H£ir Hunt£rs (2007– ) User Reviews

Interesting and popular programme

[bap-94895 · 7/10 · 21 August 2017]

The programme is a fly-on-the wall documentary series following the work of probate researchers in the UK. As of 2017 it is currently airing season 11. The UK government publishes a list of people who have died without a will or known next-of-kin. If no heirs can be traced by the Treasury the name and home location of the deceased are published as Bona Vacantia. Anyone can take this information and if successful in tracing legitimate heirs can negotiate a commission for managing their claim.

The format is that a few cases are followed through with commentary from the researchers, interviews with potential heirs and a voice- over (provided by Lisa Faulkner after the first few series.) The voice- over explains aspects of inheritance law and the history of the family trees being uncovered.

The programme mines a rich seam of British social history of the last few hundred years. In covering the stories of named individuals it reveals the history of people and families that will never be covered by any history book that J. Random Public is ever likely to read. The programme is likely to appeal to fans of genealogy, whodunnits, British industrial and social history.

Totally addictive!

[natalie_page-55276 · 10/10 · 5 June 2017]

I just love love love this programme it's just brilliant, which is why it's probably run for so many years. I used to watch it as a student and now I just love having a sick day, as it means I can catch up on what the genealogists have been up to. If you love history, you will love Heir Hunters. It's a must watch!

Ghoulish low budget self aggrandising daytime tripe

[Bobby9976 · 4 August 2011]

I felt that I had to give my opinion on this British daytime TV program.

Every episode is essentially the same, in that the firm being portrayed scours obituaries for intestate deaths that they may be able to profit from.

Their intention is to find relatives of the deceased so they can impart the remaining monies to them and take a commission (otherwise the money goes to the government).

The firm will only chase up an intestate death if there is a substantial amount of money left, and if there is a good possibility of tracing the deceased's family tree, so they would need to have a fairly unusual surname also.

Reading between the lines, it is clear that these companies are just looking to make money for themselves but the program attempts to portray them as caring about the poor deceased and being determined to find surviving relatives for them. In addition the program goes on to give the life story of the deceased and explain the past life of the deceased, and relies heavily on newsreel footage and interviews with "experts" where necessary, typically the deceased will have been through WWII so 10 minutes of the show will talk about the blitz or evacuation etc.

We see also the investigator tracing the relatives and contacting them "good news your uncle's dead, give me money" or words to that effect.

This is without a doubt the most despicable and ghoulish program I have ever seen. The BBC should be ashamed of themselves. It is obvious that the budget for daytime TV must be almost non-existent, but I cannot understand why they would commission programs that delve into the personal lives of deceased individuals that obviously had no say in this matter, and attempt to portray the company involved as though they are providing a service to them. I had thought traffic wardens were near the bottom of the barrel but these ghouls are much much worse.

Also the program is not even interesting, so they are going through dead people's dirty laundry on TV to make money, whilst trying to present themselves as good samaritans and it is not even interesting to watch - the testcard was better than this.