Old family scandal reduces Rebus star to tears

REBUS star Ken Stott uncovered a secret family scandal when he travelled to Sicily to film a TV show.

The actor, who was educated in Edinburgh, learned his grandmother had rocked her Italian hometown when she eloped with a local priest.

He had no idea about his colourful family past before he took part in the ITV1 programme, You Don't Know You're Born.

He was reduced to tears when he found out his mother Antonia was born after an affair between a teacher, Michela Ferrante and a priest, Giuseppe Sansica, who was 20 years her senior.

They had shocked their families when he abandoned his vocation and they eloped to Milan. She became known as " the woman in red".

Mr Stott began his quest to uncover his roots at his old school, George Heriot's, where his father David was deputy head, before travelling to Trapani in western Sicily. "It was a beautiful story and I was overwhelmed by it," he said. The programme will be shown next Tuesday at 9pm.