Family Footsteps

Presenter Gavin Andrews takes the Quail Walker family from Banbridge, County Down, on a genealogical journey to discover their Ulster-Scots roots and how their ancestors lived at the beginning of the 20th century.

Teenagers Noah and Fionn are put to work ploughing with horses and pulling flax, while their mum, art teacher Caroline, tries her hand at cooking pig's heart with chef Paula McIntyre. Dad Phil finds out what it was like to be a butcher in Belfast market in 1900, while grandad Desmond delves into the family archives and takes a step towards uncovering a famous ancestry he knows nothing about.

With Gavin Andrews as their guide, the Quail Walker family travel further back in time. Teenagers Noah and Fionn hop on a steam train to find out about a family connection to the railways while grandad Desmond discovers a shocking family secret. Then it's off to Canada where Desmond and Caroline follow in the footsteps of a great-uncle who worked in a fellow Ulster-Scot's retail empire. In London, Fionn and Noah play cello and viola with a composer cousin they've never met and find out about their family links to The Sound of Music and Frank Sinatra.

The Quail Walkers' final step into their Ulster-Scots history starts in Toronto where Gavin Andrews finally reveals to Desmond and Caroline the identity of a famous ancestor. He was at the centre of a Victorian maritime mystery and his story is the stuff of legend. The Quail boys have learnt about him at school but had no idea there was a family connection.

Dad Phil, Noah and Fionn travel to London to test their sea legs while Caroline and Desmond head to Ottawa to meet the experts working to unravel the mystery surrounding their ancestor who went missing in the arctic archipelago.