A Gift that Delivers

BBC Radio 4's new podcast will make you think twice about buying 'The Gift for the person who has everything' (aka a DNA test)...

At-home DNA testing has never appealed to me. For starters, I’m sceptical of their accuracy: can saliva posted from my kitchen to a lab -with all the potential contamination that could entail- really tell me I am 84.6% British and Irish, 14.3% French and German and 1.1% Ashkenazi Jewish? What does that even mean anyway?! And if it is so accurate, is it right that these private companies profit from terrorising the worried well with potential genetic conditions that might send them to an early grave? Through the post, they send a hand grenade and expect the GP to clear up the mess. At best it’s a fun and interesting -and perhaps a tad narcissistic- venture. At worst, it opens a can of rotten worms.

In spite of my cynicism on the subject, I tuned into Jenny Kleeman’s new podcast for BBC Radio 4, The Gift (my loyalties lie with the host herself, whose ever-friendly presence on Twitter brightens the cesspit). It’s a riveting six-part series that reveals the most unexpected secrets uncovered through at-home DNA testing. This is more than confirming suspicions about Mum and the Milkman. In the first episode, we meet Madeleine and Val, both donor-conceived women in their forties, who uncover a fraud whilst on a quest to find their birth fathers. Later episodes reveal how an at-home DNA test solved a four-decade old crime, how a small mistake in a fertility clinic can change everything and what it means to have your racial identity rewritten.

What struck me was the whole gamut of attitudes: from anger and outrage to apathy and grief. A man whose sperm was ‘stolen’ (or, in his rather apt description, used ‘willy-nilly’) is asked by Jenny if he is angry. His response? “Nah too long ago mate.” His wife echoed that sentiment saying, “I don’t think backwards, I just think now and onwards.” The greatest source of rage was softly spoken Madeleine, who wanted to smash Dr Boyd’s headstone whom she believed was her biological father.

This series serves more than one purpose. If you’re after a wild tale, something that will blow your mind, the Gift will certainly deliver. If you’re after something thought-provoking, The Gift, again, will deliver. It’s packaged in such a way that gently probes identity. Questioning our cultural, spiritual and political identities is increasingly part of everyday discourse. With the commercialisation of genetic testing in the form of at-home DNA tests, we can now explore our genetic identities too. The Gift leaves me questioning how our more subjective identities relate to the more objective, scientific identities present in our DNA. And if we find out new genetic information about ourselves or others, how does that change our perception and understanding of the past? DNA tests have the power to completely upend our identities and I’m left wondering if the value we place on these tests is more revealing than the results themselves. Why do we seek external validation of our identities?

A podcast detailing family trees and parallel storylines risks becoming convoluted and difficult to navigate but our host artfully subverts this fate. She guides us through the interviewees testimonies with handy pit stops to consolidate and highlights notable points to remember. Jenny achieves the ‘friendly voice in your ear’ style that I love in a podcast, posing deeper questions whilst maintaining a chatty, lighter tone. The Gift is a joy to listen to, so much so I listened to the first episode twice. I have even sought out one of Jenny’s previous series - if that’s not an endorsement then what is?! But will I be spitting into a test tube and sending off my saliva to 23 and Me? No thank you.    

Listen on BBC Sounds