The Chase's Anne Hegerty learns she is related to the Queen

Celebrity ancestry show DNA Journey returns to our screens with a fascinating episode featuring two of The Chase's favourite stars, Anne Hegerty and Shaun Wallace.

ITV's answer to Who Do You Think You Are? follows famous people tracing their family trees, with the added element that they work in pairs, and tonight's (Tuesday) first episode of the new series stars the Chasers.

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Usually founts of knowledge on any subject, the pair are hoping to fill in the gaps in what they know about their own relatives and they're set to make some very surprising discoveries — including a royal connection for Hegerty, known as The Governess on The Chase.

The TV star learns that her 20-times great grandfather was King Robert the Bruce — making her the 19th cousin of Queen Elizabeth II.

Watch: Who is The Queen?

Hegerty is known as a formidable opponent on the ITV quiz show and it seems her ancestors were something to be reckoned with, too, as she find out about one who survived two torpedo attacks and escaped the sinking of a ship by clinging to an upturned lifeboat.

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Wallace's family story is no less gripping, as he starts out by being confronted by an uncomfortable past that turns out to be nothing like it initially appears.

He traces his ancestors back eight generations to the early 1700s and a family member who amassed a fortune in Cuba, and together the friends track his family tree all the way out to Jamaica.

It's a strong start to the new series which will also include episodes from ITV daytime stars Kate Garraway and Alison Hammond, former Coronation Street stars Maureen Lipman and Rula Lenska, and skating legends and Dancing On Ice judges Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean.

Previously, DNA Journey has featured Ant and Dec, Martin and Roman Kemp, Freddie Flintoff and Jamie Redknapp, and Amanda Holden with Alan Carr.

DNA Journey airs at 9pm Tuesday, 5 April, 2022 on ITV.