Dame Harriet Walter features on Thursday's episode of Who Do You Think You Are? where she makes an emotional family admission09:11, 30 Jul 2026Dame Harriet Walter talks about her mum on Who Do You Think You AreDame Harriet Walter delves into her family history on Thursday's episode of Who Do You Think You Are?‌The legendary actress, 75, has graced our screens for years in incredible films and television shows, such as Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Rocketman, Downton Abbey, The Crown, Succession, Killing Eve, Ted Lasso and Call The Midwife - to name just a few.‌However, Harriet is putting her family in the spotlight for the latest episode of Who Do You Think You Are?, which airs on Thursday 30 July.‌A synopsis teases of the episode: "Harriet Walter delves into her family history, discovering ancestors who are just as colourful as some of fictional characters she has played on stage and screen."In a journey that takes her from Whitehall to Italy to Australia, she follows in the footsteps of her ancestors, including her flamboyant Italian great-great-grandfather Girolamo Carindini, an Italian aristocrat who fled into exile and settled in Tasmania.‌"Here, he married Australia’s first opera diva. But drama and trouble followed Girolamo as he made as many headlines for his appearances in the debtor’s court as he did for his theatrical performances."In an exclusive clip obtained by the Mirror, it sees Harriet open up about her mother, Xandra Lee - the elder sister of renowned actor Sir Christopher Lee.Showing old pictures of her lookalike mother, Harriet says: "This is my mother, Xandra. She was a very sweet woman, had the most amazing sense of humour, but she was sort of slightly belittled by the men in my family."‌Harriet continues: "This picture is my parents, and they were married in December 1946. I knew a bit about what she did in the war. She worked in naval intelligence in the Admiralty, but she said, you would never in a million years tell your best friend, your husband, anybody what you were doing. You just would not do it."She said she was one of thousands of cogs in the machine and I just want to know much more about exactly what that machine was doing and what her part in it was. So I'm going to see what I can find."‌Using an archive database system, Harriet begins her research where an old The Tatler article appears about her mother. Harriet exclaims: "Oh, this is The Tatler, July, 1935. So yes, she'd have been 17, or sort of debutante age."Showing the article and picture, the actress confirms that it was for a debutante ball, adding: "Miss Xandra Lee. Oh look at her, that's very sweet, that picture, she was just partying really. This isn't war work mummy!"Later in the episode, Harriet will share her astonishment at the "extraordinary" discovery that her mother played a key part in the war effort - and never told her, instead passing it off as being "one of thousands of cogs in the machine"Article continues belowWho Do You Think You Are? airs at 9pm on Thursday 30 July on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.