0:00:04 > 0:00:07Eddie Izzard, actor,
0:00:07 > 0:00:09comedian...
0:00:09 > 0:00:10Morning!
0:00:10 > 0:00:12Very handy.
0:00:12 > 0:00:16..transvestite and marathon runner extraordinaire
0:00:16 > 0:00:20is about to embark on a remarkable journey
0:00:20 > 0:00:22using his own DNA as the road map.
0:00:22 > 0:00:29I've always been fascinated by genetics and the fact it can bring my history right here. Like magic.
0:00:29 > 0:00:34Locked within each of us is a genetic history book. It reveals not only our deep ancestry,
0:00:34 > 0:00:39but also the journey of mankind across the globe.
0:00:39 > 0:00:43This is it. The birthplace of the exodus, the first exodus.
0:00:43 > 0:00:48Recent breakthroughs in genetics will allow Eddie to use his own DNA
0:00:48 > 0:00:53to unlock the secrets of where he, and we, came from.
0:00:53 > 0:01:00Instead of going back to the last couple of hundred years, we're going back a couple of hundred thousand.
0:01:00 > 0:01:06This is the epic story of humanity's journey from our shared origins in Africa
0:01:06 > 0:01:1110,000 generations ago, all the way to Eddie Izzard.
0:01:11 > 0:01:18This is the first time in Britain that an individual has looked at their own DNA
0:01:18 > 0:01:22and used that to re-trace their ancestral journey.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25My ancestors came across here.
0:01:25 > 0:01:30And, finally, he'll bridge the gap between his genetic and family history.
0:01:30 > 0:01:34- I believe we are related. - It's Eddie Izzard! Fancy that!
0:01:34 > 0:01:39This programme contains some strong language.
0:01:50 > 0:01:54Eddie Izzard is about to become the first person in Britain
0:01:54 > 0:01:59to use his own DNA to retrace his ancestors' journey across thousands of miles
0:01:59 > 0:02:05and 200,000 years, from the very first modern human in Africa to Eddie.
0:02:05 > 0:02:10He's beginning by donating some saliva to science.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14- I think I've done it! One spit! - It seems like an unpromising start
0:02:14 > 0:02:18to an exploration of deep ancestry.
0:02:18 > 0:02:22Science in action! This is Blue Peter.
0:02:22 > 0:02:24But Eddie's spit contains DNA.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29DNA is found within our cells.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33It's the instruction manual that helps build and run our bodies.
0:02:33 > 0:02:38Scientists have also found another remarkable use for it.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44Locked within our DNA is a genetic route map
0:02:44 > 0:02:51that reveals how our ancestors migrated out of Africa and went on to populate the rest of the world.
0:02:51 > 0:02:56It's the tool Eddie will use to help him retrace the human journey.
0:03:02 > 0:03:06Whilst Eddie waits for the initial DNA results,
0:03:06 > 0:03:09he's going back to his childhood home to visit his dad, John.
0:03:09 > 0:03:13He's the inspiration for Eddie's quest.
0:03:13 > 0:03:15WHISTLES CASUALLY
0:03:16 > 0:03:19DOORBELL RINGS, DOGS BARK
0:03:20 > 0:03:23- Crazy dogs. Hello.- Hi.- How are you doing?
0:03:23 > 0:03:26Hi, Ed. Nice to see you.
0:03:26 > 0:03:30'He's 83 now. I kind of thought,'
0:03:30 > 0:03:36one can't live forever, but it's nice to give him something before any bad thing happens.
0:03:36 > 0:03:40- Are you intrigued by this? I think it'll be intriguing.- Yes.
0:03:40 > 0:03:46Anything that tells us a bit more about ancient history,
0:03:46 > 0:03:50- something that I never dreamt of doing before.- Yeah.
0:03:50 > 0:03:55Eddie will undertake two journeys. One will explore his dad's lineage,
0:03:55 > 0:03:58but first he'll explore his mum's line.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02And this journey will be close to his heart.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08His mum died of cancer when Eddie was a young boy.
0:04:10 > 0:04:16It would be interesting to find out if something comes from Mum's side and I go, "Yes! That resonates."
0:04:16 > 0:04:20I can't see it so clearly because my mother died when I was six.
0:04:22 > 0:04:30One thing she said to me before she died was she wouldn't have the pleasure of seeing you grow up.
0:04:30 > 0:04:31Yeah.
0:04:37 > 0:04:42Well, whatever we find will be fascinating.
0:04:42 > 0:04:48This is the first time, apparently, anyone's done it, apart from a scientist checking other people,
0:04:48 > 0:04:52- the first time on this journey. - They've done it with animals.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56- But animals are not good chatters on telly.- They don't say a lot, no.
0:04:56 > 0:05:01Not...not that we can make out, anyway.
0:05:01 > 0:05:07As part of his journey, Eddie will also discover where traits like his blue eyes came from.
0:05:08 > 0:05:13But it's not just what makes us unique individuals that excites him.
0:05:13 > 0:05:18I look for connections. That's why I do gigs in French, and German and Russian and Spanish.
0:05:18 > 0:05:23To find connections around the world. Here's my dad with the dogs.
0:05:23 > 0:05:28He's walked out that door many times. Connections - that's what I'm looking for.
0:05:32 > 0:05:38Eddie has come to the genetics lab to find out the results of his DNA test.
0:05:39 > 0:05:46Geneticist Dr Jim Wilson is using the latest advances in genetic science to unlock the secrets
0:05:46 > 0:05:50of where Eddie's mother and father lines came from.
0:05:50 > 0:05:56We took your spit and extracted your DNA from your spit, using a chemical reaction.
0:05:56 > 0:06:01We focused in on two pieces of DNA - a piece called the Y Chromosome,
0:06:01 > 0:06:06your father's father's father's father's father, all the way back,
0:06:06 > 0:06:10- but we're also going to look at your mother line.- Right.
0:06:11 > 0:06:17So how will Jim use Eddie's DNA to first explore his mum's deep ancestry?
0:06:18 > 0:06:22The answer lies in genetic changes known as markers.
0:06:24 > 0:06:29DNA is passed from generation to generation as an almost exact copy,
0:06:29 > 0:06:32but occasionally DNA changes.
0:06:32 > 0:06:39These changes, the markers, can indicate the start of another branch in the human family tree.
0:06:40 > 0:06:44And it's these markers that Jim will focus on.
0:06:45 > 0:06:50He looks for matches to Eddie's markers in people from around the world.
0:06:50 > 0:06:54He'll access databases of hundreds of thousands of individuals.
0:06:54 > 0:07:00They, like Eddie, have given their saliva for DNA testing over the last decade or so.
0:07:00 > 0:07:05Many traditional communities have remained in the same place for thousands of years,
0:07:05 > 0:07:13so a match with an Eddie marker can show where his ancestors travelled on their migration route.
