Seeds of Deceit: The Sperm Donor Doctor

“You long for some deeper analysis to go along with the heartbreaking testimonies. More disturbingly, the victims’ stories become almost completely lost in the second instalment, which concentrates on the Karbaat children discovering each other and forming a loose coalition without any ill effects, resentment or even much consideration of what their biological father did to bring them about. Perhaps those who are (I would say appropriately) horrified by their origins declined to take part, but if so it has made for a strangely rose-hued account.”
Lucy Mangan, The Guardian

“The amount of research and access to witnesses in this documentary was excellent, although I found some of its illustrative images a little on the nose. Here was a speculum in a puddle of water; here was a chicken in a clinic waiting room; here was white gloopy liquid being poured over a globe (to show that Karbaat sent donated sperm far and wide). Quite put me off my porridge, that one.”
Carol Midgley, The Times

“In short, there’s a lot to take in in Miriam Guttmann’s eye-popping triptych. Parts feel lightly manipulative. Did Karbaat’s victims really have to be filmed on the very bed where he abused them? As for the get-togethers of his large brood of children, let’s just say they feel a little artificial.”
Jasper Rees, The Telegraph

“The documentary-makers don’t appear to stop and consider whether they too might be guilty of exploiting these mothers, now desperate to tell their stories. The interviews are spliced in ways that expose family fractures, heightening the drama but also inviting us to judge.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail