DNA Trail

Jayne and Laura reflect on the remarkable similarities and coincidences they’ve uncovered.

They explore the circumstances which led everyone down the wrong path for so many years.

When Coronavirus lockdown hits, Laura asks the New Zealand government about recognising her family lineage. She’s shocked when an antiquated law at the time of her father’s birth points towards an injustice, one that Laura is determined to rectify.

Laura and Jayne meet Billy’s half-sister at the Sky Tower in Auckland and learn more about Billy’s dad.

Through Ancestry DNA they finally get clarification about the mystery man’s identity when Laura shows her new found aunty the cut-out photo of Madeleine sat on Brighton Beach.

A small twist in a name reveals why Billy navigated off course for so many years.

In her pyjamas and fluffy cat slippers Laura represents herself remotely in the Palmerston North Family Court in New Zealand. The judge remarks that this is a 'more than unusual' case when Laura asks for a paternity test between two deceased people using their biopsy samples.

When the test results come back, Laura and Jayne must question everything that they think they know. The team go to meet an Oxford ethics professor who thinks that giving the gift of DNA testing is not always the present you want it to be.

With the search spotlight back on Brighton an unexpected 'ping' brings hope and a change of course for the mother-daughter duo.

Laura and Jayne take the unusual step of getting Billy’s DNA via his lung cancer biopsy. They ask the Anderson family for a direct DNA test between William Anderson and Billy to prove they’re father and son.

When communication fizzles out the mother-daughter duo are left with no option but to go to court.

Meanwhile, with a DNA test kit in her handbag, Jayne recalls going to Ryde on the Isle of Wight to meet the woman claiming to be related to Billy.

Laura and Jayne travel to New Zealand to meet Billy’s half-siblings but they aren’t allowed to meet William Anderson himself. Laura forges an unbreakable bond with her uncle Murray and his wife Kareen.

When they return back to the UK there’s a huge shock waiting for Laura and Jayne.

A professional family tracer, who works on the British television series 'Long Lost Family', contacts them to say that she’s working on behalf of someone who believes she’s related to Laura’s late father, Billy.

Laura and her mum Jayne take a nostalgic trip to Brighton to visit important places from Billy’s past.

They explore World War Two in the city and how Billy’s dad might have met his mum Madeleine at one of the popular Brighton Dome dances.

Jayne also shares the importance of reaching out to Billy’s half-brothers. However, when she does, what he has to say shocks her.

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.

Laura Ancell's deathbed promise to her father takes her on a remarkable journey from the south coast of England to the other side of the world to solve a family mystery.

Presenter: Laura Ancell. Producer: Talia Slack. Sound Designer: Kasel Kundola. Creative Consultant: Meic Parry. Online Producer: Rachael Smith.

Cast

Billy... Alexander Arnold. William...Grant Rayner. Additional voices by: Alexandra Mead, Mereana Hond and David Jones.

With thanks to Dr Jennifer Cattermole. With special thanks to Stacey and Scotty Morrison.

Executive Producer: Rebecca Parker. Commissioning Editor: Alistair Miskin.