0:07:13 > 0:07:19So what we're going to do is to take you to re-live the journey
0:07:19 > 0:07:24that your female line ancestors made from that origin in Africa,
0:07:24 > 0:07:29as they moved out of that continent and moved around eventually to England.
0:07:29 > 0:07:33And how we're going to do this is to try to introduce you
0:07:33 > 0:07:36to genetic cousins of yours at each point.
0:07:38 > 0:07:44Each branch of the human family tree originating from a new marker is known by a letter.
0:07:44 > 0:07:49The root of these branches, L, takes every one of us back to Africa.
0:07:49 > 0:07:51To one woman.
0:07:51 > 0:07:55All modern humans originate from her.
0:07:55 > 0:08:00Everyone in the world, wherever they lived, was descended from one woman
0:08:00 > 0:08:04- and she lived in Africa, so they called her Eve.- I've heard of her,
0:08:04 > 0:08:09but her name was probably more Gladys or Janine.
0:08:09 > 0:08:14- So, basically, everyone in the world is related.- Yeah.
0:08:14 > 0:08:21- So what...- That "yeah" needs to be bigger than that. There's racists going, "I am so different!"
0:08:21 > 0:08:28- Hang on. Everyone's related? - Yeah, it's an amazing discovery to see that all humans everywhere
0:08:28 > 0:08:32- go back to a small group of people in Africa.- So where do we go first?
0:08:32 > 0:08:37You're going to go to southern Africa, to Namibia,
0:08:37 > 0:08:40- to the Kalahari Desert or its outskirts...- Wow.
0:08:40 > 0:08:46..to meet some of the San people. They're the first branch of the human family tree.
0:08:46 > 0:08:51The point at which they connect into your line is 192,000 years ago, we estimate.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54That's amazing. Great. Wow.
0:08:56 > 0:09:01This is the start of Eddie's unique experiment in genetic time travel.
0:09:03 > 0:09:09Taking him back 10,000 generations to meet his and our most distant ancestral cousins.
0:09:12 > 0:09:16To get there he has to travel more than 10,500 kilometres
0:09:16 > 0:09:19to the edge of the Kalahari Desert.
0:09:24 > 0:09:30This arid bushland is a tough environment and would have been for our ancestors.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33The San bushmen who live here
0:09:33 > 0:09:38are one of the last remaining peoples to preserve the hunter-gatherer life
0:09:38 > 0:09:42our ancestors practised almost 200,000 years ago.
0:09:44 > 0:09:46Wow!
0:09:51 > 0:09:53Nice landing.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01Just how I remember it. Wow.
0:10:09 > 0:10:13It's time for Eddie to meet his and our most distant relatives.
0:10:14 > 0:10:21He wants to experience what life might have been like for our hunter-gatherer ancestors.
0:10:21 > 0:10:28Local bushman Tsaan Max Cique, a ranger with the Namibian Parks Service, will be his guide.
0:10:28 > 0:10:33- Kayo!- Kayo. The hats are crazy. I like the crazy hats.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38- Debe.- Debe.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41- Kunda.- Kunda.
0:10:41 > 0:10:42Sede.
0:10:42 > 0:10:46Sede. Sede.
0:10:46 > 0:10:52'When you get back 10,000 mums, it's such a long line of people that also put their genetics
0:10:52 > 0:10:58'into what ended up as Mum, that you can't just say, "That woman looks like Mum!" But intriguing.'
0:10:58 > 0:11:03SPEAKS IN DIALECT That means let's go.
0:11:08 > 0:11:12Hunting gets all the plaudits, but then as now
0:11:12 > 0:11:16gathering would have made up the vast majority of the diet.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20Eddie's first task is to gather tubers, roots that retain water.
0:11:20 > 0:11:26Their plant stems are easy to identify, but the tubers themselves lie deep underground.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29- Just down there, yeah?- Down there.
0:11:29 > 0:11:35The bushmen often use the tubers to quench their thirst and even cook them like potatoes.
0:11:36 > 0:11:38How far down do I go?
0:11:44 > 0:11:48How do I know when I've reached gold?
0:11:52 > 0:11:56I don't know where I'm going now, so I...
0:11:58 > 0:12:00Dig it? OK.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09Going to the supermarket seems a lot easier.
0:12:09 > 0:12:14- There's a whole string of them! - Now you can pull it up.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16Is that OK?
0:12:16 > 0:12:19Thank you. That's gathering.
0:12:19 > 0:12:21Nails still intact.
0:12:25 > 0:12:31Eddie's painted nails, the only outward sign of his cross-dressing, have set tongues wagging.
0:12:31 > 0:12:37She's saying that seeing you having paint on your nails is like you want to become a woman.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40That is part of what's in me. I have girl and boy in me.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42HE TRANSLATES
0:12:44 > 0:12:49They are asking if it is possible you can do their nails.
0:12:49 > 0:12:53Eddie promises the ladies a manicure before he leaves.
0:12:53 > 0:12:57- Do you have the paint with you? - I do, actually.
0:13:00 > 0:13:06The next food source is less taxing on the nails - collecting berries from the False Mopane tree.
0:13:17 > 0:13:21I agree with them. They're all saying, "What the fuck, man?"
0:13:21 > 0:13:25Now looking for berries. Now on a quest.
0:13:26 > 0:13:28Two berries!
0:13:28 > 0:13:31Three berries.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39I'm beginning to feel at home with my new relatives.
0:13:39 > 0:13:41This doesn't feel alien at all.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45So 10,000 mums ago, my 10,000th mum was doing this
0:13:45 > 0:13:48with women like these women here.
0:13:50 > 0:13:52They are happy that you are here.
0:13:58 > 0:14:00BEES BUZZING
0:14:00 > 0:14:03And they're not pissed off?
0:14:03 > 0:14:06They will be in a bit!
0:14:08 > 0:14:13Hunting and gathering has been the predominant way of life for the vast majority of human history
0:14:13 > 0:14:20and for the first 100,000 years or so of our existence, we practised it solely in Africa.
0:14:21 > 0:14:22Wow.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24That's nice honey.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26This is pollen?
0:14:26 > 0:14:29Put pollen on my list.
0:14:29 > 0:14:35"A bag of pollen, please. And some for the lady." James Bond!
0:14:38 > 0:14:43One of our greatest allies in this hostile environment was fire.
0:14:43 > 0:14:49It didn't just keep us warm and allow us to eat more nutritious food. It also protected us
0:14:49 > 0:14:56from our animal enemies. Eddie's newly-found relatives teach him how the Izzards made fire
0:14:56 > 0:15:02- before the invention of the safety match.- 'I've always wanted to be able to make fire. It's on my list.
0:15:02 > 0:15:04'Making fire.
0:15:04 > 0:15:09'I thought it would take me, like, a couple of weeks of training,
0:15:09 > 0:15:15'but once they give you the right sticks and you work out what to do, it's such an amazing thing.
