Comedian Aisling Bea explores her Limerick farming roots on BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are

BEAUTIFUL shots of the rolling green countryside of County Limerick were beamed into millions of BBC viewers’ homes on Tuesday night’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are.

The guest exploring her family’s history was Kildare-born and London-based comedian Aisling Bea.

Aisling learned about her great-grandmother Martha Sheehy, and her life on a farm before and after the great famine in Adare, from historian Dr Richard McMahon 

The scenes were shot on the farm and farm shop of Hannah Quinn-Mulligan at Tory Hill House, Croom.

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Hannah said the request from the BBC came "completely out of the blue". 

"The whole family were sworn to secrecy by the production team. I had to sign a non-disclosure agreement so we couldn't tell anyone what was happening, but even then we didn't know who the celebrity was until the day they arrived," explained Hannah. 

She said it was an incredible honour to have the farm and farm shop used as a location.

“We're lucky it's such a scenic area and the production team really seemed to appreciate having the 18th century farmyard to film in.

"We're actually big Aisling Bea fans and fans of her series This Way Up, so we were delighted to have her on the farm and she even sampled the ice cream from the farm shop,” said Hannah.

Aisling learned that her great-grandmother had to fend for herself and her children after her husband died following an attack by 20 or 30 men on their house and farm. They stole guns and wrecked a threshing machine

Hannah farms with her grandmother Catherine (pictured below) and recently set up the farm shop.

“It was great to see from investigations on the show that Aisling came from another line of strong farming women.

"I've always maintained that women have been the backbone of Irish farming and it was brilliant to see that represented on the BBC. It was also great to see Limerick well represented on a show watched by millions across the UK and Ireland,” said Hannah.

If you want to see where the scenes on the show were shot, then the Tory Hill House farm shop is open every Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 3pm, serving their own organic dairy and beef.