Rose Ayling-Ellis finds EastEnders 'link' on Who Do You Think You Are?
The star joked that pubs were in her blood
What did you miss?
EastEnders actor Rose Ayling-Ellis joked that pub drama was in her blood after discovering that one of her ancestors was a landlady.
The TV star is best known for playing Frankie Lewis in the BBC soap, a role she had from 2020 to 2022. And the character put in a fair few stints behind the bar of the Queen Vic pub during her time in Walford.
As she retraced her roots on BBC series Who Do You Think You Are?, actor Ayling-Ellis learned that there were publicans in her real family’s past too.
What, how and why?
The star, who was the first deaf contestant and winner of Strictly Come Dancing in 2021, was featured on the show on Thursday, 5 September and her investigation took her on a trip to Aston. While there she found out about her great-great-great-grandmother Agnes Chilton, who had been the landlady of a pub in Victorian Birmingham.
During a chat with a local historian, Ayling-Ellis mentioned that she'd heard that her relative was known for "kicking out drunk people and dealing with really tough people". He then produced a newspaper clipping that proved her family lore to be true,
The article told how her great-great-great-grandfather had slapped a customer in the pub, the Sandy Hill Tavern, when he was drunk one night. Agnes then struck the man as well.
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"So she slapped him in the face too?" laughed Ayling-Ellis. "So this poor man is just sitting in the pub with the husband and wife just slapping him in the face randomly?"
"It’s kind of like EastEnders, at the Queen Victoria pub," she went on. "Everyone slapped each other all the time in the pub. I chucked someone’s drink in their face! So I feel like it’s in my blood!"
What did viewers say?
Viewers were charmed by the episode, with several posting messages on social media saying that it was one of their favourites in the ancestry series.
"Thank you! The whole episode had such rich detail - LOTS in there!" said one. Someone else posted on the platform: "Such a good episode! One of my favourites, and I’ve watched a lot of @WDYTYA_UK."
One fan said the show was "wonderful" and another remarked: "I really enjoyed this tonight, a lovely story." "Lovely lady with a lovely story! Highly enjoyable," said another viewer.
Who Do You Think You Are? is streaming on BBC iPlayer.
