Emotional Ant McPartlin admits he is close to tears after making an incredible family discovery.
While delving into his family tree for ITV show Ant & Dec’s DNA Journey, the Geordie presenter finds out he is related to a military hero.
Ant goes back three generations on his father's side to discover that his great grandfather, Peter McPartlin, won the Military Medal for his bravery at the Battle of the Somme.
In an exclusive clip shown on today's Lorraine, stunned Ant admits he is "really proud" of his heroic ancestor to pal Declan Donnelly.
When told his great grandfather was an "absolute hero", he replied: "Wow, don’t say that you’ll start me crying. This is really fascinating."
"To fight at The Battle of the Somme and to be awarded the Military Medal, he was a hero.
"It’s quite emotional. I could have cried. It’s like you’re so proud, really proud."
They visited the Tyneside Irish Centre, where Bill Corcoran told them of the Tyneside Irish Brigade in the First World War.
But Dec's family history is very different - as his great, great grandfather, James Donnelly, was court marshalled and labelled a deserter during the Crimean War.
A document revealed he was "tried and imprisoned for habitual drunkenness" and military expert Glenn Fisher told Dec it would have "brought shame upon his family".
Stunned Dec said: “It was not what I was expecting at all, nowhere near. I didn’t ever expect it was going to be a colourful history.”
Elsewhere, Ant is told he is related to half the residents of the Irish village of Drumkeeran in County Leitrim.
He jokes there is "definitely some resemblance" when he meets up with them all in a pub.
Ant said: "I found a lot of similarities in the look of my cousins.
"Dec nicknamed the pub The Fog and Forehead because lots of people had foreheads and noses that were similar to mine."
Ant also discusses making up with his estranged father, Ray, who left while he was still a schoolboy.
He says: "My dad left the family when I was about 10 and I’ve seen him sporadically over the years.
"I haven’t seen him for a long while now. We didn’t speak for quite a while… but last year we started texting each other and I spoke to him on the phone for my birthday, which was lovely.
"To be fair, life is too short. There is no point holding grudges or anything like that. You get to that age… I turned 40 and I just thought let’s stop messing about, let’s get in touch because you never know what’s going to happen."
* Ant and Dec's DNA Journey airs Sunday and Monday at 9pm on ITV
