Professor features on BBC's Who Do You Think You Are?

Professor of Labour and Social History Keith Gildart was featured on last night's 'Who Do You Think You Are?' which followed Doctor Who and Broadchurch actor Jodie Whittaker as she investigated her family's history.

Jodie learnt how her great-great-grandfather worked his way up from child labourer in a Yorkshire coal mine to mine owner, and how his sons kept the family’s mines open during the biggest miners’ strikes of the 1920s.

Professor Gildart spoke to Jodie Whittaker at the National Union of Mineworkers in Barnsley where Jodie wanted to find out what happened in the miners' disputes of 1921 and 1926 which left lasting scars on coal communities in Yorkshire. 

Professor Gildart said: "I'm currently leading a research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council: 'On Behalf of the People: Work, Community, and Class in the British Coal Industry, 1947-1994'.

"Through this research I have been involved in a number of media presentations.

"I have appeared on a documentary for French/German television and in January I was approached by Who Do You Think You Are? to provide information on the history of the British coal industry.

"A month later I was invited to meet the celebrity (Jodie Whittaker) and we spent a day filming in the offices of the National Union of Mineworkers in Barnsley."

The episode is now available to watch on the BBC's iPlayer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000nh4f/who-do-you-think-you-are-series-17-1-jodie-whittaker The section that includes Professor Gildart starts at 49:24.