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The Gift: Daily Summaries Delivered
by BBC Radio 4
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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- May 2, 202628 min
6. Deleted
After one of the biggest brands in at-home DNA testing is put up for sale - along with the genetic codes of millions of its customers - Jenny decides if she wants to continue to belong to the global DNA database.In The Gift, Jenny Kleeman has always looked at extraordinary truths that unravel when people take at-home DNA tests. For Series 3, Jenny is asking what it means to belong in a world where the global DNA database keeps expanding.Presenter: Jenny Kleeman Producer: Conor Garrett Production Coordinator: Juliette Harvey Commissioning Executive: Tracy Williams Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke The Gift is a BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4
- May 2, 202628 min
5. Forbidden
It’s a criminal offence to take an at-home DNA test in France – and Audrey and Arthur must break the law if they want to unlock the truths hidden in their genes.In The Gift, Jenny Kleeman has always looked at extraordinary truths that unravel when people take at-home DNA tests. For Series 3, Jenny is asking what it means to belong in a world where the global DNA database keeps expanding.Presenter: Jenny Kleeman Producer: Conor Garrett Production Coordinator: Juliette Harvey Commissioning Executive: Tracy Williams Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke The Gift is a BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4
- May 2, 202628 min
4. Puzzles
When the mystery of her past is solved, Kathy is confronted by a shocking true crime story that helps explain who she is.In The Gift, Jenny Kleeman has always looked at extraordinary truths that unravel when people take at-home DNA tests. For Series 3, Jenny is asking what it means to belong in a world where the global DNA database keeps expanding.Presenter: Jenny Kleeman Producer: Conor Garrett Production Coordinator: Juliette Harvey Commissioning Executive: Tracy Williams Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke *Archive reproduced with the permission of Idaho Falls Police Department*The Gift is a BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4
- May 2, 202628 min
3. Fathers
Technology catches up with sperm donors in ways they could never have imagined.In The Gift, Jenny Kleeman has always looked at extraordinary truths that unravel when people take at-home DNA tests. For Series 3, Jenny is asking what it means to belong in a world where the global DNA database keeps expanding.Presenter: Jenny Kleeman Producer: Conor Garrett Production Coordinator: Juliette Harvey Commissioning Executive: Tracy Williams Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke The Gift is a BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4
- May 2, 202628 min
2. Twins, Part 2
As they try to come to terms with their discovery, Michelle digs deeper into Lavinia’s test results – but Lavinia doesn’t want to knowIn The Gift, Jenny Kleeman has always looked at extraordinary truths that unravel when people take at-home DNA tests. For Series 3, Jenny is asking what it means to belong in a world where the global DNA database keeps expanding.Presenter: Jenny Kleeman Producer: Conor Garrett Production Coordinator: Juliette Harvey Commissioning Executive: Tracy Williams Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke The Gift is a BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4
- May 2, 202628 min
1. Twins, Part 1
The special bond between twin sisters Michelle and Lavinia is tested in an almost inconceivable way.In The Gift, Jenny Kleeman has always looked at extraordinary truths that unravel when people take at-home DNA tests. For Series 3, Jenny is asking what it means to belong in a world where the global DNA database keeps expanding.Presenter: Jenny Kleeman Producer: Conor Garrett Production Coordinator: Juliette Harvey Commissioning Executive: Tracy Williams Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke The Gift is a BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4
- Apr 28, 20262 min
Trailer
Jenny Kleeman is back with six more remarkable tales of truths that unravel when people take at-home DNA tests. The whole series is available on BBC Sounds from 2 May, 2026.
- Feb 22, 202528 min
Bonus: 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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About The Gift
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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