, planted sugar, coffee and worked slaves. I'm kind of shocked by the gravity of using manpower as slavery. That's the toughest thing to get my head around. Can't comprehend how hard it must have been. So it's only just three generations ago that my family on my father's side were thriving here. And I only knew about that a few days ago. And living in paradise in New Zealand, being a comedian, kind of makes me feel like kind of small-minded person. And we've not known about distant family on my father's side. And, so, this is so unexpected and really dramatic. And really dark. My father died about 15 years ago. And, just, people would start saying things like, 'Well it's a bit of a mystery on my father's side.' Well, this is` This is the mystery. This is it. It really hits my soul quite hard. It makes me feel bad that my family was certainly part of owning slaves. (CELL PHONE CHIMES) OK, Jonny. I'm not absolutely sure that you need any more surprises, but your DNA's been very revealing. You carry a 5% African marker. We know now that Matthias had a very special relationship with one of his slaves, Jetta. He was unmarried, and she became his concubine. And their union produced your great-grandfather ` Albert Samuel Brug. So that explains those African markers. I didn't know that. That's awesome. So I'm not only descended from slave owners, but I'm descended from slaves. Which, strangely, calms my soul a bit. So I wonder what kind of relationship it was. I would like to think that it was wonderfully romantic. But maybe there wasn't much space to be romantic at that time, in this place. My great-great-grandmother is African. My family on my father's side have never spoken about my great-grandfather. I just wonder if they were embarrassed or just didn't know. Maybe they didn't know. Actress Antonia Prebble has so far learned about her family's connections to royalty, but now she's in the port of Grimsby in England to learn about some commoners in her family tree. (CELL PHONE CHIMES) Antonia, welcome to Grimsby. The mystery of Hannah Hiron's illegitimate child is the next thing on your agenda. We've found a DNA relative who might have an explanation for what happened. Roz is your third cousin, and she's waiting at the church for you. (CHURCH BELLS) Roz? Hello, hi! Nice to meet you. Hi! Lovely to meet you too, my... maybe third cousin. Third, fifth cousin, who knows? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, lovely. So welcome to Grimsby. (LAUGHS) Yeah, the Grimsby summer, it's` It's not amazing, um... No, it isn't, I'm afraid. It's a bit` So should we go inside somewhere, and we'll have a chat? Let's go inside and warm up. OK, sounds good. (LAUGHS) I found out that I have some German ancestry. Apparently, you might be able to tell me a story that connects some of those dots. There's a part of my family that's descended from a group called the German Palatines, who were, kind of, like the refugees of their day. They were, kind of, persecuted down in South Germany around 1700. There were about 17, um, German Palatine families that settled over in Limerick in a place called Rathkeale. And a lot of the Sparling family, or Shparling as they're supposed to be, they're all descended from the German Palatines. This is a five-times-great grandfather on my maternal grandmother's side ` there's a man called Marcus Futsal Sparling. Shparling, yeah. Shparling. And I actually found that there was a picture of him, which is incredibly rare, because he was a working-class ordinary lad from Ireland and photography was in it's infancy. However, he was a photographer's assistant in the Crimean war. What are the chances? (LAUGHS) What are the chances? So there are three photos that I had managed to find, but there's one that's particularly clear, which is this one here. OK. Oh, wow, look at him! Oh, wow, look at that beard! So much hair. I'm proud of his beard also. Wow, so he's sitting on his cart. Sitting on the photographic van ` because it says 'photographic van' on there. There is a theory though that said he'd gone to New Zealand. Oh. But he might have changed his name. He definitely had a wife and son that he left behind. And they came to Britain. They came to the UK and eventually settled in Lincolnshire. But he disappeared. Well, how many greats back is he? So that was five greats, so we're talking... Five greats. ...mid-, sort of, 1840, 1850, 1860 sort of time. So that might tie in with the great-grandfather that you said there was a connection there ` a bit of a missing link. There's a gap, yeah, yeah, up in the family tree. I mean it sounds quite