Presenter Laura Ansell introduces the first episode of her BBC Sounds series DNA Trail: The Promise.Billy from Brighton is in his 30s when he’s told by his mum Madeleine that the man who brought him up wasn't his ‘real’ dad.Armed with only his name: William Anderson and the fact he served in the Royal New Zealand Air Force, Billy goes in search of his biological father. He tracks him down in the late 1970s but is rejected.
On his deathbed in 2006, Billy's then teenage daughter Laura and his wife Jayne make him a promise - to find Billy’s family and get a photo of his dad - something that Billy longed for his whole life.To listen to the rest of the series just search for DNA Trail on BBC Sounds.
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24:40
Bonus Episode: Searching
A family's race against time to find the baby they believe DNA testing proves was switched at birth.It’s the perfect gift for the person who already has everything. It promises to tell you who you really are, and how you’re connected to the world. A present that will reveal your genetic past – but could also disrupt your future.In the second series of The Gift, Jenny Kleeman looked deeper into the unintended consequences - the aftershocks - set in motion when people take at-home DNA tests like Ancestry and 23andMe.This included "Switched"; the stories of two women who discovered they had been accidentally swapped at birth in a West Midlands hospital in 1967– all due to an Ancestry DNA test, received as a Christmas gift.As soon as the episode aired, people began to contact Jenny with tales of other incidences of accidental baby swaps - and one in particular stood out. Presenter: Jenny Kleeman
Producer: Becca Bryers
Executive Producer: Joe Kent
Production Coordinator: Gill Huggett
Commissioning Executive: Tracy Williams
Commissioning Editor: Dan ClarkeThe Gift is a BBC Studios Audio production for BBC Radio 4
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28:53
6. Superdonor
The donor conceived people turning to at-home DNA tests for answers.It’s the perfect gift for the person who already has everything. It promises to tell you who you really are, and how you’re connected to the world. A present that will reveal your genetic past – but could also disrupt your future.In the first series of The Gift, Jenny Kleeman looked at the extraordinary truths that can unravel when people take at-home DNA tests like Ancestry and 23andMe.For the second series, Jenny is going deeper into the unintended consequences - the aftershocks - set in motion when people link up to the enormous global DNA database.Reconnecting and rupturing families, uprooting identities, unearthing long-buried secrets - what happens after technology, genealogy and identity collide?Presenter: Jenny Kleeman
Producer: Conor Garrett
Production Coordinator: Gill Huggett
Editor: Philip Sellars
Commissioning Executive: Tracy Williams
Commissioning Editor: Dan ClarkeThe Gift is a BBC Studios Audio production for BBC Radio 4
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28:53
5. Donor
When testing your DNA becomes an obsession.It’s the perfect gift for the person who already has everything. It promises to tell you who you really are, and how you’re connected to the world. A present that will reveal your genetic past – but could also disrupt your future.In the first series of The Gift, Jenny Kleeman looked at the extraordinary truths that can unravel when people take at-home DNA tests like Ancestry and 23andMe.For the second series, Jenny is going deeper into the unintended consequences - the aftershocks - set in motion when people link up to the enormous global DNA database.Reconnecting and rupturing families, uprooting identities, unearthing long-buried secrets - what happens after technology, genealogy and identity collide?Presenter: Jenny Kleeman
Producer: Conor Garrett
Production Coordinator: Gill Huggett
Editor: Philip Sellars
Commissioning Executive: Tracy Williams
Commissioning Editor: Dan ClarkeThe Gift is a BBC Studios Audio production for BBC Radio 4
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28:39
4. Taboo
One man’s determination to find his mother reveals an unbearable secret.It’s the perfect gift for the person who already has everything. It promises to tell you who you really are, and how you’re connected to the world. A present that will reveal your genetic past – but could also disrupt your future.In the first series of The Gift, Jenny Kleeman looked at the extraordinary truths that can unravel when people take at-home DNA tests like Ancestry and 23andMe.For the second series, Jenny is going deeper into the unintended consequences - the aftershocks - set in motion when people link up to the enormous global DNA database.Reconnecting and rupturing families, uprooting identities, unearthing long-buried secrets - what happens after technology, genealogy and identity collide?Presenter: Jenny Kleeman
Producer: Conor Garrett
Production Coordinator: Gill Huggett
Editor: Philip Sellars
Commissioning Executive: Tracy Williams
Commissioning Editor: Dan ClarkeThe Gift is a BBC Studios Audio production for BBC Radio 4Details of organisations providing support with mental health, adoption and feelings of despair are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline
Without us realising, an enormous DNA database has been created online. It holds the secrets of your true identity and promises to reveal untold family connections. But what happens when online ancestry tests reveal more than you had bargained for?Across two series, Jenny Kleeman meets the men and women whose lives changed forever after they opened a box that contained a DNA test. Exposing scandals, upending identities, solving mysteries and delivering life-changing news - Jenny investigates what happens when genealogy, technology and identity collide.In a brand new bonus episode, Searching – available on BBC Sounds from 22 February, 2025 – Jenny meets a family who are in a race against time to find the baby they believe was switched at birth.
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