Reunions of the long lost would reduce even Piers to tears

Following Piers Morgan’s call for the return of the stiff upper lip there is now just one item on my TV wish list. To see Piers watching an entire episode of Long Lost Family: What Happened Next while being filmed Gogglebox-style. Because if ITV’S breakfast buffeter could maintain a strong and stable top lip throughout he’d be the best manner-upper in history. On the face of it this revisiting of old tales looked like a sneaky moneysaving move by ITV. Replay some reunions, bung on a quick catch-up at the end and Bob’s yer long lost uncle – an hour of cheap telly. The difference was I actually cared what happened next. And what happened turned out to be even more emotional than the original stories. Which meant that if you weren’t already re-weeping at the old footage you would have been bursting by time the updates had finished unfolding. Not that it was all good news. As Davina Mccall’s disclaimer implied, happy endings are, unfortunately, not guaranteed. So it proved for Cliff and Sue. Despite finding each other after 50 years apart, their hopes of meeting their birth mother were dashed when she refused the offer of a reunion. There was a happier outcome for reunited siblings Ron and Christine though. Incredibly the search team had managed to track down their two half-siblings, John and Noreen. The four of them held hands across a table and that was it – I was gone. And I don’t care who knows it.

JOY Ron and Christine with Davina Mccall