Ruth Langsford on Joan...

WHEN the moment finally arrived that Ruth Langsford and her mother were able to hold and hug each other, neither could hold back the tears.

It had been almost exactly a year since This Morning star Ruth had last held mum Joan’s hand... or made her a pot of tea, helped her with her crossword or sat arm in arm for the natters she had missed so much.

That their emotional reunion came just days before Mother’s Day, which both feared would pass before the strict Covid restrictions were at least partially lifted, made the day even more special.

Ruth says: “It was lovely. We both cried, but they were happy tears. It was very emotional.”

Joan, who turned 89 in December, lives in a Surrey residential home just a few minutes’ walk away from Ruth and her husband Eamonn.

But Ruth, 60, had only seen Joan through a screen on her birthday, and hadn’t been able to have her home for Christmas.

Ruth says: “It had been a year since we’d been together, but we fell very quickly and very easily back into that relationship we’d had.

“I made tea, and said, ‘Oh mum, these flowers need some water’, and she said, ‘Oh I’ve got something to give you, all those carrier bags, can you take them away?’ and ‘Can you help me with my crossword? I’m stuck on a word’. And

BARRIER Ruth on lockdown visit to Joan

then we sat and chatted, talking about what had been on TV, holding each others’ hands very, very tightly.”

Ruth also took along her Border Collie cross Maggie. Ruth says: “Maggie loves my mum, who would always give her treats. We wondered if after a year she would remember, but she absolutely did.

“She made a big fuss with my mum then sat in the kitchen looking at the cupboard and looking back at mum, it was very funny.”

Ruth, whose dad died nine years ago, said that over the past year it was Sundays when she missed Joan most. “She would always come round here and help me cook lunch. We’d have a sherry, put some music on and dance around.”

Ruth is now able to visit her mother once a week, but won’t be able to see her tomorrow because of restrictions on visitor numbers at the home.

“I’ve arranged to send her daffodils from Cornwall, which she loves.

“I’m desperate to get back to how we were, but I do feel it’s coming and I feel more hopeful than I did a couple of months ago.”

It was lovely. We both cried, but they were happy tears

RUTH LANGSFORD TV PRESENTER

This week’s... Rub It In, Why Don’t You? Award Goes To...

Netflix, for having the cheeky nerve to produce The Last Blockbuster, a documentary about the lone surviving DVD rental shop.

Blockbuster had been the untouchable behemoth, opening a store every 17 seconds until Netflix and the other streamers took it on, like David did Goliath, Luke Skywalker did the Death Star, or Julia ‘circa Pretty Woman’ Roberts did Rodeo Drive.

What next? Amazon selling a book about the internet killing the bookshop?

Oh, actually... it does.

This week’s... Perfect Mother’s Day present

Looking for a last-minute gift for

Mother’s Day? How about a night in bed with Bridgerton’s hunky Duke of Hastings?

Thanks to the talented guest booker at the BBC, Regé-Jean Page will be following in Tom Hardy’s footsteps and joining CBeebies’ Bedtime Stories on Mother’s Day.

His dulcet tones might help his fans drift off to the land of nod, but I bet the last thing their dreams will be is sweet.