A Detroit-born TV superstar has been found to have strong South Yorkshire roots after research revealed he descended from a family based near Barnsley.

78-year-old Tom Selleck graced television screens during the 1980s as Thomas Sullivan Magnum IV in the popular Magnum PI show. Now, the Michigan-born actor has been revealed to descend from South Yorkshire, with historic family roots in Worsbrough, near Barnsley.

Caroline Coffey, 55, was reportedly shocked to find Mr Selleck on a branch of her family tree, as she researched her family history. She told The Sun: “Tom’s great-great-grandfather Robert Jagger was born in Yorkshire in 1856 and one of his sons, Thomas, emigrated to America.”

Caroline revealed Robert Jagger was her own great-grandfather and her gran “was a Jagger”. The Barnsley Chronicle reports suspicions of Mr Selleck’s links to the area have since been proved thanks to local research, who have stated Thomas Jagger had moved to Pennsylvania in 1881.