Gene Detectives

[Pandabean]

As long as you get rid of big brother and programs like that as well. If so then i'm in.

. Can we start a movement to ban most so called reality TV??

[Tracey]

I just winced and gasped when i first saw it. It makes for one of those car crash moments when you cant believe what your seeing but watch in horror.
Shame as there is the potential for it to be a good programe.

I liked the bit where he said " i have just been faxed a copy of ...birth certificate from the records office............... shame we all cant be that lucky

[StewL]

Hello all

Here in the Antipodes we havent seen that programme, which appears to be a blessing in disguise. I for one would not consider watching a programme of this nature. The reason? Well! putting my Social Work hat on, any potential future link up with adoptees and their birth parents is fraught with danger and potentially serious heartbreak. I believe this was explored somewhere in a previous thread, and my views are very strong on this subject. Avoid it like the plague, there have been many well documented cases where after the initial euphoria, there has been extreme animosity towards the adoptee by the birth mothers family, and often the birth mother herself, who resents the intrusion into her life, of the child she gave up for what she considers was a very good reason.
Enough said on this subject, or I will get on my soapbox again

[wini]

(I haven't seen the programme and watch very little television. Reality shows are an insult to anyone's intelligence.
If you feel strongly about it, write to the Channel it appears on and turn it off.
It is the ratings that keep shows on the air.

wini

[DavidWW]

....snipped............
I'm sure I recall seeing a thread on GR where someone said the programme makers had been in contact with them about it and their particular family conundrum but then came back saying it was too difficult to find their relation......
.....snipped...............
Donna

I like it

That's called programme budgets, of which I've had recent experience , in fact even worse, since radio budgets are far below those for TV programmes.

In other words, "too difficult" is just a way of saying "We've got a budget of £X per programme, and this would take us over the limit", plus, possibly, I'd suspect, a time problem, i.e. not enough time to do the research, and, critically, allow people to come to terms with a massive surprise out of the blue.

In the latter case, in my most recent experience, from initial contact from client to locating the probable relative took 2 weeks (not full-time), but to the point of the client ctually speaking direct to his half-brother, took over a year.

In some situations, especially where an elderly memory has to be jogged, the next jigsaw piece only pops out when the previous piece is provided, - "Oh, yes, - now I remember. ................... whatever".

Of the situations that I did see on this programme none justified the description, so often stated, of "very difficult", - on occasion, yes, complicated, but that's different.

David

[DavidWW]

.......snipped..............

I liked the bit where he said " i have just been faxed a copy of ...birth certificate from the records office............... shame we all cant be that lucky

I'd be amazed if that actually happened. There is a priority service from GRO involving despatch by mail the following day, or collection at 10am (or is it 11am?) the following day but it costs £23 or £25.

OK, maybe GRO are cooperating and faxing material to the programme, but I doubt it.

I think that it's just that it sounds that much more "exciting" if a document has been faxed

David

[sporran]

Hello all,


I decided to watch today's episode, although morning programmes on terrestrial TV are rarely uplifting experiences.

Little to add to the comments of Chris, David, and Mary. Everyone involved with this series, including the participants, should hang their heads in shame at allowing the programmes to reach audiences.

It is sad that the presenter Melanie Sykes, an attractive and pleasant woman, had a career high with the Boddington's adverts but has plummeted downhill since.


Regards,

John

[DavidWW]

What's even worse is that Society of Genealogists appear to have added their imprimatur to the series, - see http://www.sog.org.uk/latest.shtml .

In other words, if SoG says it must be good for you, then it must

David

[joette]

I wouldnae hang the searchers from the Markit Cross-this is the whole thing about this type of programme it prays on the vulnerable & when somebody has been searching for a relative perhaps for years they're wholly at risk of explotation.
Now we pays our TV licenses & as this is a BBC programme then we may all write & complain about it.
I really am fizzing & mad & yes I watched again this Am & it made me so angry as this pair was so obviously related-how many people do you know that have
An unusual surname
10 siblings with the same Father.
I felt like grabbing that smug face & ripping off his glasses

[DavidWW]

I wouldnae hang the searchers from the Markit Cross-this is the whole thing about this type of programme it prays on the vulnerable & when somebody has been searching for a relative perhaps for years they're wholly at risk of explotation.
Now we pays our TV licenses & as this is a BBC programme then we may all write & complain about it.
I really am fizzing & mad & yes I watched again this Am & it made me so angry as this pair was so obviously related-how many people do you know that have
An unusual surname
10 siblings with the same Father.
I felt like grabbing that smug face & ripping off his glasses

Now now, the puir wee mannie has to do what the programme producer tells him, and she has to do what the editor tells her, and she has to do what the commissioning editor at BBC tells her ............

David