S4C primetime magazine show Heno will this week focus on DNA Cymru, the far-reaching, ambitious national project to discover Wales’ genetic roots.
Llanelli-based Heno will introduce S4C viewers to the exciting project and the forthcoming S4C series DNA Cymru and reveal the results of four Heno viewers who have taken the DNA test.
The four viewers who will discover more about their genetic roots are Arwyn Thomas of Bronwydd, Carmarthen, Gareth Jones of Minffordd, Porthmadog, Elliw Pierce of Dwyryd, Corwen and Eluned Rowlands of Dolydd, Caernarfon.
On Friday, January 16, one of the DNA Cymru presenters, Beti George will be on the show, having just returned from filming with producers Green Bay Media in Tanzania, Africa where humanity was born.
A number of prominent Welsh people have agreed to take the DNA tests as part of the DNA Cymru project and series, including Michael Sheen, Bryn Terfel, Gareth Edwards and most recently actress Catrin Stewart and singer Mike Peters.
Heno series presenter Angharad Mair is among them too and her DNA results will be revealed to her for the first time live on the Friday evening show.
Angharad Mair, originally from Carmarthen and now living in the Vale of Glamorgan, says, “Naturally I can’t wait to find out exactly what my DNA will reveal. This project is very exciting and I’m so glad to have the opportunity to take part, although I’m a bit nervous too. I’ve always thought of myself as Welsh, with my roots deep in Caernarfonshire and Ceredigion but of course the DNA goes back hundreds, if not thousands of years. It will be exciting to hear live on S4C where I actually came from.”
The new S4C series, DNA Cymru, which starts on March 1, 2015 with a one-off special, will present the journey of humanity from its origins in Africa to the earliest populations of the land we now know as Wales, right up to the inhabitants of today’s Wales.
In the series DNA Cymru, presenters Beti George, Dr Anwen Jones and Jason Mohammad will be explaining how the science of DNA can reveal genetic blueprints that stretch back beyond recorded history.
This exciting project is a partnership between S4C, CymruDNAWales, Trinity Mirror – publishers of the Western Mail and the Daily Post – and production company Green Bay Media.
Green Bay Media producer Angela Graham said: “The DNA Cymru project will undertake ancestral DNA Testing on a scale never seen before in Wales and we are quickly building a picture of the country’s genetic roots that will make the series a major contribution to the study of Welsh history and world pre-history.
“DNA Cymru recently had a tent at Parc y Scarlets for the recent Scarlets v Ospreys match explaining how the ancestral DNA testing works in order that you can trace your genetic inheritance beyond the written record to help you discover your ancient ancestry through YDNA (fatherline) and mtDNA (motherline) testing.
“The response was overwhelming with over 520 people putting their details on the project’s DNA ancestral map.”
See the series site on http://www.s4c.co.uk/cymrudnawales/e_index.shtml
