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Our Father is one of the most anticipated crime documentaries on Netflix right now. The show follows numerous people in Indianapolis who learn they have over 50 half-siblings after undergoing DNA testing. They all have the same father, Dr. Donald Cline, a fertility expert who surreptitiously inseminated his patients with his own sperm.
The documentary will look into Cline's actions and how they have affected the patients and their children. Here's everything known about the docuseries so far.
When Our Father is set to premiere and what to expect from the documentary
Our Father is set to premiere on Netflix on May 11, 2022. The first trailer for the documentary was released on April 14, 2022. It will follow Donald Cline, a once-respected fertility doctor in Indianapolis, and has the plot of an extremely ill-conceived Vince Vaughn comedy.
The official synopsis of the show reads:
"Jacoba Ballard was an only child, conceived via donor sperm, who always dreamed of having a brother or sister. An at-home DNA test led her to the discovery of not one but seven half-siblings—a number that defied best practices in fertility medicine."
It continues,
"As the group set out to learn more about their curious family tree, they soon discovered the sickening truth: Their parents’ fertility doctor had been inseminating his patients with his own sperm—without their knowledge or consent. As Ballard and her newfound siblings realized they’ve barely begun to untangle his dark web of deceit, their pursuit of justice lies at the heart of this profoundly unsettling story about an unimaginable breach of trust.''
As the documentary progresses, the group discovers additional half-siblings at every step, the majority of whom have lived in close quarters for decades. It also raises the terrifying possibility that they've gotten together over time.
Like any good true crime documentary, Our Father appears to unfold like a detective story, following one of Cline's children, likely Jacoba Ballard, who was the first to discover the scam, as revealed in an Atlantic story about Cline published in 2019. She began piecing the whole thing together using online DNA testing and eventually tracked down dozens of half-siblings (many of whom will appear in the documentary).
The documentary also features distraught fathers, including some who discover years later that they are not their child's biological parents. It also includes horrified mothers who are battling the US legal system to prove that Cline broke the law.
