Name: DNA Family Secrets
Genre: Documentary
Released: 2021-03-02
Rating: 3.5

Overview

Stacey Dooley is meeting people across the UK who want to unlock mysteries hidden within their genetic code. Working with one of the UK’s leading geneticists, as well as genealogists, social workers and doctors, she uses the very latest DNA technology to reveal lost heritage, track down missing relatives and detect debilitating diseases before it is too late.

Seasons

Series 1

3 Episodes

2021

E01

Episode 1

3/2/2021

Bill wants to learn what happened to his father, while Charlie asks if she is safe from a deadly disease.

E02

Episode 2

3/9/2021

Janine’s origins have always been a mystery, and Duri fears she may get terminal cancer like her mother.

E03

Episode 3

3/16/2021

A set of adopted triplets want to discover their ethnicity, and gene therapy could stop Leo going blind.

Series 2

6 Episodes

2022

E01

Episode 1

4/19/2022·59m

Stacey is in Liverpool to meet 52 year-old Richard, who is on a life-long mission to discover the identity of his father. Sixty two year-old Janet has spent her life wondering if a rumour is true that she might have a secret sister. Glen’s mother never knew where his father was from, only that he wasn’t white.

E02

Episode 2

5/18/2022·58m

Liverpool-born Maureen is wondering if her father was an African-American GI who fell in love with her mother during the Second World War - which could mean she has family in the US. She’s also curious why her three sons are so musically talented and if the secret may lie in her DNA. 79-year-old Jackie grew up in a Nazi concentration camp as a Jewish orphan and wants to know why he survived. Was his dad actually a Nazi? And did any of his birth family escape the Holocaust?

E03

Episode 3

5/25/2022·58m

Forty-six-year-old Mel only found out as a teenager that she was conceived using a sperm donor. Now she wants to see if she can find her biological father’s identity by decoding her DNA - and discovers far more than she ever expected. Fi always knew she was adopted. What she didn't know until later in life was that her father murdered her birth mother. Fi wants to know if it is possible to inherit a 'murder gene'. Bahaa escaped the war in Syria but now wants to know if he carries a potentially deadly mutation in his DNA.

E04

Episode 4

6/1/2022·58m

38-year-old Clare was always told that her father was a British soldier stationed in Belfast during the Troubles. Now, Clare wants to solve the mystery of his identity. Leigh only discovered that he might have a secret sister after his mum passed away. He now wonders if his sister is still alive. It was only when Jenna and Ryan were pregnant that they realised they both carry a genetic mutation that could be deadly if passed on to their kids. They’re hoping that DNA testing can help.

E05

Episode 5

6/8/2022·58m

Georgina was conceived 34 years ago when her mum had a holiday romance with a Portuguese waiter. She’s now wondering if her father is still alive. Matthew grew up never knowing his father’s identity and wants to know if his ancestry is actually Caribbean. Michaela and Richie only realised they could pass down the genetic disorder 'bubble boy disease' when they had their son Arlo. Now they’re testing their second child’s DNA to discover if he has to undergo life-saving gene therapy.

E06

Episode 6

6/15/2022·59m

Stacey meets five sisters in Lancashire who only found each other as adults. They know they all share the same mum but want to find out if they also have the same father. Luke was a sperm donor as a university student in the late 1980s. He’s now come forward to find out if any potential children might be looking for him. After losing their mother to cancer, identical twins Diane and Louise want to test their DNA to discover if they both carry the cancer-causing BRCA genetic mutation.

Series 3

6 Episodes

2023

E01

Episode 1

9/27/2023·59m

Olympic athlete Sarah wants to find her father. Jean, 91, wants to know if her mum died during WW2, and twins Tanya and Kim want to discover their origins before time runs out

E02

Episode 2

10/4/2023·59m

Kerry wants to establish her father's true identity. Twins Madison and Sydney want to find their egg donor, and Anthony, 77, wants to discover who his American GI father is.

E03

Episode 3

10/11/2023·58m

Steph is a foundling looking for her biological family, while Mark wants to know if he really is Egyptian. Viv is searching for the sister who was taken from her mother in Ireland.

E04

Episode 4

10/18/2023·60m

Judy looks for her missing father, who was deported after World War II, presumed dead. John questions his ancestry, and Ukrainian sisters Svitlana and Oksana look for family in Britain.

E05

Episode 5

10/25/2023·60m

Adopted Laura is searching for any siblings, Anthony, Sally and Karen want to uncover the truth about their father's other child, and Julie is looking for answers about her ancestry.

E06

Episode 6

11/1/2023·59m

Charlotte looks for her dad after losing her mother. Rogie tries to find a secret sibling. And Lviss investigates whether his ancestry really is Nigerian.