AN Islander’s journey to find out more about his half-siblings conceived from the same sperm donor has been the subject of a prime-time ITV documentary.
Liam Renouf (28) featured in the first episode of Born From The Same Stranger, which aired on ITV1 at 9pm on Monday night.
He also appeared on ITV’s This Morning this week with his mother, Julie Renouf, and one of his half-sisters, to share their story.
Speaking to the JEP yesterday, he said that Jersey’s “strong community and identity” had lessened the desire while growing up to know more about his past – but that meeting his four half-siblings and a community of other donor-conceived people through the show had been “so lovely”.
From the makers of the hugely-popular documentary series Long Lost Family, the new four-part series, narrated by Davina McCall, has already received glowing reviews.
It follows several people, all born from a donor, as they look for their unknown blood relations.
The series was filmed last year after a new UK law came into effect that waives donor anonymity and anyone conceived by donation after 2005 is able to find out more details about their identity – but those born earlier are already out there looking.
In the episode, entitled The One with the Mystery Donors, Jersey-born Mr Renouf embarks on the search for his half-siblings and gets instant results from putting his DNA on websites.
Mr Renouf grew up in St Clement before attending Hautlieu School. Now he lives in Clapton, where he works as a teacher.
Before the show, he was involved with a network of donor-conceived individuals on social media.
After seeing an advert from ITV, Mr Renouf sent in an application – thinking he would hear nothing back.
“Pretty much everything that has happened from then has been unexpected,” he said. “I didn’t expect to find anything, so every single twist and turn has been so unexpected.”
Following interviews in late 2022, filming took place in Jersey last August and September – and images of the Island’s coastline feature heavily in the episode.
He knew from a young age that he was conceived from a sperm donor, and there have already been articles about his story in the local and national media.
He said: “Lots of donor-conceived people feel this fire under them to find out answers, whereas for me, I started out being a bit inquisitive, but being from Jersey and having a strong community and identity and shared history, I hadn’t really thought too much about it. I was really lucky to be able to grow up somewhere like that and feel part of this community.
“As things unfolded, there came a time when I did want to know more and that’s when I got quite interested in it and joined a social media group of donor-conceived people.
“This experience has opened me up in so many ways. When I first met my half-siblings, I felt this significant warmth toward them that I didn’t expect. That we looked like each other, and had similar traits and mannerisms, was shocking to me.”
Since the episode has aired, Mr Renouf continued, he has received comments on social media from the donor-conceived community which had been “so lovely”.
“People were saying that we’ve managed to capture the feelings of being donor-conceived really well, when it can often be a moral and ethical minefield.
“It has been an emotional experience, especially because the format of television encourages you to vocalise and reflect on something, which helped me to articulate it.”
He added that he was planning to stay in touch with his half-siblings.
Viewers can stream all episodes now on ITVX.
