The actor couldn’t believe his huge family discovery (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Rex Features/Shutterstock)
When John Simm agreed to take part in a genealogy TV series with his close friend and frequent co-star Philip Glenister, he wasn’t anticipating uncovering a huge family secret.
But after taking a DNA test for ITV’s DNA Journey with Ancestry, he found out that the man he grew up believing was his birth dad was not his biological father.
So, the episode ended up taking an unexpected turn as he went on a journey to learn more about the paternal side of the family, which resulted in him meeting a half-sister who he previously hadn’t known existed.
At the very beginning of the instalment, it’s revealed that the two actors, who famously starred on the TV show Life on Mars together, took DNA tests three months before filming was due to take place.
While speaking to the camera, John, 54, laughed in an apparently nervous manner as he revealed how ‘unexpected’ his ancestry discovery was.
Explaining that his dad, who he thought was his biological dad, died in 2015, John recalled how he asked his mum if it would be ok if he delved into his family history.
John embarked on the journey of discovering his heritage with his friend and frequent co-star Philip Glenister (Picture: ITV)
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‘And then this revelation came out. Anyway, to cut a long story short, the DNA results came back and my dad is not my dad,’ he stated.
John revealed that when he spoke to his mum about taking the DNA test, she then admitted something to him that she never had before – that around the time of his conception, his parents had briefly broken up and seen other people before getting back together.
When John’s mum saw the doctor, she was assured that the dates lined up with her pregnancy after she questioned when her baby might have been conceived.
‘It spun my world and everything I thought I knew wasn’t real in a way,’ the Doctor Who star shared, adding that his mum was also extremely shocked by the revelation.
‘Out of everybody in my family, I was always closest to my Dad. When I was younger, we used to go round clubs playing guitar and singing, so I’m glad my Dad isn’t alive to see this, because I’m sure he’d be shocked and upset by it as well. He was my Dad.’
The actor was shown pictures of his biological father for the first time (Picture: ITV)
John was adamant that he wanted to continue with making the programme, despite being a very private person.
He also admitted that growing up, he always felt ‘a little bit different’ to his family, but couldn’t put his finger on why that might be.
Having thought that his biological dad was Ronald Simm, he was informed that his biological father was actually a man named Terence Naylor, who died in 1998 at the age of 58, when the actor …read more
Source:: Metro
