TV quiz star Anne Hegerty says she plans to Chase down her Irish roots

“My great great grandfather was Sam Hegerty from Cork, I think he left during the great potato famine, and came to London,” she tells sundayworld.com.

“The thing is it’s an awfully big county and we don’t know where exactly he was from, so all I have is a name.

“My mother’s grandparents married at the register office on Wellington Quay. One of them was from Downpatrick and the other one from Co Laois.”

Anne (65) admits Dubliner Darragh Ennis becoming the sixth ‘chaser’ on the hit TV show in 2020 was a huge boost.

“He’s a lovely guy,” she says. “He’s the only chaser that none of us knew before he was taken off.

"But he’s very nice and he’s very popular with the viewers, because he was a former contestant.”

Anne, who was in Dublin yesterday to promote Virgin Media’s new autumn schedule also explained her background.

“I grew up in north London and I lived in Manchester for nearly 40 years.

“But for the last few years I’ve also been renting a house in Watford, which is close to filming,” she recalls.

“I started out as a journalist, starting out in south Wales.

"I realised I didn’t like being edited, I wanted to do the editing, so I moved into book publishing and spent about 20 years as a proof reader.

“Then I just kind of discovered accidentally there was a high level quizzing circuit in the UK, so I started quizzing and got tapped up for The Chase.

“I came over here because a few years ago as it was the Irish Quizzing Open, for a day trip and to take part in that. Then in 2014 for the Celtic Nations Quizzing championships.

She joined The Chase in 2010 for series two.

“I don’t really tend to register the amounts because its not my money,” she smiles when asked what’s the most she lost.

“The thing is our job is to answer the question, our job is not to think about the money, just think about the questions

“I’m always trying to do my best, because that’s my job.

"There are times when I’m thinking to myself ‘I actually really hope that my best is not good enough, but I will do my best’”.

Despite her high-profile TV roles, Anne says still likes ordinary quizzes.

“Earlier this year in January I went to York to do a speed quiz, because I always think I’m slow – I’m not a speed quizzer, I need to improve that – and to my amazement I ended up coming somewhere like fifth and won 50 quid.

"Which is nice, because you don’t have to declare winnings,” she says.

She has also done other shows.

“I’ve done Mastermind twice and gone out in the first round twice.

"I’ve done Brain of Britain three times and made the final once,” she notes.

“People always say ‘were you know tempted to do Millionaire?’.

“I was tempted, but the thing is you had so little chance of getting through on the phone.

"The first two people that won the million in Britain said they both budgeted money for the phone calls, they put aside £1000 for the phone calls

“Obviously if I had a spare £1000, but in those days there were so many other things I needed to spend it on.”

She adds: “I like history, literature, royal history. I very much like old popular culture

“Sport is an Achilles heel. It is so for a lot of women because a lot of women aren’t interested. I try to improve but it is what it is.”

New shows coming up this autumn on Virgin Media include The Kardashians, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and Below Deck Mediterranean.

Also scheduled is brand-new dating show with a twist, Grá ar an Trá, where hosts Síomha Ní Ruairc and James Kavanagh, have thrown open the doors of their ‘Love Teach’, where under the watchful eye of Gráinne Seoige as 10 singletons will be put through their paces to learn Irish to find love.

Contestants will aim to be crowned the 'couple with the most focal', walking away with €10,000.

Brian Dowling will lead a team of interior designers and tradespeople in 'The Salvage Squad’ to show how you can achieve the home renovation of your dreams, without it costing the earth.

However, the twist is they can't buy anything new and have a maximum spend of €1,000 and just three days.

As previously revealed in the Sunday World, Lucy Kennedy is back for another series of Living With Lucy where She lodges with a new line-up of celebrities includes Katie Price, sports broadcaster Des Cahill, Coronation Street star Simon Gregson, comedian Andrew Maxwell, and former footballer turned pundit Richard Sadlier.

Gogglebox Ireland is also back for another season, with the nation’s favourite armchair critics returning, along with some new faces.

The Guards also returns for a second series on Monday, delving into the world of gangland crime, following the guards in their fight against Ireland's criminal networks. ‘

To Die For: Cosmetic Surgery in Turkey sees Virgin Media News investigate the rising number of people travelling from Ireland to Turkey for medical and cosmetic procedures.