0:15:26 > 0:15:28Blow, blow, blow.
0:15:36 > 0:15:38APPLAUSE
0:15:38 > 0:15:40My God. My first fire.
0:15:40 > 0:15:41Wow!
0:15:41 > 0:15:44I just made my first fire.
0:15:46 > 0:15:51- He was looking at your nails. He said it looks like a flag. - Yes, it is.
0:15:51 > 0:15:54This is my country and my continent.
0:15:55 > 0:16:00When they look at your nails, it's like ladies, not with men.
0:16:00 > 0:16:04- I know. Crazy, but a good crazy. - HE TRANSLATES
0:16:05 > 0:16:12That works. Sense of humour. A joke to a family I'm related to 192,000 years ago.
0:16:12 > 0:16:18- So we're all related.- Yeah. - They are glad that you are related and we are together now.
0:16:18 > 0:16:25Now that Eddie has learnt how to make fire, all he has to do is keep it going.
0:16:30 > 0:16:35With Tsaan, he wants to experience how his ancestors survived the night.
0:16:35 > 0:16:42He'll have only fire to protect them from the predators and elephants that visit the water hole close by.
0:16:52 > 0:16:54ANIMAL NOISES
0:16:54 > 0:16:57Holy cow! You heard that?
0:16:57 > 0:17:01That was... It sounded a bit like a lion, but that is an elephant.
0:17:01 > 0:17:04Yeah? An elephant. Just drinking?
0:17:04 > 0:17:08Or coughing? He's making a lot of noise.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10Elephants are herbivores.
0:17:10 > 0:17:18Unless you look like an enormous salad, if you're dressed as a salad, they're not going to go for you.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22But they will squash your head if they get you under their big paw.
0:17:25 > 0:17:31This is what 10,000th mum, who I'm calling Shirley now, must have done.
0:17:31 > 0:17:35She must have sat out round the fire.
0:17:35 > 0:17:42It's so black out there, so dark. You've got to keep this fire going. That is your safety.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45Do not venture out beyond this flame.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59The fire looked a little worryingly low, but...
0:17:59 > 0:18:03as long as we keep waking up and putting things on the fire,
0:18:03 > 0:18:08there's still enough wood to keep us going until sun up.
0:18:11 > 0:18:16You can't hear animals, can't hear elephants.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25The mind plays tricks.
0:18:27 > 0:18:28OK.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31Back to bed. See you later.
0:18:33 > 0:18:35SNORING
0:18:38 > 0:18:44The following morning, Eddie hasn't been carried off by hungry herbivores.
0:18:44 > 0:18:48That was quite a night. I didn't think at all about my ancestors!
0:18:48 > 0:18:54I was thinking about me trying to survive the night. I was a little bit anxious
0:18:54 > 0:18:58because I thought we might die. If some predator had come,
0:18:58 > 0:19:03Tsaan knew what to do, but I didn't. What if they'd got Tsaan?
0:19:03 > 0:19:08I thought, "Don't be pathetic and run off. You've got to help."
0:19:08 > 0:19:11I kept that stick near me to poke things.
0:19:11 > 0:19:16I had these pathetic back-up plans of how to deal with whatever.
0:19:18 > 0:19:23It's almost time for Eddie to begin the next leg of his genetic journey.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29But not before he fulfils his promise to the ladies.
0:19:33 > 0:19:34Good?
0:19:38 > 0:19:46'The people here, they don't seem that far away. I thought it would feel very far away.'
0:19:57 > 0:20:02Thank you very much. Thank you. It'll be 15 minutes.
0:20:02 > 0:20:04- Just... - HE BLOWS
0:20:12 > 0:20:16'It was great to be here and to have met these people
0:20:16 > 0:20:21'and to get a little thumbnail sense of what gathering is like.'
0:20:21 > 0:20:23I have made fire.
0:20:29 > 0:20:34The next leg of Eddie's DNA time travelling will take him forward 140,000 years
0:20:34 > 0:20:38to some time before 60,000 years ago.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42By then, modern humans had colonised the enormous continent of Africa
0:20:42 > 0:20:46in search of more hospitable places to live.
0:20:46 > 0:20:52This, despite an estimated total population of no more than 20,000 people.
0:20:53 > 0:20:57Scientists have DNA tested traditional communities
0:20:57 > 0:21:02and with the results have created a map to show how humans migrated across the world.
0:21:02 > 0:21:09Dr Jim Wilson is now using this information to discover where Eddie's maternal line travelled.
0:21:10 > 0:21:15Eddie's next key marker gave birth to the L3 branch.
0:21:15 > 0:21:21This is seen today particularly in East Africa along the shores of the Red Sea.
0:21:21 > 0:21:26About 40% or more of the people there today share this marker with Eddie,
0:21:26 > 0:21:32so it seems like his ancestors must have moved through this region at some point in the past,
0:21:32 > 0:21:38but what's really interesting is the next marker after that, which produced the N branch.
0:21:38 > 0:21:43This is not really seen in Africa today. It actually arose in Arabia.
0:21:43 > 0:21:49So we think this points to the place where modern humans first left Africa
0:21:49 > 0:21:53at some point before 60,000 years ago.
0:21:59 > 0:22:05Eddie's travelling 5,000 kilometres across the continent to the small country of Djibouti.
0:22:09 > 0:22:15He wants to reach the place where modern humans probably first left Africa,
0:22:15 > 0:22:20a narrowing of the Red Sea known as the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait.
0:22:21 > 0:22:25The route passes through some of Africa's harshest terrain.
0:22:25 > 0:22:32At 157 metres below sea level, Lake Assal is the lowest place in Africa.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36It is also saltier than the Dead Sea.
0:22:41 > 0:22:43RUMBLES OF THUNDER
0:22:50 > 0:22:56Who the hell comes here?! They dig up salt from here. People live here and work here.
0:22:56 > 0:22:58I'd prefer to be in Croydon.
0:23:00 > 0:23:05And I was feeling car sick and then fear goes into this... I don't want to be here.
0:23:05 > 0:23:09If you lived here, you'd go, "This is Mordor.
0:23:09 > 0:23:12"Mordor. My kind of town."
0:23:12 > 0:23:16If you don't know Mordor, it's the Lord of the Rings place
0:23:16 > 0:23:22where Mr Bad Guy lives, the guy with the one big eye.
0:23:22 > 0:23:26You would think that was the gods being angry - or having a bad tummy.
0:23:26 > 0:23:30"This is the gods angry. They're angry with YOU, Steve!"
0:23:30 > 0:23:33Anyway, I'll probably get hit by lightning.
0:23:37 > 0:23:43Despite his fear of getting fried by the gods, Eddie's determined to press on.