plausible. Especially with him having been such an adventurer and a bit of a pioneer. So, when I told my family that I was doing this, everybody was really excited and hoping that we may be able to solve the mystery of who Hannah's baby daddy is. It's really great thing to discover. Thank you so much. That's so great! Yeah? Oh, well, you're welcome. It's a funny thing meeting a stranger who on a genetic level is not a stranger, who is in fact part of my extended family. Coming up ` Antonia's personal Game of Thrones leads her to a famous castle. While Jonny goes deep into the jungle to explore his own African DNA. I definitely want to keep searching, because I'd like to know what happened to Jetta and why we all ended up in New Zealand. Finally, the kitchen. Something light. Like... Okarito? Okarito goes well with my favourite ` Opononi. (SPLASHING, YELLING) Ooh, yeah, splash of Opononi, maybe. Oh, look, Alexandra. Whoa, pink. Or... Hot Water Beach. Blue ` very relaxing. Or Alexandra. Hot Water Beach. Mm. Or Alexandra? It's like pinky, bluey. It's not very kitcheny. No, but it is pretty... nursery. Mm. Nursery? Or` Or we could go Rangitikei River. (GASPS) Oh! (LAUGHS) You little beauty! (BOTH CHUCKLE) So the nursery. The colours of New Zealand ` only from Dulux. My cousin? Hi! Hi. Actress Antonia Prebble has so far learned that she has royal DNA, and she's blown a family mystery wide open. I think there's a very good chance he may well have gone to New Zealand, as the theory goes. Oh, wow, look at him! But now she's on the next leg of her journey in Ireland. (CELL PHONE CHIMES) Well, I see you've made it to Ireland, my dear. Well you're there because your 15th great-great grandfather, Cormac McCarthy ` otherwise known as Lord Muskerry ` he built himself a castle. A famous castle. It, you know, houses the Blarney stone. So why don't you head across the road and take a wee peep at the famous pile. discovering that it's my family castle was kind of hilarious and very unexpected. I think it's so beautiful. The grounds are stunning, immaculately preserved, and the castle itself is really quite impressive. Blarney Castle is famed for having a stone embedded in it's wall, and legend has it that kissing the stone will bestow the gift of the gab. Whoa. Hi, I'm Antonia. Welcome` Welcome, Antonia. Thank you. Oh my gosh. We're really high, aren't we? That's it there. That's the Blarney Stone. That's the Blarney Stone. (GASPS) Now, what you must do. You must sit here, you're facing that way. OK. Your back is to the wall. You lean back and hold these two bars. OK. Head upside down, and kiss the bottom stone here. Wow, all right. Not gonna lie ` I'm feeling a bit scared about this, not great with heights. Well, nice and easy. OK. So... Just go back a small bit. Yep. That's it, now lay back, hold the two bars behind. Uh huh. Just come over a small bit. Yeah. Head down, and kiss the bottom stone there. (LAUGHS) It's so weird looking back at the ground. Absolutely, yes. OK. Let's say you pull with your hands, push with your feet. Go straight there. You're almost there. Phew. That's it. Well done. Wow. That was actually quite scary! And now I have the gift of the gab, help me. You'll be speaking very posh. Very posh, yeah. Oh yeah. Kissing the Blarney Stone was scarier than I thought it was, and I'm not very good with heights. But for the gift of the gab and for the gift of good luck ` definitely worth it. (CELL PHONE CHIMES) Well, my dear, from castles to royalty, you appear to have exceptional breeding. And it doesn't stop just there ` the Irish Roche-Kelly family that connects you to Diana Princess of Wales also links you to another famous family. And I` I like this connection, the Hennessy Clan, oh yes. (IMITATES DRINKING) They're distant relations. You're going to find out more about them when you get to Cognac. Comic actor Jonny Brugh is in Suriname, where he's just discovered his great-great-grandmother was an African slave. (CELL PHONE CHIMES) I'm sorry to wake you Jonny, but we've arranged an early boat for you. You're about to be taken to the village of Gunsi to meet the Maroon people. The Maroon people were escaped slaves who escaped to the interior and still live their today. We've arranged for you to spend a night with them and to get a taste of how some of your great-great-grandmother's relatives lived. These people were the descendants of the slaves who had run from my ancestors. I can't imagine what it's like being a slave owner ` considering Africans as non-human. Ne dano Ne dan ` me deo? Me deo. Me deo. E qya kino? Ne qua keo. (SPEAKS SRANAN) I feel a very serious