Alongside being an academic, King is known as a broadcaster, featuring with Stacey Dooley on the BBC Two genealogy series, DNA Family Secrets,[9][10] presenting Ancient Murders Unearthed for Sky History[11] and hosting the podcast Head Number 7 for Wondery.[12]
Early life and education
King was born in Nottingham, England, as the eldest of three children born to Alan King, an engineer, and Daphne King, a housewife.[13] King is named after Norwegian aviator Turi Widerøe, the first woman to fly for a Western airline.[14]
In 2000, she started her doctoral research as a Wellcome Trust Prize Student at the University of Leicester, specialising in genetic genealogy and "in tracing migration patterns by using genetics."[13]Alec Jeffreys, the inventor of DNA fingerprinting, served on her PhD supervisory panel.[19]
Her thesis on the relationship between British surnames and Y-chromosomalhaplotypes[20][21] was published in 2007, and eventually formed the basis of the book Surnames, DNA and Family History, which she co-authored with David Hey and George Redmonds.[22][6][23]
In 2012, she led the genetic analysis and verification during the exhumation and reburial of Richard III of England.[3] She was able to use the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from direct living descendants of Richard III's sister, Anne of York, one of whom (Michael Ibsen) was traced by British historian John Ashdown-Hill, with a second relative (Wendy Duldig) traced by the University of Leicester team.[27][28][3][29]
In March 2021, she presented the BBC Radio 4 documentary "Genetics and the longer arm of the law".[30]
DNA Family Secrets
DNA Family Secrets is a television series which began airing on BBC Two in March 2021,[9] presented by Stacey Dooley and King, it uses current DNA technology to solve family mysteries around ancestry, missing relatives and genetic disease. Series three aired in 2023.[31]
In 2025, King analyzed blood from the sofa in Adolf Hitler's study where eyewitnesses reported seeing his body. The results were not immediately peer-reviewed, but were the subject of a two-part Channel 4 documentary titled Hitler's DNA: Blueprint of a Dictator.[32] The blood was confirmed to be Hitler's by comparing it to that of a relative with shared paternal ancestry.[33] Analysis of the genetic material revealed that he likely suffered from Kallmann syndrome, a genetic disorder that hinders puberty. Many males with the syndrome have an undescended testicle and 10 percent have a micropenis; most have low testosterone levels.[34] An additional symptom of Kallmann syndrome is a reduced or total lack of a sense of smell.[35] Hitler was also predisposed to certain psychiatric spectrum disorders, but King emphasized that one's genetic disposition does not mean they will develop those traits, calling the doctrine of biological determinism "wrong".[34] Psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen elaborated on the program that even those diagnosed with such mental traits are almost all "neither violent nor cruel".[36]
Both the analysis and its presentation in the documentary have been criticised by several geneticists and science writers as speculative and overly sensational, with some joining the presenters in cautioning against biological determinism and reading too much into polygenic risk scores.[34][32][37]
Other TV, video and radio appearances
King has appeared in numerous television and radio documentaries, programmes and videos as well as advising on television and radio productions such as BBC's Who Do You Think You Are?[38]
Presented the series Ancient Murders Unearthed for Sky History.[39]
Presented the BBC Radio 4 documentary: Genetics and the longer arm of the law[30]
Guest on The Life Scientific as DNA Detective Turi King
↑Osmond, Louise; Woods, Pete (4 February 2013). Richard III: The King in the Car Park (TV movie). UK: Darlow Smithson Productions, Channel 4 Television Corporation. tt2677712 at IMDb.
↑Hall, Lynsey (January 2018). "JBS Haldane Lecture"(PDF). Genetics Society News. Archived(PDF) from the original on 23 September 2018. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
↑"2016 Honorary Fellows revealed". britishscienceassociation.org. British Science Association. Archived from the original on 19 April 2017. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
Appleby, Jo; Rutty, Guy N.; Hainsworth, Sarah V.; Woosnam-Savage, Robert C.; Morgan, Bruno; Brough, Alison; Earp, Richard W.; Robinson, Claire; King, Turi E.; Morris, Mathew; Buckley, Richard (2015). "Perimortem trauma in King Richard III: A skeletal analysis". The Lancet. 385 (9964): 253–259. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(14)60804-7. hdl:2381/33280. PMID25238931. S2CID13248948.
