Long Lost Family

ITV, 9pm It may be formulaic, at least on paper, but the show in which presenters Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell (right) follow people searching for long-lost family members proves to be an emotionally wrenching affair.

In this week’s opening episode, Kevin and Phyllis are hoping to undo the heartbreak they have been suffering for more than 40 years, after they had to give up their first child when they were unmarried teenage parents in the far less tolerant Ireland of the 1970s. Will they at last be able to track down the son who was taken away by the Catholic adoption agency they had turned to in desperation?

Meanwhile, 64-year-old Michael is hoping to find the mother he never knew, after she abandoned him not long after he had been born, without leaving any way for him to find her.