0:23:49 > 0:23:54Many of the inhabitants of this coastline share the genetic marker
0:23:54 > 0:23:58that suggests our ancestors passed through here.
0:23:58 > 0:24:06There's evidence these early modern humans were, for the first time, exploiting the marine environment.
0:24:06 > 0:24:13Deposits of shellfish from an archaeological site show they were harvesting the fruits of the sea.
0:24:19 > 0:24:25But Eddie's quest to reach the place the Izzards left Africa may have been thwarted.
0:24:39 > 0:24:45We're in a dust storm and you just can't see anything,
0:24:45 > 0:24:51so we don't know what we're going to hit, so we will stop for a while. Have sandwiches. A singsong.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55- #- Ging gang...- #
0:24:56 > 0:25:02It's a reminder of how resilient early modern humans must have been in order to survive.
0:25:05 > 0:25:12It's really tough. It's a tough land. It's tough now. We're not sure what the conditions were then,
0:25:12 > 0:25:14but it really is tough.
0:25:18 > 0:25:23Nicholas, who is driving us, decided to continue.
0:25:23 > 0:25:27He's just happy driving into the sand.
0:25:27 > 0:25:31We've got military people with us with guns,
0:25:31 > 0:25:35so we can shoot invisible sand monsters that come.
0:25:42 > 0:25:49After two hours, Eddie emerges from the sandstorm at his destination - the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait.
0:25:49 > 0:25:53He's just 35 kilometres from the Arabian country of Yemen
0:25:53 > 0:25:57where it's thought modern humans first stepped outside Africa.
0:25:57 > 0:26:02Bizarrely, the Yemen is also where Eddie himself was born.
0:26:03 > 0:26:07Today, on the African side of the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait,
0:26:07 > 0:26:11fishing is still as important as it was to our ancestors.
0:26:11 > 0:26:18To explore what life might have been like around 60,000 years ago, Eddie is off to help catch some fish
0:26:18 > 0:26:22accompanied by his translator, Fatima.
0:26:22 > 0:26:29They are meeting Noria Ahmed Suli. She is one of just three fisherwomen in the whole of Djibouti.
0:26:29 > 0:26:33Noria, who is from Djibouti, an Afar woman,
0:26:33 > 0:26:38which is very close to the Yemeni people... Yemen is just over there.
0:26:38 > 0:26:44And she's the captain. You can see it in her face that she's a "can do" woman.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49So how long has she been a fisherwoman?
0:26:49 > 0:26:54- 20 years.- 20 years? And what was she doing before?
0:26:54 > 0:26:59- FATIMA TRANSLATES I have faced so many problems, I became a fisherwoman.- Oh, right.
0:27:01 > 0:27:07I married and I was happy with my family, with my children at my home.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10The war happened in Obock. The civil war.
0:27:10 > 0:27:15- So civil war happened? And after that she became a fisherwoman?- Yes.
0:27:16 > 0:27:21Where does she sell the fish that she catches?
0:27:23 > 0:27:25Only in Yemen?
0:27:28 > 0:27:33Here they pay 250. There they pay 1,000 francs.
0:27:33 > 0:27:40- OK, so four times as much.- Yes. - And when she goes to Yemen, does she go over? That is the route?
0:27:42 > 0:27:44- She goes in this boat to Yemen.- Yes.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47Does she speak Arabic?
0:27:48 > 0:27:51I speak Arabic well. Somali also.
0:27:51 > 0:27:53All I can say is...
0:28:04 > 0:28:06How many fish do you think here?
0:28:08 > 0:28:13- More than a hundred. - More than a hundred fish.
0:28:15 > 0:28:20You've got to get the fish out of the nets, which is really tricky.
0:28:23 > 0:28:25I got one. Where do we throw it?
0:28:25 > 0:28:32Every day, Noria follows the same route our ancestors probably took when they left Africa.
0:28:32 > 0:28:36The Bab-el-Mandeb is still a highway to Arabia.
0:28:36 > 0:28:38Bon voyage!
0:28:45 > 0:28:49No one knows for sure why modern humans left Africa,
0:28:49 > 0:28:56but our innate curiosity and environmental change may have been two important factors.
0:28:56 > 0:29:02It's thought global cooling - an ice age - meant sea levels were lower at this time.
0:29:02 > 0:29:06Perhaps the shorter distance made the crossing more attractive.
0:29:08 > 0:29:13Some scientists believe only a handful of people made the initial crossing.
0:29:13 > 0:29:19Remarkably, it's thought that only two women gave birth to the rest of humanity outside Africa.
0:29:19 > 0:29:22One maternal line reached Australia,
0:29:22 > 0:29:27but Eddie's took a different route and headed towards Europe.
0:29:27 > 0:29:31That's the journey that humanity took,
0:29:31 > 0:29:3560,000-70,000 years ago. Maybe just 200 people. Two women.
0:29:35 > 0:29:40My mother's line, which is not only mine, but everybody's line,
0:29:40 > 0:29:42became European.
0:29:42 > 0:29:47So we all have problems whether we're British or we're European.
0:29:47 > 0:29:52Or British European as I consider myself. When, in fact, we're all coming from one mother
0:29:52 > 0:29:57who came across here and gave birth to nearly everyone in Europe.
0:29:59 > 0:30:04Political unrest has prevented Eddie from making the crossing to the Yemen.
0:30:04 > 0:30:10Frustratingly, he can't follow directly in the footsteps of modern humans as they left Africa
0:30:10 > 0:30:16- or visit his own birthplace. - My dad and my mum met there. It's very important to us.
0:30:16 > 0:30:21Mum working as a nurse for BP, Dad as an accountant.
0:30:21 > 0:30:26And so it means a lot. My brother was born there, I was born there. My mum died six years later.
0:30:27 > 0:30:32And we have these cine film memories of Mum and Dad there.
0:30:32 > 0:30:39It's in here and, bizarrely, just happens to be the place where the exodus of humanity went through.
0:30:39 > 0:30:41This is it.
0:30:41 > 0:30:45The birthplace of the exodus. The first exodus.
0:30:47 > 0:30:52It's time for Eddie to leave his and our shared African roots behind.
0:30:52 > 0:30:58This is now the story of those of us who spread out across the rest of the world.
0:30:58 > 0:31:03Jim Wilson has been investigating where Eddie's female ancestors went
0:31:03 > 0:31:07after this momentous moment in human history.
0:31:07 > 0:31:11It means jumping forward another 42,000 years.
0:31:11 > 0:31:16Eddie's next significant marker, which gave birth to the T2 branch,
0:31:16 > 0:31:19originated about 18,000 years ago.
0:31:19 > 0:31:25Today it's most common in populations in the Middle East and Turkey.
0:31:25 > 0:31:30So it seems that Eddie's ancestors are likely to have moved north,
0:31:30 > 0:31:37probably following the fertile crescent which runs from the Persian Gulf up to Turkey.