responsibility to my family and to the people we were staying with. It was overwhelming. What's happening is ` things doesn't go as well as you want it, so you take a shower. The shower is to clean your way and make things go better in life, yes? Yes. (CLAPPING, CHANTING IN SRANAN) (SPEAKS IN SRANAN) The blessing was lovely. The water was full of herbs and spices. I felt the darkness in me getting washed away, the guilt, and I was thankful. Smells great. It smells great? Yeah. (SPEAKS IN SRANAN) (LAUGHS) OK. Thank you. (SINGING IN SRANAN) It really struck me how difficult escape must have been. So they had to travel on the jungle. Nothing, no boat, nothing, nothing, just the jungle. And of course, it was very difficult to come over here. So it was not easy for them, that I know. It's such a long way. It's a long way. Their planning was let's just go so far. As far that we cannot be reached. It cannot get worse than it is, so you walk away for our freedom. A comment was made, 'It was better to die as a free person than to die as a slave.' The emotions are deeper than I can explain. Just means a lot to know about my ancestors. It's difficult that there's so much anguish involved in Jetta's life and her family. I definitely want to keep searching, because I'd like to know what happened to Jetta. I'm keen to know what happened to Albert... and why we all ended up in New Zealand. After the break ` Jonny's quest comes to a very dramatic conclusion, and Antonia tunes into her French DNA. Alors peut-etre je suis un peu plus proche. (LAUGHS) (POIGNANT MUSIC) This is the very moment... Audrey understood that more than 20,000 Kiwis were paying the actual wholesale price of their power, but she was still paying whatever fixed price her power company felt like. 1 Antonia Prebble is finding fame and fortune thanks to her DNA. Diana Princess of Wales is her cousin, and her 15th great-grandfather built the castle that houses the Blarney Stone. And now, she's following another branch of her Irish family, who did very well across the channel in France. I've always felt a real connection and affinity to France. When I was at high school, I studied French and really loved it. It was my favourite subject. And then, when I was about 22, I went to Paris and I studied acting. And I've just always wanted to come back. (CELL PHONE CHIMING) Oh. Well it's no surprise that you feel a strong connection with France, because your DNA shows 12% French/German markers. But the family that you're about to meet is an Irish connection with a French twist. Richard Hennessy was an ancestor who made his name here in Cognac distilling a fine drop. And his seventh great-grandson Maurice is about to give you a taste of the family business. Hello. How are you? Maurice? I know, yes, I am! LAUGHING: Hi. Nice to meet you. I'm Antonia. Lovely to meet you. Wonderful, thank you. Yes, thank you for having me. Come on in. (LAUGHS) Thank you very much. I have never tasted Cognac before, so maybe we should just have a cheers. Slainte. Slainte. I have my first sip of Cognac ever in front of a member of the family who created that drink. And I have a sip, and do really like it. I'm the eighth-generation Hennessys to work in the firm. The passions of many of the members of my family is Cognac making ` having a vineyard, making, distilling, making Cognac, ageing it. And so many families to have eight generations. I can tell them where they were born. Where they are dead. Where they are buried, most of them. That doesn't exist in many countries. You know people, 'Oh my God, I don't even know my grandmother's name, um.' That's a bit of a shame, but, yeah, you're right. Maurice is obviously a pretty big deal, and my connection to him is legit, but also distant. But this is exactly what their organisation is all about. It's making people feel like they are part of the family. Antonia? (CLICKS FINGERS) Antonia? Raphael, the Hennessy archivist, has got some gems to share with you. In his last will, the son James Hennessy, add a small paragraph in which he says, 'Because I want my children to know everything about the origins of the company and the family, 'I want all the archives to be kept in a dedicated space,' so you have to imagine a shelf 5km long... Wow! ...with boxes full of documents. Seeing all those really precise, accurate documents really transports you back into that world. So when I'm looking at these documents, I just feel absolutely taken back to the time that they were working, and that's a real gift as well. My favourite part of the trip was coming to Cognac and discovering that I am related to the