Foundling | Tortoise Investigates
Apr 14, 2026 · 35 min · 14 segments
Jess ignores a plea from her birth mother to stop searching for answers. She decides to track down her father. Foundling is a 6 part original series from Tortoise Investigates and The Observer \**…
[gentle music] When I think back to the day Jess did her DNA test five years ago now, I picture a large stone dropping into still, black water.
And those waves, they've traveled quite far now, disturbing the water's calm surface, and they're still spreading.
Now Jess is using the technology to go in search of her biological father too.
This time, Jess is hoping the DNA will confirm a lead she's been given, the name of a man, a man Jennifer was in a relationship with around the time Jess would've been conceived.
His unusual Germanic surname also stacks up because Jess's DNA results suggest some of her genes come from that part of the world.
So Jess is pretty confident she's nailed this, but she also wants to tread carefully.
I know they're there." And I said, "But I just need to figure out how I'm gonna approach this."
Particularly because she's had a warning from Jennifer, "Let sleeping dogs lie," a message urging her to stop asking questions, to call off her search for her biological father.
She knows those ripples are about to disturb the calm surface of another family.
And what she's learnt from contacting her birth mother is that she can't control what happens next, but she still has this void at the start of her life and she still wants answers.
[gentle music] When I think back to the day Jess did her DNA test five years ago now, I picture a large stone dropping into still, black water.
And those waves, they've traveled quite far now, disturbing the water's calm surface, and they're still spreading.
Now Jess is using the technology to go in search of her biological father too.
This time, Jess is hoping the DNA will confirm a lead she's been given, the name of a man, a man Jennifer was in a relationship with around the time Jess would've been conceived.
His unusual Germanic surname also stacks up because Jess's DNA results suggest some of her genes come from that part of the world.
So Jess is pretty confident she's nailed this, but she also wants to tread carefully.
I know they're there." And I said, "But I just need to figure out how I'm gonna approach this."
Particularly because she's had a warning from Jennifer, "Let sleeping dogs lie," a message urging her to stop asking questions, to call off her search for her biological father.
She knows those ripples are about to disturb the calm surface of another family.
And what she's learnt from contacting her birth mother is that she can't control what happens next, but she still has this void at the start of her life and she still wants answers.
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3 of 8
Apology For Existing
Jess voices her rawest fear yet.
First Text To Dad
She finally reaches out to him.
Pub Confession Bombshell
Debbie remembers the night everything changed.
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