“Everything I thought I knew, wasn’t real” — Doctor Who star John Simm on discovering his father Ronald Simm was not his biological parent

Doctor Who star John Simm was shocked at the discovery that his father was not a biological parent to him. In an upcoming episode of ITV's DNA Journey featuring Simm, the actor learned that his late musician father Ronald Simm was in fact not his actual father. Simm discovered that his biological dad was another man named Terence Naylor.

John's biological father was from Featherstone in West Yorkshire and passed away in 1998. He also learned that he had a half-sister. According to Metro, the actor's mother revealed to him that she and Ronald Simm had broken up for a brief period before his conception. The Doctor Who star was shocked by the revelation. The actor stated:

"It spun my world and everything I thought I knew wasn’t real in a way."

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"I’m glad my Dad isn’t alive to see this"- John Simm on discovering that Ronald Simm was not his biological dad

According to a September 30 article published by The Telegraph, Doctor Who's John Simm was shocked by his ancestral revelation on ITV's DNA Journey. For the first installment of the show's fifth season, Life on Mars co-stars Simm and Philip Glenister decided to trace their ancestry.

As per an October 1 Metro article, both actors had taken their DNA tests three months prior to filming. Simm admitted that he only did the show as a favor to his close friend Philip Glenister, who didn't want to go at it alone. Before taking the test, Simm had a long conversation with his mother.

Ronald Simm, the man who John thought was his biological father passed away in 2015. John was conceived in the 60s when both his parents were still very young. John's mother revealed to him for the first time that at the time of his conception, she and Ronald Simm had briefly split up and were even seeing other people before eventually getting back together again.

John Simm's mother told him that when she went to the doctor to understand when she might've conceived, the doctor actually assured her that her pregnancy dates lined up. When the tests came back, apart from John, his mother was also in a state of shock. As per Metro, the actor said on the show:

"And then this revelation came out. Anyway, to cut a long story short, the DNA results came back and my dad is not my dad."

John could not believe the results due to how close he was to his father. He said:

"Out of everybody in my family, I was always closest to my Dad. When I was younger, we used to go round clubs playing guitar and singing, so I’m glad my Dad isn’t alive to see this, because I’m sure he’d be shocked and upset by it as well. He was my Dad."

John Simm's biological father, Terence Naylor, passed away when John was only 28 in 1998. The actor recalled thinking that there was always something that differentiated him from the rest of his family when he was growing up but he just couldn't figure out what it was.

Drawing parallels to Ronald Simm who was abandoned by his mother as a child and raised in an orphanage, Terence Naylor was born to a 16-year-old mother right before his father was called up for World War 2. Naylor was adopted and raised by his mother's aunt.

Terence Naylor married three times, giving John Simm a half-sister named Karen, born three years before him, from the first marriage. Simm's biological father spent a lot of time in working men’s clubs, giving John the notion that he and Naylor may have crossed paths at some point as John and Ronald Simm performed on stage in the very same area.

During the episode, the actor met up with his half-sister Karen in Yorkshire, who also didn't know that she had a half-brother. Karen presented John with photographs of their biological father and noted that John Simm had an uncanny resemblance to Terence Naylor, especially when it came to his eyes.

The DNA Journey episode featuring John Simm and Philip Glenister will air on Wednesday, October 9, on ITV1, ITVX, STV, and STV Player.