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''Heir Hunters'' is a
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
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television programme focusing on attempts to find missing or unknown heirs, entitled to deceased people's estates before the
British Treasury lawfully collects the money. The show follows the work of
probate research
Probate research deals with finding heirs and proving their right to an inheritance. In some estates there may be no known heirs, or there may be missing heirs whose names are known but their contact information is not. There also may be known hei ...
ers from a number of different firms to show how the results of time-consuming research turned out. The main firms followed have been Fraser and Fraser, Celtic Research and Finders International.
It was announced in 2011 that ''Heir Hunters'' would run in both
BBC One
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...
daytime and in primetime television on
BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
that autumn. The eleventh series was aired on BBC One from 27 February 2017.
Description
The series is made by Flame TV, which is part of the Avalon Group. The first series was presented by
Nadia Sawalha
Nadia Sawalha (; born 18 November 1964) is a British actress, television personality and YouTuber. She played the role of Annie Palmer on the BBC One soap opera '' EastEnders'' from 1997 to 1999 and Gina in ITV comedy Second Thoughts from 1992 ...
, while all subsequent series are narrated by
Lisa Faulkner
Lisa Tamsin Faulkner (born 19 February 1972) is an actress, presenter and celebrity chef.
Early life
Faulkner was born in Merton, London, to David Faulkner and Julie (née Day). She lived in Esher and was educated at Tiffin Girls' School in ...
up to series 11. Series 12 is presented by
Michael Buerk
Michael Duncan Buerk (born 18 February 1946) is a British journalist and newsreader. He presented BBC News from 1973 to 2002 and has been the host of BBC Radio 4's ''The Moral Maze'' since 1990. He was also the presenter of BBC One's docudrama ...
. The programme combined the worlds of legal probate genealogy and family history for the first time attracting audiences of over 1.2 million.
The series was devised and developed by Jezz Wright for Irish Production company MINT TV after a meeting with Hector Birchwood from Celtic Research who features in the series. BBC Daytime executive Richard Thomson commissioned the first series to run alongside ITV's Trisha which had moved to Channel 5. MINT TV opted for a co-production with FLAME TV for the first series.
The series runs as part of
BBC One
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...
's weekday lineup in the early morning factual slot (9:15 am – 10:00 am), alongside shows including ''Animal 24:7'' and ''
Helicopter Heroes
''Helicopter Heroes'' is a British daytime television series, following the lifesaving work of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance. The first episode aired on 3 September 2007, and a total of seven series have been made. The programme ceased production i ...
''. The second series had record viewing numbers for the time slot and beat ''
The Jeremy Kyle Show
''The Jeremy Kyle Show'' is a British tabloid talk show presented by Jeremy Kyle and produced by ITV Studios. It premiered on the ITV network on 4 July 2005, and ran for seventeen series until its cancellation on 10 May 2019. It was the most ...
'' on ITV consistently during its run, prompting the BBC to immediately recommission repeatedly series after series with series 11 being filmed in the autumn of 2016.
The title cards for the 2008 and later series spell 'Heir Hunters' as 'H£ir Hunt£rs', using the pound sterling sign as a capital E. In each programme of the first two series three unclaimed estates from
Bona Vacantia
Unowned property includes tangible, physical things that are capable of being reduced to being property owned by a person but are not owned by anyone. ' (Latin for "ownerless goods") is a legal concept associated with the unowned property, which e ...
are mentioned in the hope of information being given by a viewer which could help find an heir or heirs. One of these mentioned in the first series resulted in information that led to some heirs being found for an estate.
The term "Heir Hunter" has become known to refer to any person or firm who tracks down beneficiaries to estates of deceased persons. "Heir hunters" may also be known as probate genealogists,
probate research
Probate research deals with finding heirs and proving their right to an inheritance. In some estates there may be no known heirs, or there may be missing heirs whose names are known but their contact information is not. There also may be known hei ...
ers, heir searchers, or forensic
genealogists
Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...
although the latter is mainly an American term for the industry.
Heir Hunters are unregulated in the UK although STEP (the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners) have endorsed their use.
The series has been repeated on the A+E Networks UK channels
History
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
and
Bio. and UKTV channels
Watch
A watch is a portable timepiece intended to be carried or worn by a person. It is designed to keep a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is designed to be worn around the wrist, attached by ...
and
Yesterday.
In 2011, it began to be transmitted on the
History Channel
History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...
in the UK, New Zealand and Australia. Despite being syndicated around the world the participants only received a nominal £1.00 in return for signing a standard Flame TV/reality television waiver.
From 21 November – 2 December 2011, ten re-versioned episodes of series 5 were shown on BBC Two at 7pm each weekday. The expanded episodes have an increased duration of 59 minutes and feature Lisa Faulkner on camera for the first time interviewing experts and Heir Hunters. BBC Two had ordered 20 episodes in total the 2nd set of 10 were from series 6 and were aired in January 2013.
Transmissions
The series was aired in a stripped daily format, running Monday – Friday for 3, 4, 5 and 4 weeks respectively. Series 10 was set to be re-edited into repeated 30-minute versions later in 2016 whilst filming for series 11 got underway. Series 11 began screening in 2017 and filming for Series 12 began in June 2017.
See also
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Probate research
Probate research deals with finding heirs and proving their right to an inheritance. In some estates there may be no known heirs, or there may be missing heirs whose names are known but their contact information is not. There also may be known hei ...
References
External links
The latest episodes detailed by the BBC and available to buy
Lynn SharpeGuest blog: my experience with the heir hunters 11 May 2012
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Heir Hunters
2007 British television series debuts
2010s British television series
BBC Television shows
British non-fiction television series