0:31:37 > 0:31:43It seems like they were still there for one of the most significant turning points in human history -
0:31:43 > 0:31:48the birth of agriculture about 10,500 years ago.
0:31:48 > 0:31:52'Farming meant an abundance of new foods
0:31:52 > 0:31:57'and a more settled lifestyle. In a way, it's the birth of civilisation
0:31:57 > 0:32:03'and it's here that something very interesting happened to Eddie's and many of our ancestors' genes.
0:32:03 > 0:32:08'The next step on your mother line journey is to go to Turkey.
0:32:08 > 0:32:13'You're going to learn more there about how agriculture took hold.
0:32:13 > 0:32:19- 'You're also going to learn where your blue eyes came from.'- My blue eyes? That is very interesting.
0:32:19 > 0:32:22Thank you very much, Dr Jim.
0:32:22 > 0:32:28It'll be good to go to Turkey. My parents went on honeymoon to Turkey, to Istanbul.
0:32:31 > 0:32:37To explore his ancestors' roots in agriculture, Eddie's travelling to Turkey's Black Sea coast.
0:32:38 > 0:32:45Turkey has some of the earliest archaeological evidence for the domestication of cattle and sheep.
0:32:45 > 0:32:49This area is still known for dairy farming.
0:32:49 > 0:32:53Some of the people here share Eddie's marker.
0:32:53 > 0:32:59Eddie's meeting farmer Fatima Tezcan and her family, who are carrying on the tradition.
0:32:59 > 0:33:03- So do I need to hold? - Yeah, you can hold.
0:33:08 > 0:33:12Local guide Buket Sahin joins Eddie to translate.
0:33:12 > 0:33:16- How often do they milk the goats? - Every morning.
0:33:16 > 0:33:19Do you make cheese from this milk?
0:33:20 > 0:33:22She makes her own home-made yoghurt,
0:33:22 > 0:33:26- home-made butter.- Right.
0:33:26 > 0:33:30- All different kind of cheeses. - From the goat's milk.- Yes.
0:33:30 > 0:33:35Milk is especially useful for Fatima's family.
0:33:35 > 0:33:38Her son had a tumour in his brain.
0:33:39 > 0:33:45- She thinks goat milk is much healthier, especially for children with diseases.- Right.
0:33:45 > 0:33:51The domestication of animals gave humans a valuable new food source from dairy products,
0:33:51 > 0:33:53but there was a hitch.
0:33:53 > 0:33:57Adults in many early agricultural communities were intolerant to milk.
0:33:57 > 0:34:00Genetics came to the rescue.
0:34:01 > 0:34:05- What exactly is this, Fatima? - Aryan.
0:34:05 > 0:34:07And what is it made of?
0:34:08 > 0:34:13- Goat milk yoghurt, water and salt. - I'll just have a bit of this.
0:34:13 > 0:34:19Eddie and most Europeans can digest milk due to a genetic change that occurred around this time.
0:34:19 > 0:34:25It means we can process dairy products beyond infancy, whereas many people elsewhere can't.
0:34:25 > 0:34:32I can taste yoghurty in there. Really nice and fresh. And a salty aftertaste. Thank you.
0:34:32 > 0:34:37'When I was a teenager, I used to drink a litre a day. I loved milk. I still do.'
0:34:37 > 0:34:41I thought I might be becoming Chalk Boy, the Calcium Kid.
0:34:42 > 0:34:49This ability to digest milk wasn't the only genetic change to occur to Eddie's family around this time.
0:34:50 > 0:34:55You have blue eyes, I have blue eyes. Do others in your family?
0:34:55 > 0:35:02- Her father, all her siblings and both of her children has blue eyes.- Yeah, cool.
0:35:03 > 0:35:10Eddie's guide Buket discusses the most up-to-date theory on the remarkable origin of blue eyes.
0:35:10 > 0:35:16- A recent study by a team of genetic researchers in Copenhagen University...- OK.
0:35:16 > 0:35:22..everyone with blue eyes can be traced back to Black Sea coast, 10,000 years ago.
0:35:22 > 0:35:28- Everyone with blue eyes can be traced back to Black Sea?- Yes.- Wow. - A single person.- Very curious.
0:35:28 > 0:35:32Blue eyes originating in one person isn't the only surprise.
0:35:33 > 0:35:37Both parents need to give blue-eyed genes to their offspring.
0:35:38 > 0:35:44So given that even today most of us are brown-eyed, the trait shouldn't survive at all.
0:35:44 > 0:35:49- Why doesn't it die out? - One of the most popular theories is
0:35:49 > 0:35:53that it is very attractive and when there was a shortage of men,
0:35:53 > 0:35:59as they were hunters at the time, women with blue eyes were more desirable.
0:35:59 > 0:36:05So it's the sexual selection and it's very attractive, like the gorgeous eyes you have.
0:36:05 > 0:36:07Oh?
0:36:07 > 0:36:13I always miss eye colours. Do you notice eye colours? Women tend to notice better than men.
0:36:13 > 0:36:19Well, I do. Even if you look at Hollywood, the legendary people like Sinatra,
0:36:19 > 0:36:24- Elvis, you know, Paul Newman. - So blue eyes,
0:36:24 > 0:36:29which only turned up about 10,000 years ago, roughly, it's just sexual attraction.
0:36:29 > 0:36:35People saying, "Hey, let's shag the man or woman with the blue eyes and have babies."
0:36:35 > 0:36:41For whatever reason, blue eyes have persisted. They're doing the rounds.
0:36:47 > 0:36:52So where did the milk-drinking Izzards take their blue eyes next?
0:36:53 > 0:36:57Their adventure in agriculture led to Europe.
0:36:57 > 0:37:01The most likely place they entered was the Bosphorus Straits,
0:37:01 > 0:37:06where Asia and Europe are separated by just a narrow stretch of water.
0:37:08 > 0:37:13A million and a half people still make this crossing every day.
0:37:15 > 0:37:19My ancestors came across here, maybe Hawaii 5-0 style,
0:37:19 > 0:37:23maybe with sails. And it was right here.
0:37:27 > 0:37:33On the European side, Eddie can't resist staying in the hotel where his parents honeymooned.
0:37:38 > 0:37:42- Tuba Atis is a manager at the hotel. - Really happy to accommodate you.
0:37:42 > 0:37:47This is the previous Divan here. And your family stayed here, 904.
0:37:47 > 0:37:52- Oh, really?- Yes.- How do you know? - We searched the...- The records?
0:37:52 > 0:37:57- Yes, the records.- Oh, wow. - This is the same room you're staying.- The same room.
0:37:57 > 0:38:02- Can I take these pictures back to my dad?- Of course. This is for you.
0:38:02 > 0:38:04Wow.
0:38:04 > 0:38:06'I'm in Room 904.'
