Today, they have sent us the new schedule of the new television programme of our company to be shown on BBC I on the 1st of July. Not sure about the time slot, but I would imagine it will be around 9 A.M. It kicks off with the Gibbs & De Keyser case.
The latest episode in the series dedicated to finding heirs to unclaimed estates. This is the case of a man who thought he had no one to leave his money to and the story of a high-profile anti-apartheid activist with an unclaimed estate of £250,000.
Hector Birchwood of Celtic Research is investigating the compelling case of Ethel de Keyser. Leaving Lithuania for South Africa in 1926, Ethel became an anti-apartheid activist after the imprisonment of her brother. and as Hector delves deeper, his attempt to find anyone entitled to inherit her substantial estate highlights the brutal world of South Africa's apartheid regime and the appalling events of the Sharpeville Massacre.
Then on the 8th of July. Hector Birchwood is delving into the mysterious case of Arthur Aldrick. He died in 2005 aged 85, leaving behind an unclaimed estate worth a hefty £350,000. A distant heir is discovered, but that's just the beginning of the story. Intrigued, Arthur's heir is soon on the case and as she investigates his wartime record in the intelligence service, it begins to look as if he may have had an important role to play in cracking the Nazi's infamous Enigma code.
On Thursday 16th of July Researcher Saul Marks from Celtic Research is investigating the case of Sylvia Casson who died in 2008 at the venerable age of 97. As Saul probes deeper in to her case, he uncovers a compelling story of a family forced to flee Russian persecution in the 1880's and of a young girl defying the Blitz and Nazi ' terror weapons '. But just as Saul seems close to cracking the case, an unexpected development threatens to undo all his hard work.
On Wednesday 22nd of July Hector Birchwood is delving into the case of Kenneth Yale. He died aged 79 in a Glasgow hospital after having led an apparently unremarkable life. But as Hector explores further, it becomes clear that the Yale family has a skeleton in the closet and someone is about to have to come to terms with a startling discovery.
On Thursday 23rd of July This is the case of Christopher Bett who died leaving an estate worth £100,000. As he was adopted after his mother died, his adoptive parents are legally seen as his blood relatives. Soon its all hands to the pump for Fraser and Fraser ( our competitors ) as the race to track down surviving heirs, picks up pace. But competitors ( us ) are doddging their every move and, as Christopher's family tree takes the shape, an already overstretched team is forced to spread the net even wider. Next stop Australia.
On Friday 31st of July, At Celtic Research Peter Birchwood is examining the case of Peter Sharpe, a man who died at the relatively young age of 57. As he investigates, he makes the surprising discovery that the brother of the deceased lives a mere 10 miles away and yet is totally unaware of the death. So why did the family members lose toch with each other ? And what memories will be stirred up by the knowledge of such an untimely death.
I hope you enjoy it.
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16 comments:
That should be very interesting, Maria.
You do know, don't you, that if it gets a big audience there'll be "Celebrity Heir Hunters" where a group of dancers, singers and comedians try to solve a case...followed by "Celebrity Heir Hunters On Ice" where they have to solve the case while skating.
Yes, the court painter. You could do the Queen and Prince Phillip, and an extra large canvas of Charles (to get the ears in).
Hello Maria and Robert,
the series sounds so interesting Maria, and they are true stories as well..
A fascinating business venture that you have built up.
I just hope that the show is eventually shown here.
Yes .. the Court Painter, Maria I hope you had that in mind when you wrote to the Queen today.
Just slipped a few hints in the right places, especially the one about your relative having painted royalty in the past. Then casually mentioning your own credentials and achievements, and how you adore the Royals.
This was your golden opportunity .. I hope you didn't miss it!
Robert and I could then lay claim to a truly 'famous' friend, maybe we could sell a few autographed photos of you for our pocket money.
Please keep us posted of the Queens reply.
Maria, as a sample of your work you could do some painting of earlier royals and send them to the Queen. You'll have their likenesses from other portraits, so you'll be able to do, say, Henry VIII with extra large canvas to allow for his stomach, and Charles I on extra small canvas to show his head missing.
