Eddie Izzard Goes Native: Tonight 20th Feb at 9.00pm on BBC1

[Stringmaker]

Well actually the series is called "Meet The Izzards"...

"Eddie Izzard’s mother died when he was six years old. She was a midwife who met his father, an accountant, while they were both working in Yemen (then Aden) in the 1950s. Here, Eddie touches on their story as part of a kind of epic-scale Who Do You Think You Are? in which he traces his lineage (sort of) from the earliest human ancestors 10,000 generations ago in Africa.

He’s following a genetic route map that suggests how all our ancestors migrated out of Africa 70,000 years ago and populated the rest of the world, so it’s really more like Who Do You Think We Were?, using genetic markers in Eddie’s DNA. He goes to Namibia to make fire with San bushmen and then Djibouti to fish, Turkey, Pompeii and Denmark (he has Viking blood) looking politely bemused throughout."

I would guess that in Namibia the chosen method of firelighting would be hand drill?

 

[treadlightly]

Thanks for the heads up. I'm out tonight but will definitely be recording this.

 

[Dreadhead]

thanks for heads up always been a big fan of Izzard

 

[Stringmaker]

With a DNA footprint like his it's a great idea for a programme.

Let's hope it's a good one.

 

[BJJJ]

Cheers for the info, definitely worth a look

 

[MartiniDave]

I quite enjoyed this program, but I do find him a bit odd to say the least!
I will be watching next week.

Dave

 

[Stringmaker]

I was fascinated by the physical track of his genetic markers out of Africa, across to Yemen then Turkey and into Europe.

Telling the story of mankind's travels using his DNA was a great device. Making fire with your African ancestors connects you back 200,000 years in a flash.

I was a teensy bit irritated by some of his asides though; it just seemed to grate a bit with me against the context of the film. I'm sure the Professor at Pompeii thought the same.

That said it was a great bit of telly.

 

[Man of Tanith]

I found it very interesting
Think the asides were him feeling he had t still be a comedian. ...
However as a fan of his comedy it didn't grate for me.
Did anyone noticed the danish chaps face when he said I've done 13 marathons in 15 yrs and Eddie says I ran 4# marathons in however long it was. Then apologised for beating danish chaps achievement

 

[Stringmaker]

That reminds me; they were banging on about his viking DNA because of the Danish connection, but in fact it isn't possible to distinguish between Danish vikings and Anglo-Saxons because they have the same markers.

 

[crosslandkelly]

Ah but Vikings make sexier tv.:viking:

 

[Stringmaker]

You're right.

Mind you, credit where it's due, the voiceover did say that the crossing from Africa into Yemen MAY have taken place at that point, not that it DID happen there.

Genetics is fascinating stuff.

 

[crosslandkelly]

That's the thing, they may or may not have crossed into Yemen at that point, they may have gone North into central Europe, or they may have gone West into southern Europe once across the Bosphorus. I have seen quite a few blue eyed Greeks and Italians. It,s all conjecture, mind you it's still entertaining, even now.

 

[treadlightly]

I enjoyed it. It felt a bit contrived at times but the detail about the path our ancestors travelled from Africa was fascinating.

 

[copper_head]

I enjoyed the show, thought it was interesting and Izzard's a funny guy. Nice to see his obvious delight at achieving fire by friction.