Actress Olivia Colman claims to be 'the least adventurous person I know.' As for her ancestors, apart from a rumour that there was a Frenchwoman somewhere in her family tree, Olivia thinks they are largely from Norfolk, so she is astonished to discover that she needs to travel to India to find out more about her great-great-great-grandmother Harriot.

Olivia finds records that reveal Harriot was an orphan in 1811 on a ship bound for England from (then) Calcutta. Harriot's father was an Englishman, but the identity of her mother, who gave birth to her in a remote Indian village, is a mystery Olivia delights in solving.