Paxman: I'm no softie

When Jeremy Paxman was seen sobbing on TV over his dead ancestors, it seemed a rare chink in his tough exterior.

But now the Newsnight host is trying to restore his image by claiming: "The experience didn't change my life and it was just a TV show."

Publicity pictures for BBC2's Who Do You Think You Are? series showed Paxman, 55, bursting into tears after finding out that his great-great-great-grandmother Mary McKay, a charwoman, died of tuberculosis and exhaustion. Paxman is now dismissive of his emotional display. His first instinct was to turn the programme down.

He adds: "But then I had second thoughts. You can't complain that television is full of inane game shows and celebrity twaddle and then obstruct someone who wants to make a programme about social history.

"What did I learn from the delving into my family background? I got the strong impression that the producer wanted me to say the experience had somehow changed my life. It didn't. It's just a television programme.

"My ancestors' tale - and that of most of our ancestors, I imagine - is of a struggle to escape poverty. It made me realise me how remarkably lucky we are. I kept muttering, 'we don't know we're born.'"

Who Do You Think You Are? with Jeremy Paxman will be shown on BBC2 on Wednesday 11 January