Kevin Clifton came to fame as a dancer on Strictly, eventually winning the series with his partner in dance – and now in life – Stacey Dooley. Known on set as ‘Kevin from Grimsby', he's proud of his northern roots but wants to investigate a long-standing family rumour from much further afield.

According to his dad, the Cliftons might be related to a mysterious woman called Matooski from the First Nations in Canada.

After discovering from censuses that his great-great-grandmother Emma was born in Canada, and that she was in an orphanage there, Kevin travels to Canada to investigate. He soon learns she spent a year in an orphanage even though her parents were still alive. Solving this mystery uncovers a powerful story of life in one of the colonial towns of Canada and a divorce, which was rare at the time. It made national news, enabling Kevin to read all the details of the case as it passed through the court. Despite allegations of abuse against her husband, Kevin's three-times great-grandmother Grace had her three children taken away, and they ended up in the orphanage.

Tracing Grace's family further back, Kevin heads to York Factory, a remote trading post on Hudson Bay, once the centre of the British Canadian fur trade. It's here that he discovers his five-times great-grandmother is Matooski – one of the very few First Nations women to be recorded in historical documents. Matooski was also known as Nancy and became the ‘country wife' of the head of the trading post, John George McTavish. Nancy, and other women like her, provided indispensable local knowledge and skills that enabled posts like York Factory to succeed.

Nancy was eventually abandoned by her British ‘husband,' and Kevin discovers how she and her daughter Grace, Kevin's four-times great-grandmother, narrowly survived a dangerous river journey inland. By the end of his journey, Kevin finds out that he comes from a long line of skilled and courageous female ancestors who survived – and thrived – against the odds.

Comedian and actor Emily Atack knows she is from a long line of larger-than-life entertainers. Her mum is singer, actor and comedian Kate Robbins and Paul McCartney is Emily's grandmother's cousin, making him Emily's first cousin twice removed. Recalling fun days out with the McCartney family when she was little and how Grandad Mike turned every opportunity into a comedy show, Emily sets out to find out more about her showbiz genes.

On her mum's side, Emily discovers how her grandparents Mike and Betty both worked at Butlin's in the 50s – where Betty won a beauty contest. Both became redcoats, entertaining thousands of guests every summer with music and comedy – the perfect outlet for Emily's talented grandparents.

Emily is astonished to read a family letter to her grandad from a teenage Paul McCartney, telling him about his new band and looking for showbiz advice. A visit to Uncle Mike, Paul's brother, reveals even more entertaining stories about the McCartney family.

Inspired by the amazing McCartney musical tales, there's only one place it makes sense to visit – Liverpool. While there, Emily discovers that her family's musical roots go all the way back to the brass bands of industrial Britain.

Following on from her musical discoveries in Liverpool, Emily then heads to Wrexham to find out more about her great-grandfather Ted Robbins's involvement in the town's football club. She soon learns he played a greater part in Welsh football than she had originally anticipated, and that he was considered a hero to Welsh football fans.

Emily's dad's family line reveals even more showbiz glamour – her glamorous great-aunt Doreen Atack commanded huge audiences as a theatrical whistler. But before Emily's ancestors developed their skills as entertainers, like so many living in northern towns, they worked in the mines.

By following the family line up to Wakefield, Emily uncovers why her great-grandfather Bill fought so hard to get his family away from the pits. At Nostell in Yorkshire, Emily discovers a story of hardship, dangerous working conditions and struggles with mental health. The lives of her great-great-grandparents, Joseph and Emily Atack, still resonate with Emily over 130 years later.