Murder charge shock as Julie Walters traces ancestry

But down-to-earth Black Country actress Julie Walters never forgot her roots.

And now she has had her family history - warts and all - revealed on national television.

The star has appeared on popular BBC show Who Do You Think You Are?

And she got a surprise when she discovered her great-grandfather was once charged with murder.

The beloved multiple award-winning actress kicked off the first episode of the new series on BBC1 last night.

In an emotional programme she almost broke down in tears when learning about the poverty in which some of her ancestors were forced to live.

The actress, known for roles in Educating Rita, Dinnerladies and the Harry Potter films, had to travel to Ireland to find out more about her relatives.

Her parents were both born in the country before moving to the Midlands where the actress was born.

It was her great-grandfather Anthony became the subject of the most surprising revelations that Walters uncovered.

He raised seven children in County Mayo, living in a large house and farming 43 acres of land.

Anthony became secretary of the local branch of the Irish National Land League, representing small tenants fighting to prevent evictions of poverty-stricken people.

But in 1881 the group was banned and leaders imprisoned, with Anthony placed on a wanted list.

He evaded arrest by moving to America but in 1884 was charged with murder after a fracas with a 75-year-old taxi driver, James Joyce.

However, it transpired the man died of natural causes following a seizure and not of any injuries received in the fight.

Julie said: "It sounds like trumped up charges. Maybe the police had it in for him as he was an activist and troublemaker. They wanted to imprison him. I'm so relieved he didn't murder anyone.

"What a life he's had. One minute he's a hero, the next minute he is a criminal.

"I will have to write a script about him."

The show saw Julie initially think that other family members were 'comfortable' landowners, before she learns the truth when she visits their ramshackle home.

"It makes me want to cry," she said.

"The thought of people huddling in places like this with no food. How desperate they must have been. They knew they couldn't pay the rent."

On learning that her great-grandmother Maria O'Brien went against her father's wishes to join the Ladies' Land League, she said "I found it difficult to go against my mother, an O'Brien, to be an actress. That was really hard, I had to get people to stand in between us.

"I'm absolutely thrilled that it wasn't just the men; that my great-grandmother was involved in the movement, how fabulous. Heroines, they were."