Who's the daddy?

ACTOR John Hurt fails to fulfill his contract as he researches a family secret in Who Do You Think You Are? Surely the contract of participants in this family history series requires them to cry at least once, preferably more, as they discover unexpected facts about their relatives?

Hurt fails to shed a tear, although by the end he does feel differently about his Irish roots. He doesn't cry, but is disillusioned by his findings, although I won't spoil the surprise by telling you the details. "I'm not who I believed I was. That really upsets me," he says.

The lack of tears shouldn't deter you from watching a particularly engrossing episode that plays like a detective story, benefiting from the single aim that Hurt sets himself.

This Church of England vicar's son has always felt an affinity with Ireland, which he first visited 40 years ago. Family legend has it that his great-grandmother, Emma Stafford, was the illegitimate daughter of an Irish lord.

He sets out to discover if this is true with a little help from, among others, his elder brother Michael, a monk, and cousin Joyce in Pickering in North Yorkshire.

He's pretty determined to get at the truth. If he suspects Joyce isn't telling him everything, he reckons he'll have to "find a sweet way of twisting my 80-year-old cousin's arm".

The chief suspect - and likely father of Emma - was the Marquis of Sligo. But which one? There are around nine to choose from. Who's the daddy? The obvious candidate is the 2nd Marquis, Howe Peter Browne - who sounds more like an American Indian greeting than a lord.

He's described as a larger-than-life character who had many amorous entanglements and was, at one stage, being blackmailed by a courtesan.

Society found it acceptable for him to bed many women and he took care of any children that resulted by making them wards of chancery. All the paperwork helped him cover his tracks.

Hurt knows that Emily was a ward of chancery, adding to his belief that she was a lord's illegitimate child.

There is much digging about in old books and records in libraries in Croydon, Grimsby and London to unearth birth certificates, marriage lines and other written evidence to link Emily and the marquis.

And so he progresses to the truth, a revelation as unexpected - certainly as far as Hurt is concerned - as any Agatha Christie whodunit in this absorbing episode of the series.

Born To Be Different continues to follow six children born with a disability. They're now seven years old and, between them, have been in the care of 24 specialists in 14 different hospitals.

We may witness "the guilt and pain of parents watching their children struggle to do the simple things" but this isn't as depressing or downbeat a programme as you might expect.

What comes across is the ability of human beings to adapt to the most difficult situations, whether they're youngsters unable to lead normal lives or parents trying to cope with this.

Besides, all the children are such happy souls that you're willing them to win through and overcome their difficulties. They're succeeding in their own way.

Emily, who has spina bifida, tells her school friends that the cameras are filming her "because I'm special". Externally, she looks healthy, but on the inside she's messed up and needs an operation.

Zoe's mother is devastated that her daughter, whose condition makes her arms and feet turn inwards, is having to use a wheelchair.

Some mothers must decide whether to have more children, despite knowing that they too could be affected like their brothers or sisters.

Above all, the love that these parents feel comes across strongly. William's mother, who has waited until her son's condition is established before having the new baby she and her husband want so much, believes he'll benefit from having a sister.

"He's difficult and different but one of the most loving children I've known," she says.