0:38:06 > 0:38:11I don't know if you remember the room, but it was this one.
0:38:11 > 0:38:16- 'Yeah, that's to get the view. A good view of the Bosphorus.' - I've got a bit of a view,
0:38:16 > 0:38:22but the Hyatt Hotel has come along and built a bloody great hotel in the way.
0:38:22 > 0:38:26Also, Mum's actual heritage comes through Istanbul, where you were.
0:38:26 > 0:38:31- 'Really?'- So that's just another irony.- 'Are you keeping well?'
0:38:31 > 0:38:34Yeah. We were all kind of knackered.
0:38:34 > 0:38:39- 'All right, mate. Thanks for the call.'- No problem. Bye.
0:38:40 > 0:38:46Around 7,500 years ago, Eddie's mum's line probably moved into Europe
0:38:46 > 0:38:49as part of the Agricultural Revolution.
0:38:49 > 0:38:54'The spread of farming into Europe is a bit like the scramble for land'
0:38:54 > 0:38:56in the Wild West.
0:38:56 > 0:39:00With something around 8 million people in the world at the time,
0:39:00 > 0:39:06many of them in the Middle East, there was a continuous pressure for new land for agriculture.
0:39:09 > 0:39:14It looks like there were two main migration routes into the continent.
0:39:14 > 0:39:18One into Central Europe, following the main river valleys,
0:39:18 > 0:39:21and another hugging the Mediterranean shore.
0:39:21 > 0:39:27Eddie's direct lineage headed north-west into the heart of the continent,
0:39:27 > 0:39:33but before he explores where they went, he's first going to check out what happened
0:39:33 > 0:39:37to ancestral cousins who entered Europe along its southern fringes.
0:39:37 > 0:39:43Over the next 5,000 years, they settled in some very interesting places.
0:39:46 > 0:39:50- 'Hello?'- Dr Jim. Where am I off to next?
0:39:50 > 0:39:54- 'You're going to Pompeii.' - Pompeii?
0:39:54 > 0:40:00'Pompeii in some way is representative of the next stage where great civilisations develop,
0:40:00 > 0:40:04'all entirely based on agriculture.'
0:40:04 > 0:40:09So we're going there at a time that's before it blew up?
0:40:09 > 0:40:12- 'Just around 79AD, I think.'- Oh.
0:40:12 > 0:40:17- OK. We're going there the Tuesday before the explosion. - 'Exactly.'- Right.
0:40:19 > 0:40:24'Pompeii will be exciting. I've been intrigued to see Pompeii for years.
0:40:24 > 0:40:30'I think I'm quite good at imagining what it would be like to be there as a Roman. Fascinating.'
0:40:31 > 0:40:38By 79AD, Pompeii was a flourishing Roman town in southern Italy of 20,000 people.
0:40:39 > 0:40:45But its residents were unaware that they were sitting on an active volcano.
0:40:49 > 0:40:55Here Eddie won't be hanging out with modern-day descendants of his ancestors.
0:40:55 > 0:41:00He'll be meeting genetic cousins who died nearly 2,000 years ago.
0:41:02 > 0:41:05His guide is anatomist Professor Maciej Henneberg.
0:41:05 > 0:41:12Before Eddie meets his long-dead relatives, Maciej wants to show him one of the delights of lost Pompeii.
0:41:17 > 0:41:21So...shagging. This is a house of sex?
0:41:21 > 0:41:26- Yes. People came here for entertainment.- OK.
0:41:26 > 0:41:31And they had paintings showing what is happening here.
0:41:31 > 0:41:35- This was done on stone. - That's doggie style there.
0:41:37 > 0:41:41Yes. They are showing various sexual positions,
0:41:41 > 0:41:47- which is fairly similar to what one can see on the internet today.- Yes.- Actually.
0:41:47 > 0:41:54- And they are showing some curiosities, like people with double penis, for example.- Oh, really?
0:41:54 > 0:42:00- Is that a medical thing? - Yes, it is. I'm an anatomist. I study anatomical variations.- OK.
0:42:00 > 0:42:04Both double vagina and double penis happen.
0:42:04 > 0:42:05Mm?
0:42:05 > 0:42:08OK. That sounds crazy.
0:42:08 > 0:42:12- And the beds are telling us how small people were.- Oh, right.
0:42:15 > 0:42:22- Yeah.- It shows us people were, on average, about 100mm, 10cms, shorter
0:42:22 > 0:42:24than we are today.
0:42:24 > 0:42:30Then there is a toilet. Romans were much more open about the toilet.
0:42:30 > 0:42:37- For example, they had communal toilets.- A lot of people actually sat right here in this very space,
0:42:37 > 0:42:45doing a poo, having a chat and saying, "I'll be right back in for a bit of number four.
0:42:45 > 0:42:50"And a bit of that old number two. Two and a bit of four."
0:42:50 > 0:42:57- And food is across the road. - "I'll have a poo, have some sex and then go and get a McDonalds."
0:43:06 > 0:43:11Eddie has come to Pompeii's laboratory to meet his relatives.
0:43:11 > 0:43:17They couldn't give a spit sample, so their ancient DNA was extracted from their teeth.
0:43:19 > 0:43:22This fellow is your genetic cousin.
0:43:23 > 0:43:28Sadly, he was born with a congenital problem,
0:43:28 > 0:43:32so he had this tilted head, which is called torticollis.
0:43:32 > 0:43:37- Torticollis.- A nerve to his neck muscles was damaged
0:43:37 > 0:43:42because somebody helping the baby to be born pulled his head too much.
0:43:42 > 0:43:49And therefore we both share something with him. You share his genes and I shared his condition.
0:43:49 > 0:43:53- Oh, really?- Until I was 12, I walked like this.
0:43:53 > 0:43:59- Otherwise, he was quite a handsome fellow, as most people sharing your genes are.- This is what I heard.
0:43:59 > 0:44:01Yes!
0:44:02 > 0:44:05Eddie's genetic cousin died in 79AD
0:44:05 > 0:44:09when a volcanic eruption overwhelmed Pompeii.
0:44:11 > 0:44:16Logically, people were leaving. Why did this family stay?
0:44:16 > 0:44:21I think we discovered why and here's the answer. She's also your cousin.
0:44:21 > 0:44:26A young woman, about 17 years of age.
0:44:26 > 0:44:31- She was 17?- She was 17 at the moment of her death.
0:44:31 > 0:44:35- And she carried a baby...- Right. - ..in her belly.
0:44:35 > 0:44:41And the baby was just about to be born. It was the last month of pregnancy.
0:44:41 > 0:44:47So the family says, "We have to stay with you." And she was huddled in a corner of the room,
0:44:48 > 0:44:50protecting her baby,
0:44:50 > 0:44:57holding a bunch of coins to her breast, wearing heavy jewellery that stained her bones -
0:44:57 > 0:45:01the shoulder blades, the forearm bones,
0:45:01 > 0:45:06and her head is stained, too, so she had some kind of a headdress.
