Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace

Monday 24 May ITV and ITV Hub

The term ‘foundling’ is redolent of the Victorian era, but even today there are those who grow up to learn that they were abandoned as babies. A perfect example is Helen Knox, who was discovered in a box outside a hospital in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, in 1988.

Made by Wall to Wall, the production company behind Who Do You Think You Are?, the BAFTA-nominated Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace aims to help Helen and those with similar stories to delve into their past. It often succeeds spectacularly by using DNA testing, but it also conducts more traditional research, as when Helen is reunited with the nurses who cared for her. But this is far from the most emotional moment in an episode that shares the stories of three foundlings.

The second of three episodes goes as far back as the immediate aftermath of the Second World War and the early life of 74-year-old Marguerite Huggett, who was left on the luggage rack of a train in

London’s Paddington Station. Could she have any close living relatives?

The final episode focuses on a baby boy left in public toilets near Wolverhampton Wanderers’ stadium, and Sarah Dunkley whose mother gave birth to her in hospital, but used a false name and disappeared.

As ever, the series is co-presented by Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell. Look out too for the return of Long Lost Family: What Happened Next, which revisits those who found relatives with the show’s help.