Hennessy clan. They're all about tradition and ritual and bringing the past to the present for the sake of the future. I just think they're beautiful family values. I really loved being in Ireland. I loved Blarney; I just thought it was so charming, and I felt very happy and at home there. It adds an extra dimension to any trip you go on when you know that genetically you do kind of belong there. In my life in general, I'm a very forward-focused person. I'm always thinking of the next thing I want to do or five steps into the future. And it's been really wonderful to just pause from that and instead look back at how I have got to where I am. It's a really great thing to discover. Taking a DNA test has allowed comic actor Jonny Brugh to learn about his Dutch ancestry. And he's discovered that his great-great-grandfather Matthias was a slave owner. And now he's in Suriname's national archive, where historian Henry will help find out whatever became of him and Jetta, his great-great-grandmother, a freed slave. Henry. Yeah? I would love to know what happened to Jetta and to Matthias. This is the Suriname newspaper from 1858. When they freed slaves, they have to put it in the newspaper for three, or` Yeah, for three times. We see at number 10 ` Wilhelmina Paulina Jetta Brug. Slave born in 1832, daughter of Maria. She was slave, and Matthias William make her free. She was pregnant from` Matthias. Yes! From Matthias. And after that, Jetta went to Paramaribo. Jetta used to live in the street where he lived, Jodenbreestraat. He lived at number 48, and Jetta used to live at number 40. She give birth for a boy with names are Samuel Alfred. And that is your great-grandfather. So, Albert, um, or Alfred was born free? Yes, he was born free. So, what is this book, Henry? Because I can see Matthias. Yeah, Matthias, uh... ...William Van Brugh William Van Brugh, Brugh Duyckinck. Duyckinck. This is his death certificate. He died the 14th of September 1860. He was just 40 years old when he died. Matthias was 40 years` Matthias was 40 when he died. In 1860. But in the short 40 years, there is a lot. And I have something to tell you. My name is Brugh also. I think we share a great-great-great grandmother. So we're related? (LAUGHS) We must be related, yeah. (LAUGHS) It's nice. It's nice. It's really nice. Hello, Jonny. I know it's a lot to take in, but we've got some more documents for you to take a look at. They regard your great-grandfather Samuel Alfred Brug, or should I say Albert Brugh, because he's the relative that settled in New Zealand. Colonial Secretary, 7th of October 1899, office. Oath of allegiance. 'I, A S Brugh, do swear that I'll be faithful and bear allegiance to her majesty Queen Victoria, 'so help me God, Albert Samuel Brugh.' With an H on the end of his name, which is how my name is spelt, B-R-U-G-H. Is this the first time that I've seen his name spelt with an H? Used to be 'van Brug'. So Jetta took Matthias' middle name, van Brug, and here it is changed to Brugh. So there he is, swearing his oath of allegiance to Queen Victoria to be a Kiwi. It's Jonny's last day in Suriname, and so far he has learned that his great-great-grandmother was a slave, who was freed by his great-great-grandfather Matthias. Matthias died in 1860 and is buried in Paramaribo, and we're fairly sure that we know the location of his grave. A lot of these graves are open. There's no top to some of these graves. There's just, sort of, foliage growing out from inside it. It's pretty freaky to think that Matthias's grave might be one of these open ones. We're looking for Matthias Van Brugh Duyckinck ` born 1820, died 1860. It's too hard to read the gravestones; it's just worn away. (DOG BARKS) So, when we first started researching Matthias ` discovered that he ran plantations with over 160 slaves, that was very difficult to hear. And the start of the rollercoaster for me emotionally, because I've since learned that I'm descended from slave owners and slaves. So, I really want to go in there, and I really want to find Matthias' grave. But the authorities have told us to steer clear. There's Brazilian killer bees and deadly snakes in there. So it seems to me that fate is telling us to leave Matthias in peace. That's the end of the journey for me as far as Matthias is concerned, my great-great-grandfather. Our DNA contains tiny hints that tell us how our forebears travelled. It shows us where to look to uncover traces of their lives and the stories we find to help bring them back to life. I wonder who's going to be brave enough to take the test next week. Why don't you join me to find out?