Hi Victoria & Robert
Ha,ha,ha,ha really funny. But seriously, today the Queen should be receiving my letter at Buckingham Palace and... no I did not mentioned that, because I did not want to sound like if I was after something. But maybe if her majesty replies, pehaps I can ask her if I could visit her pinacoteque of Royal portraits because the picture my ancestor painted of George VI is in her collection and if I get a yes, who knows... maybe Prince Charles might like to pose for me as well !
Yes, I will keep you posted about the letter to the Queen.
Thank you. Yes, its amazing how true stories are more interesting than fiction. I tell you what. I can send you a disk of the last series and once this show which will be released on the first of July is over, I can send it to you so that you can see it, as one of the cases has a branch of the family who was traced in Australia, you will find it interesting. I think the BBC wants to sell the show to Australia and if they are successful, then you will see it there too in the future.
Maria, I think Paul Merton is very talented indeed, and Ian Hyslop isn't as funny, but he's OK.
Jonathon Ross seems to me to be one of those people who leave you asking "Why?....why????"
Yeap, who said Ross has talent? I still have to find someone who says he does or that he is an asset to the BBC and instead of losing his job on account of that nasty fiasco, a few months back, he is still here. Amazing !
Ian Hyslop on the other hand, I find him very intelligent, really witty and a lot of fun too. And of course.. who can forget Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie ? I liked them both in Jeeves & Wooster.
Hi Maria, Robert and dougie,
just a quick hello as I am on my way out to drive to Canberra today, about three and half hours away.
Robert I do think a lot of Australians do not like Sir Les .. myself included, just such a gross drooling slob! But Dame Edna is great, just so funny possum!
I don't think the Norman Gunstan interviews were staged, you could really see the surprise by some of the overseas stars that he interviewed. I used to really enjoy his shows, he also did a series on the ABC (BBC) called 'Mother and Son' with Ruth Cracknell .. it was excellent. He played a similar stupid type character. I believe he faded away for a bit, I think he had some sort of depression, but now you see is doing stage work here and there, so that is good news.
Have a great day everyone.
Hi Victoria
Australia is such a vast country - do Australians fly a lot?
I heard Australia has the swine flu all over the country now. I wonder how it got there ?
Hello Maria,
I had forgotten that you lived in an isolated but very beautiful part of the world.
I think though too that those 'miles' sound a lot, but if I roughly convert them to kilometres, it is not much different to a lot of normal travel here that some of us do. The difference being we are just driving through suburbia, and you through the countryside. That makes it 'seem' more isolated (and probably is in relation to things in the UK) than driving through built up areas. Not sure if I am really making any understandable sense here.
I suppose that Peter, having had his kidney transplant so long ago now .. is totally fine from any relapses or complcations? Having stood the test of time, as it were.
Maria, gosh that phonecall sounds strange also .. I wonder who?
Hi Victoria,
Yes, you make sense to me. Kilometres are two thirds of a mile and judging by the three hours that it took you to drive from Sydney to Canberra, it would be about that to drive from Mid-Wales to Oxford. From here to Liverpool is two hours drive and to London is between 4 to 5 hours depending on traffic.
And yes, you are right, the longer the kidney stays, the better his chances are, since all the steroids have been withdrawn already and the dosis of more pills are being reduced. In fact he is now growing hair where he had a bald patch at the crown of his head and the new hair in his beard is dark instead of grey. We could say that Peter is reverting to his youth !
Yes, funny telephone calls but it shows no respect towards me. Since a real friend would write to me and I would write back. Instead of using a silly telephone call like that. Don't you think ?
Maria, these telephone calls couldn't be adverts, could they?
On Australia, I'm wondering if that shark net - with the electro-magnetic field - is proving a real safety advance or whether the sharks have worked it out yet!
Hi Robert,
Mmm... No. If the strange phone calls were adverts, what are they advertising ? One call was on my birthday at the hotel in Madrid. The caller was eating something quite noisily, made a sound of disappointment and then hanged up.
On the second call, it was done to my private phone line, on that call, it started with French music and lyrics, but in between someone ( not from the music ) said in English: "Why don't you write to me anymore" and then, hanged up. It was a man's voice but disguised by the background music. The accent was American and when I checked in the re-dial, it showed, it was a foreign caller, not from the U.K.
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