SCOTLAND'S Homecoming 2014 celebration plans have been dealt another serious blow with the cancellation of a multimillion-pound event.

Organisers hoped to stage the world's largest genealogy event at the SECC in Glasgow next year, with up to 18,000 people taking part in the BBC spin-off Who Do You Think You Are? Live extravaganza.

Who Do You Think You Are? Live is held annually at the Olympia Centre in London. Participants are given the opportunity to meet genealogy experts, who help them unravel their roots, as well as celebrities who have taken part in the television series.

The show's director said the event was not viable for next year, although it would be considered again in the future.

Talks involved the Scottish Government-appointed chairman of the Ancestral Tourism Steering Group. The group was set up to help tap up to £500 million a year from tourists looking into their Scottish family history.

The BBC series Who Do You Think You Are? has been credited with fuelling interest in family history. In one notable episode, singer Annie Lennox from Aberdeen uncovered a colourful past including an ancestor who was hauled before the Kirk after giving birth to an illegitimate child.

Steering group chairman Dr Bruce Durie, a genealogist and author known for his BBC Radio Scotland series Digging Up Your Roots, said the collapse of the deal was disappointing.

He said: "It's a great pity. Lots of people in Scotland – including those most closely connected with Homecoming Scotland 2014 – put heart and soul into making this happen.

"The entire genealogical community – Scotland, UK-wide and overseas – thought it was natural. But after an initial flurry of enthusiasm from the London organisers, it all went very quiet. An opportunity missed, and not the fault of anyone in Scotland."

Andy Healy, director of Who Do You Think You Are? Live, said: "Whilst we've been encouraged by expressions of interest and verbal support from family history societies in Scotland, we haven't yet been able to secure enough commercial support from the wider industry to make a show at the SECC financially viable for 2014. We are, however, really buoyed by the level of enthusiasm generated by the possibility of holding a Who Do You Think You Are? Live! event in Glasgow, and will continue to try to find ways to make this work."

Murdo Fraser, convener of Holyrood's Economy and Tourism Committee, has criticised Homecoming plans in the wake of the £600,000 loss shouldered by the Edinburgh Gathering 2009, and after a 2014 Gathering was axed amid projected losses of £250,000.

VisitScotland chairman Mike Cantlay said: "More than 50 million people worldwide have Scottish ancestry and, while Who Do You Think You Are? Live would obviously have been an excellent fit for the Year of Homecoming, Scotland is getting ready to celebrate with a whole host of fantastic ancestral-themed events in 2014.

"Ahead of this, in November we will be launching a major ancestral marketing campaign, something that will appeal to those who are keen to dig up their Scottish roots or, indeed, anyone with an interest in Scotland."

Immediate Media, which produces the show, is not owned by the BBC but publishes BBC Top Gear, BBC Good Food and BBC EasyCook on behalf of BBC Worldwide.

It also produces a number of other titles including BBC History, Gardeners' World, Focus and the CBeebies portfolio.