Heir Hunters
| Heir Hunters | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Factual |
| Directed by | John Widdup (series 4) |
| Presented by |
Nadia Sawalha (series 1) Lisa Faulkner (series 2-9) |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 9 |
| No. of episodes | 180 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Matthew Gordon Roger Bolton (2012) |
| Producer(s) | Harriet Scott (2012) John Widdup (2010–11) Livia Russell (2009) Paula Fasht (2008) |
| Location(s) | Various |
| Running time | 45–60 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Flame Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC One |
| Picture format | 16:9 |
| Original release | 4 June 2007 – present |
| External links | |
| Website | |
| Production website | |
Heir Hunters is a BBC television programme focusing on attempts to find missing or unknown heirs, entitled to deceased people's estates before the British Treasury lawfully collects the money. The show follows the work of Probate researchers from a number of different firms to show how the results of time-consuming research turned out. The main firms followed have been Fraser and Fraser, Celtic Research and Finders International.
It was announced in 2011 that Heir Hunters would run in both BBC One daytime and in primetime television on BBC Two that autumn. The ninth series began airing on BBC One on 23 February 2015.
The series is made by Flame TV, which is part of the Avalon Group. The first series was presented by Nadia Sawalha, while all subsequent series are narrated by Lisa Faulkner. The programme made the fascinating worlds of legal probate genealogy and family history combine for the first time attracting audiences of over £1.2million with no sign of abating as each new series is commissioned.
The series runs as part of BBC One's weekday lineup in the early morning factual slot (9:15 am – 10:00 am), alongside shows including Animal 24:7 and Helicopter Heroes. The second series had record viewing numbers for the time slot and beat the The Jeremy Kyle Show on ITV consistently during its run, prompting the BBC to immediately recommission repeatedly series after series with series 11 being filmed in the autumn of 2016.
The title cards for the 2008 and later series spell 'Heir Hunters' as 'H£ir Hunt£rs', using the pound sterling sign as a capital E. In each programme of the first two series three unclaimed estates from Bona Vacantia are mentioned in the hope of information being given by a viewer which could help find an heir or heirs. One of these mentioned in the first series resulted in information that led to some heirs being found for an estate.
The term "Heir Hunter" has become known to refer to any person or firm who tracks down beneficiaries to estates of deceased persons. "Heir hunters" may also be known as probate genealogists, probate researchers, heir searchers, or forensic genealogists although the latter is mainly an American term for the industry.
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Wikipedia