Hidden letters, a foiled romance and a remarkable family’s secret

WhAT a missed opportunity. A tragic romance worthy of a three-part telly series, and perhaps an awardwinning novel, was glossed over in a few words.

World’s Oldest Family (BBC1) was a local TV feature, made by northern ireland’s regional team and given a bit of national space on a quiet evening.

We met the Donnelly siblings from Collegeland, County Armagh — all 14 of them and none a day under 70. The oldest, sean, was 93: when they added their ages, it came to more than a millennium, which earned them a place with Guinness World Records.

Mostly, this was a superficial portrait, stocked with the questions local reporters can recite in their sleep. Everyone was asked: ‘What’s the secret of a long life?’ Everyone had a different answer — work hard, don’t hold grudges, stay away from the demon drink.

We learned little about their childhood, and less still of their own spouses and children. Certain matters, perhaps ticklish, were avoided — the Donnellys were originally 16 brothers and sisters, but nothing was said of the two who had died.

instead, there was a lot of counting and reciting, as the family reeled off each other’s names and added up their ages. it was guarded, and respectable, and mildly interesting.

But during the search for birth certificates at the sprawling farmhouse where they grew up, a sheaf of remarkable letters and photographs was discovered.

They were addressed to Margaret, at 92 the oldest sister, and they dated back as far as the early Forties. When Margaret looked at the faded pictures, she was staggered — they showed a youth, a Belgian soldier she had met only a few times when he was stationed in Ulster during World War ii.

his name was Jean and he was painfully shy. The first time he saw Margaret, he blushed and ran. The second time, he asked for her hand in marriage.

Margaret could hardly accept. Even in wartime, that’s a short courtship. But they arranged to keep meeting, until a few days later Jean was sent overseas.

she thought that was the end of the romance. But Jean never gave up, and for the next 30 years sent love letters and pleas. Margaret didn’t reply: she never saw the letters. it seems her mother withheld them, never telling her daughter. Why she did this, and why she kept the letters instead of burning them, presenter Angela scanlon did not inquire.

But the mystery cast a shadow over that sunny image of the Donnelly upbringing.

A more ambitious programme would have seized this thread and followed it, however awkward the questions. What of Jean in Belgium — did he ever find love? no one spared him a thought: we didn’t even discover if Margaret eventually married.

nadiya hussain, former winner of the Great British Bake Off, showed a touch more ambition in her British Food Adventure (BBC2). she promised to explore the whole country, uncovering the traditions behind our favourite regional dishes.

But because this much-loved mother- of-three is a bit of a homebody, she didn’t dare explore further than Oxford, where she had a go at harvesting asparagus, before heading to Milton Keynes to learn how to smoke a haddock.

next week, no doubt, she’ll discover the art of stuffing a haggis in slough, and churn Cornish yarg in Croydon.

nadiya is clearly happiest in her kitchen. The Beeb should stop trying to turn her into the next Alan Whicker.