0:45:06 > 0:45:12OK, this is all kind of fascinating and tragic at the same time.
0:45:14 > 0:45:19Thirteen members of the same extended family died together.
0:45:21 > 0:45:25Eddie wants to visit the place where it happened.
0:45:25 > 0:45:27This is huge.
0:45:29 > 0:45:35The house belonged to Caius Julius Polybius, a former slave and successful politician.
0:45:35 > 0:45:38They were lying here in this room.
0:45:38 > 0:45:42The old man on the floor
0:45:42 > 0:45:45and next to him a teenage boy.
0:45:45 > 0:45:50And the boy was holding the father's hand. They must have been already afraid.
0:45:50 > 0:45:55And at the feet of the teenage boy a younger boy, a few years old.
0:45:56 > 0:46:01And eventually they were covered by more and more of the ash.
0:46:03 > 0:46:08And this is the other room where the rest of the family died.
0:46:08 > 0:46:13Here was the 17-year-old young woman,
0:46:13 > 0:46:18covered in her finery and with the baby in her belly.
0:46:18 > 0:46:21That's where she
0:46:21 > 0:46:23eventually died.
0:46:28 > 0:46:30Not a great way to go.
0:46:32 > 0:46:38They found about 20cm of ash in the rooms, which would have blown in.
0:46:38 > 0:46:43If you think about how snow works. The ash must have been about here.
0:46:43 > 0:46:48They must have been wading through the ash. A baby was going to be born.
0:46:48 > 0:46:50And then they died.
0:46:55 > 0:47:00Eddie's journey has already covered nearly 200,000 years of human history.
0:47:01 > 0:47:06The landscape of towns, streets and houses, of civilisation,
0:47:06 > 0:47:09is becoming much more familiar.
0:47:09 > 0:47:12'I feel like I've been taken inside
0:47:12 > 0:47:14'a real Latin, Roman life
0:47:15 > 0:47:18'and that links to my mother's line.
0:47:21 > 0:47:25'Just touching the walls is really close.'
0:47:27 > 0:47:31Eddie's genetic cousins settled in southern Europe,
0:47:31 > 0:47:35but his direct ancestors appear to have followed a more northerly route
0:47:35 > 0:47:39through central Europe on their migration to Britain.
0:47:39 > 0:47:45Eddie's next key marker shows that this direct maternal line had, by the time of the Pompeii eruption,
0:47:45 > 0:47:47moved into northern Europe.
0:47:49 > 0:47:53'We're getting to a really exciting stage of the genetic journey.
0:47:53 > 0:47:57'As we get closer in space and time to Eddie's family in Britain,
0:47:57 > 0:48:01'we can be more specific about the ancestral journey.
0:48:01 > 0:48:06'This is because the more recent markers are shared by fewer people.'
0:48:06 > 0:48:10Of the 69 markers in Eddie's maternal line DNA,
0:48:10 > 0:48:13this next one is the 67th.
0:48:13 > 0:48:19This means that we're looking for living people who share an ancestor with Eddie
0:48:19 > 0:48:22less than 100 generations ago.
0:48:22 > 0:48:28'We've found another marker that seems to originate much further north.
0:48:28 > 0:48:33'This marker is only about 2,000 years old
0:48:33 > 0:48:39'and the really interesting thing is that this group seems to be focused in Scandinavia.
0:48:39 > 0:48:43'Your mother's mother's mother's people were Vikings.'
0:48:43 > 0:48:45Oh!
0:48:48 > 0:48:55'What you're going to do now is meet people who are directly related to you in Denmark.'
0:48:57 > 0:49:01Eddie has come to the ancient Viking capital and port of Roskilde.
0:49:02 > 0:49:07He is meeting Lars Lundin and his sister, Anne Persdottir.
0:49:08 > 0:49:12Lars recently gave a saliva sample to science.
0:49:12 > 0:49:16Jim then found him on the database, one of only ten matches.
0:49:16 > 0:49:20- OK, well...- Cheers.- Cheers.
0:49:20 > 0:49:26He and his sister share a direct maternal ancestor with Eddie from around 2,000 years ago.
0:49:26 > 0:49:29That's less than 70 generations.
0:49:29 > 0:49:35- We share a mother from... Are there similarities between us? - Yes.- Should be interesting.
0:49:35 > 0:49:40I love football, mathematics. I did maths up to university level, but then didn't...
0:49:40 > 0:49:43Mathematics. That's Lars.
0:49:43 > 0:49:46I also studied math. I took a PhD in Applied Math
0:49:46 > 0:49:51- and did a post doc afterwards for two years.- I ran 43 marathons.
0:49:51 > 0:49:55- 43?!- In 51 days. About three years ago.
0:49:55 > 0:50:03We ran a marathon together. I did a total of 13 marathons, but over a time of 15 years.
0:50:03 > 0:50:08Which is an impressive record. I apologise for coming with 43.
0:50:08 > 0:50:13- That's all right.- I think because Izzard is my father's name,
0:50:13 > 0:50:20half your genetics is your mother's side so you tend to ignore that and say, "What did the Izzards do?"
0:50:20 > 0:50:26I don't know that much about Mum's side. To find I have a Viking link, that is fascinating.
0:50:30 > 0:50:37The closest Eddie can get to his mum's Viking roots is to put himself in the place of his ancestors...
0:50:38 > 0:50:41Just lean forward and you pull.
0:50:41 > 0:50:45..as they prepare to lay waste to a swathe of Britain.
0:50:46 > 0:50:47Perfect.
0:50:47 > 0:50:52From 793AD, the Vikings began to raid Britain.
0:50:52 > 0:50:56Their secret weapon was the longship.
0:50:56 > 0:51:02Its shallow keel meant they didn't need harbours. They could row onto the shore.
0:51:03 > 0:51:05Not too fast.
0:51:05 > 0:51:10A little bit, yeah, like that. Then more power in each stroke.
0:51:10 > 0:51:16Rowing is exhausting, so the Vikings used sail power when they could.
0:51:16 > 0:51:22What we do is we use our weight, so go forwards and then we pull backwards like that.
0:51:22 > 0:51:29- Then you fall onto me.- OK. - Then you push it towards the hole so she can take back the slack.- OK.
0:51:29 > 0:51:32- And pull.- Oops.- That's too much.
0:51:34 > 0:51:38- We will just go... - Don't I fall on you?- Not yet.
0:51:38 > 0:51:40Down there and push it.
0:51:45 > 0:51:49- And one more time. - Careful!
0:51:49 > 0:51:51That'll do me.
0:51:51 > 0:51:53- Yes?- Let's go back.
0:51:53 > 0:51:59- How many hours would it take? - To England? With the right wind, it would take them about three days.
