10 things you need to know about Cheryl’s amazing discoveries on Who Do You Think You Are

1 Is Cheryl’s appearance on the family-tree show all thanks to TV Magazine?

Last year she exclusively told us: “I really want to do Who Do You Think You Are?. It would be amazing to find out my background. It’s always a really emotional journey, but I would love it. I need to put myself forward for the next series.”

And what do you know? Here she is!

2 Cheryl, 33, expected her father Garry Tweedy Sr’s side of the family to be Geordie coal miners, so she was surprised when it turned out they were actually mariners. “It’s interesting because I hate the sea,” reflects Cheryl. “I’ve always been afraid of it. I had really bad dreams when I was little about drowning in it, being an old woman with a headscarf on. Isn’t that weird?”

3 Though she’s very close to her mother Joan Callaghan, Cheryl does admit: “Things feel more mysterious on her side. I never heard tales. I think she had a lot of questions herself when I was growing up.”

4 There’s scandal! Cheryl’s great- grandfather Joseph Ridley and his housekeeper had twin girls – despite not being married. “It makes sense now, why Joseph was kind of a mystery,” Cheryl says. “In those days, having children out of wedlock was seriously frowned upon.”

5 The pop star travels to the France/Belgium border where she’s humbled by Joseph’s exploits during WWI. “It’s surreal to think that we’re stood here a hundred years later, with the luxuries we have, because of their sacrifice,” she says.

6 In North Shields, Cheryl researches her four-times great-grandad John Wood Laing, recalling: “As kids we’d play on the rocks here, pick sea snails, build sandcastles. This is real memories.”

7 As well as finding tales of hardship, she unearths stories of love. On seeing a picture of John and his wife Caroline, Cheryl observes: “You get a real sense they were crazy about each other.”

8 Cheryl sees parallels between her life and John’s: “He lived in a poor area and wasn’t in a good way, but to find out it improved is amazing. That’s what happened with me. Hard work pays off.”

9 She’s proud to learn her relatives looked after one another. “It’s just typical Geordie mentality to always keep your family involved,” she smiles.

10 And making the programme confirmed what Cheryl always knew. “It’s true when they say northerners are made of tough stuff.”

Want to plan your Christmas viewing? Get your guide to What's On TV from The Sun Online