Making up for lost time
LONG LOST FAMILY – WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? ITV, 9pm
JUST the opening montage of some of this show’s many reunions is enough to send us sobbing into our hankies.
One by one, siblings, parents, sons, daughters, running into each other’s arms for the first time in decades. It’s an onslaught of gut-wrenching emotion that doesn’t let up.
Over the last six years Long Lost Family has reunited more than 200 people, but these moments were just the beginning. What happened afterwards? Did they stay in touch? Or did the experience lead to a breakdown in the relationship?
One participant explains: “Be careful what you wish for. Ask a question and you’re not always going to be happy with the answer.”
This series catches up with eight of the most compelling stories, revealing some of the surprising twists they have taken.
Ron Williams and sister Christine were reunited after more than 60 years apart. Since their meeting in 2015, the pair speak every week and have flown back and forth between Wales and New Zealand.
“It’s completely changed my life,” says Christine. “It’s as if we’ve been able to pick up without that gap in between.”
There is a family rumour that Ron and Christine have two more half-siblings – launching another incredible search.
Elsewhere, we catch up with siblings Cliff Jardine and Sue Ward, who found each other through the show. But after the discovery that their mother, after being traced, chose not to have contact with them, Cliff is still struggling.