0:52:02 > 0:52:04Eddie takes over the controls.
0:52:08 > 0:52:11- Ah...- Turn the ship slowly.
0:52:11 > 0:52:16- Do you do hand signals? - You're turning the rudder a little bit too much. Careful!
0:52:16 > 0:52:22- A little bit more gently on it. Yes. - I wanted to do an extreme one so it showed up onscreen.
0:52:22 > 0:52:24Yeah, that's much better.
0:52:27 > 0:52:29I feel very close to my Viking heritage.
0:52:29 > 0:52:35The obviously went over and did a lot of killing and pillaging, which wasn't so good,
0:52:35 > 0:52:38but it's fun to have a Viking link.
0:52:39 > 0:52:43Despite the reputation for rape and pillage,
0:52:43 > 0:52:48Eddie's maternal ancestry suggests Viking families came to Britain
0:52:48 > 0:52:52as part of a second wave of immigration.
0:52:52 > 0:52:58Maybe they got a boat right here. Maybe someone from my family got on a boat right here
0:52:58 > 0:53:04and went across and killed someone who was over there! And said, "Can we steal your house?" Yeah.
0:53:04 > 0:53:09Anyway, now I've got to go back to Britain to see where this leads.
0:53:09 > 0:53:15It'll be so interesting to find some sort of link through my mum's side of the family coming in.
0:53:20 > 0:53:26Jim has been searching the database for matches to Eddie's next significant marker,
0:53:26 > 0:53:29which will bring him back to the UK.
0:53:29 > 0:53:33He's compared it to the DNA of 12,000 individuals
0:53:33 > 0:53:37who submitted to a full exhaustive test of their mother line DNA.
0:53:37 > 0:53:42He found four matches and he's arranged for Eddie to meet one.
0:53:42 > 0:53:47The match is so recent and so rare that it has yet to be given a name.
0:53:48 > 0:53:54You're going to meet two sisters, your nearest genetic cousins on your mother's side.
0:53:54 > 0:53:58They're in Northamptonshire. You share an ancestor with them
0:53:58 > 0:54:02- at some point in the last 500-1,000 years.- Oh?
0:54:02 > 0:54:10'So probably your ancestor came prior to that, which would fit in rather well with the Viking age.
0:54:10 > 0:54:13'So you're really very close genetically.'
0:54:23 > 0:54:27- Hello.- Hi. I'm Jackie. - Hello. What's your name?
0:54:27 > 0:54:32- Hi, I'm Jill.- Hello, Jill. Apparently, we're related.- Yes.
0:54:32 > 0:54:38- Through genetics and stuff. - That's pretty interesting. - Can I come into your house?- Sure!
0:54:38 > 0:54:44The sisters share a common maternal ancestor with Eddie, possibly as few as 20 generations ago.
0:54:46 > 0:54:48We are ancestral cousins.
0:54:48 > 0:54:53- Yeah, when you think of all these thousands of years, it's amazing. - Yeah.
0:54:53 > 0:55:00We're quite close as relatives. I thought we'd be Anglo-Saxons, being blonde and blue-eyed.
0:55:00 > 0:55:04- Right. But you didn't think Viking? - No, never Viking.
0:55:04 > 0:55:07I was excited when they said Viking.
0:55:07 > 0:55:13- But they were killers. - They were actually terrible people. - I know.
0:55:13 > 0:55:15But everybody wants to be a Viking.
0:55:15 > 0:55:22My mother died when I was a kid, so it's interesting to have this all opened, the mother's line.
0:55:22 > 0:55:29This newly-found link to his mum encourages Eddie to tell the sisters about the impact of her death.
0:55:29 > 0:55:37You become this emotionally cut-down person, but you deal with things as you're used to being on your own.
0:55:37 > 0:55:42I always think something bad could happen, so you don't get surprised.
0:55:42 > 0:55:47- You never go crazy in case something goes the other way.- That's sad.
0:55:47 > 0:55:52- Did you say you've got children? - I've got 42. No, I haven't got any.
0:55:54 > 0:55:56I have no kids,
0:55:56 > 0:56:00but I'm going to get some from a shop.
0:56:00 > 0:56:04- You are funny.- On a good day.
0:56:04 > 0:56:08- Thanks for doing this. Cheers. Nice to meet you.- Thanks.
0:56:08 > 0:56:14- Thanks for the cup of tea. - We'll feed you, if you like. - I think we'll be fine.
0:56:16 > 0:56:21'I was looking into their faces to see if I could see myself.
0:56:21 > 0:56:27'Not essentially, but they seemed very young at heart and lively. I identify with that.
0:56:27 > 0:56:33'It's fascinating to meet people with whom I so recently share ancestry.'
0:56:33 > 0:56:37In the lab, Jim has one final surprise for Eddie.
0:56:37 > 0:56:42He's been looking for matches to Eddie's most recent marker.
0:56:42 > 0:56:46It's actually incredible. We found that you had a marker in your DNA
0:56:48 > 0:56:52that no one else I've ever looked at carried. It's probably recent.
0:56:52 > 0:56:56- It's unique.- Yes! One tries to be special.
0:56:56 > 0:56:59It could just mean you're an idiot.
0:56:59 > 0:57:05- And none of the people had the change that we saw in your DNA, so it was quite exciting.- Wow.
0:57:05 > 0:57:12- We're still working on this, Eddie. We don't know all the answers. - Unique sounds cool.- I told you!
0:57:15 > 0:57:22I believe that at some stage soon we will find a match to Eddie's unique mother line marker.
0:57:22 > 0:57:29We'll discover many more markers in his DNA and in our DNA. This is only the beginning for science.
0:57:29 > 0:57:34Five years ago, this ground-breaking journey would not have been possible.
0:57:34 > 0:57:39To suddenly have it spelt out like that is amazing.
0:57:39 > 0:57:45I knew my mum for six years and then she went and now I know these huge chunks of stuff
0:57:45 > 0:57:48going all the way back to Africa, through Turkey, up to Denmark
0:57:48 > 0:57:52and her lineage probably came in a thousand years ago.
0:57:52 > 0:57:57And the Vikings landed on the seas of Britain in weather like this
0:57:57 > 0:58:01and scared the bejesus out of everyone,
0:58:01 > 0:58:08but maybe my mum was in the second wave, accountant Vikings saying, "How many swords have you got?"
0:58:09 > 0:58:15'To find out now about my father's life. That will be very interesting, to put those two together.
0:58:15 > 0:58:21'I'm interested in what goes together in me of my mother and my father, and where he comes from.'
0:58:21 > 0:58:27Next time, Eddie discovers how the male Izzards battled with the Ice Age
0:58:27 > 0:58:30and slept with an alien species.
0:58:30 > 0:58:35- Oh, sorry, mate.- You can't get much more masculine than that.
0:58:48 > 0:58:51Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd