Apr 2011 - present
7.7
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Browse episode ratings trends for Long Lost Family. Simply click on the interactive rating graph to explore the best and worst of Long Lost Family's 100 episodes.
S10 Ep5
9.3
15th Feb 2021
Two incredible stories of people desperate to find missing family: a mother living with a heart-breaking decision and a woman on a quest to solve a family mystery....
S10 Ep3
9.3
1st Feb 2021
Two stories that take us across the globe: a woman's search for her birth mother in Sri Lanka and a quest on behalf of a father, longing to find his lost son....
S14 Ep2
9.3
15th Jul 2024
Mother Paula Beer searches for the son she gave up as a teenager, and a sister, Sharon Thomas, looks for the younger brother her mother was forced to give up before she died of cancer.
S3 Ep8
9.3
12th Aug 2013
Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell uncover more family secrets. Val Milnes became pregnant at 18, and knowing that her strict father would never allow her to keep the child, she made the heartbreaking decision to give him up for adoption. She watched as he was taken away by his new parents with the case of clothes she had carefully prepared. Seventeen years later, Val suffered an accident which left her paralysed and tried to establish contact with her son, sending him a series of letters. The fact that these letters went unanswered has haunted her ever since. In the second of tonight's stories, Donna Leaver told her father Pat in a telephone call that she did not want him in her life any more when she was 6 years old. Taking her word for it, Pat disappeared and made no further attempt to contact her.
S11 Ep1
9.2
5th Jul 2021
Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell return to tell incredible stories of people desperate to find missing family and answer questions that have haunted entire lives. This week features two stories of children searching for their birth mothers after life-changing events - former Scotland footballer Dominic Matteo, who started to search after suffering a life-threatening brain tumour, and a woman, pained with emotion on her wedding day because her birth mother was missing.
S13 Ep6
9.0
7th Aug 2023
Joe McGregor yearns to find his birth family, and Simon Miller wants to fulfill his mothers last wish.
S13 Ep5
9.0
31st Jul 2023
Two women looking for siblings but for different reasons - Jeanette Woodyatt's father told her that he had a son who was adopted when he was young. Karen Turnbull was shocked to learn on the day of her mother's funeral that she had half-siblings.
S10 Ep4
9.0
8th Feb 2021
This episode includes a foundling's incredible journey to Hong Kong in search of information about her origins and a daughter's desperate quest to fulfil her mother's dying wish....
S9 Ep3
9.0
1st Jul 2019
Singer-songwriter KT Tunstall always knew she was adopted and in 1998 was reunited with her birth mother, who told her that her father never wanted to give her up - a message that has inspired her to find out what happened to him. Brother and sister Simon Munro and Carole Killick grew up apart after their mother left when they were young in the 1960s, but the siblings were reunited more than 20 years ago and are now searching for their mother.
S9 Ep2
8.9
17th Jun 2019
Adopted as a baby, Nicholas Rhoades asked the programme for help in trying to track down his birth mother. The only information he had was her name and the address she was living at when she gave him up, but he never found the courage to knock on the.
S9 Ep6
8.9
22nd Jul 2019
Martin Smith grew up in Rochdale and had a happy childhood, but struggled with intense feelings of rejection when he discovered he was adopted and only now feels ready to face his fears and find his birth mother. Anne Jordan always knew she was adopted and has been searching for her birth mother for over 30 years, but she will not set a date for her wedding to fiance Chris until she has found her.
S2 Ep1
8.8
12th Apr 2012
Mark hopes to find his birth mother, and Stella looks for the daughter she gave up 50 years ago.
S9 Ep4
8.7
8th Jul 2019
Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell follow Kathleen Fraser Jackson's search for her mother, with the 62-year-old having been trying to track down the woman who gave her up for adoption for more than 40 years. In a last-ditch attempt to help Kathleen find her mum, the Long Lost Family team samples Kathleen's DNA and adds it to an online database, which triggers an epic journey spanning continents and cultures, and unlocking more secrets - and family members - than she could ever have dreamed of.
S9 Ep7
8.6
19th Aug 2019
In a first for the programme, Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell present an appeal for information on behalf of two families whose loved ones have been reported missing to the police. They look at the cases of Matthew Bone, who disappeared in March 2018, and Simon Greaves, who went missing five years ago. They also follow the story of Beryl Everall, who last saw her mother more than 60 years ago when she mysteriously disappeared from her life. All contact with her mother's side of the family was lost, and she was never spoken of again.
S14 Ep7
8.5
21st Jan 2025
In this special episode, women affected by a historic scandal in Spain from the 1930s through the Franco era to the 1990s search for children and family.
S14 Ep6
8.5
25th Aug 2024
Mary Arbuthnot - a woman looking for two siblings adopted separately - and Maggie McCauley, who is searching for the older sister her mum had to give up.
S14 Ep3
8.5
22nd Jul 2024
Sue Stalley and Melanie Mackney, two women on a quest to find their biological family members and fill in the gaps in their family histories.
S11 Ep9
8.5
30th Aug 2021
With his 87th birthday approaching, retired merchant seamen Roy David searches for his daughter Cheryl, who he has not seen for nearly 60 years. After meeting his first wife Sylvia in New York while working there, the couple had a daughter, but tensions within the family lead to him separating from his wife, and eventually losing touch. Now, Roy seeks forgiveness from Cheryl and hopes to make amends.
S13 Ep1
8.3
3rd Jul 2023
Paul Connolly had a brutal childhood and was put out with the rubbish as a baby in east London and raised in care, while Shaun Lawrence had a happy adoption with wonderful parents but was always curious about his birth parents
S11 Ep3
8.3
19th Jul 2021
Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell present the stories of two women trying to find birth parents after half a century apart. Ann Melbourne found her birth mother over a decade ago and now wants to locate her birth father Leslie, who she has limited information about in her adoption paperwork, while Amanda Village is searching for her mother Susan, who gave her up for adoption.
S13 Ep7
6.0
14th Aug 2023
This episode delves into the compelling narratives of two men who share a common experience – being born to unmarried mothers in Ireland during a period when such circumstances were stigmatized. Arthur Fitzharris, born in 1947, grew up in Ireland under the care of his adoptive parents, enjoying a content childhood. Bernard McGrath, born in 1953, remained oblivious to his adoption until he turned 40, when rumours began to circulate.
S4 Ep7
6.2
25th Aug 2014
Patricia Hart grew up in the colliery village of Moorends in South Yorkshire, where her father was a miner. Shortly after being demobbed from the Women's Royal Army Corps, she discovered she was pregnant, and with no support from her boyfriend, made the decision to give up her baby for adoption. Now, after several health scares, she fears time is running out to find her daughter. Army reservist John Farrell, from Bootle in Merseyside, was a teenager when he learnt the man he had called dad all his life was not in fact his father. At the time, anger prevented him from wanting to know more, but now, as a parent himself, his need to know his birth father has grown.
S1 Ep1
6.7
21st Apr 2011
Jennifer Wilson looks for her twin sister, from whom she was separated at birth when they were adopted by different couples. Karen Lloyd searches for her father, whom she has never met before.
S3 Ep5
7.0
15th Jul 2013
Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell present the series which sets out to reunite family members after years of separation. Robert Capron is 53, a devoted family man who lives in Devon but whose life today contrasts starkly with the world in which he grew up. At the age of two, Robert's mother abandoned him and not until his father's death was Robert able to start piecing together what little information he could find about her. After more than a decade of searching he is no closer to tracing her. Twin sisters Gail and Juliet Newmarch are 51. Their twin brothers were given up for adoption when they were very young. In fact, Gail and Juliet had no idea the boys existed until their father told them when they were in their teens. Their mother could not bear to talk about why she had done what she did and it was only when she died that Gail and Juliet felt able to start a search for their brothers.
S9 Ep5
7.2
15th Jul 2019
Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell help more people to reunite with long-lost relatives. Alice Jones was brought up by her father, but on a visit to her mother more than 50 years ago she met her younger brother called Sam and has always hoped that one day she would see him again. Mark Ratcliffe grew up in Lancashire and at the age of 12 his parents told him he was adopted and the revelation devastated him. Ever since, he cannot shake the question of how a mother could give up her child and is now looking for answers.
S3 Ep6
7.4
29th Jul 2013
Fifty-year-old Sharon Temple Sowerby grew up caught in a tug of love between two mothers. When she was a girl, Sharon discovered that the mother she knew of as 'mam' was not in fact her birth mother. Over the years, as the truth gradually emerged, Sharon discovered that she had been taken from her birth mother at only one hour old and given to a couple desperate for a child, who brought her up as their own. But Sharon also discovered that legally she was never theirs. Sharon's birth mother had refused to ever sign adoption papers and on several occasions actually asked for Sharon back. This tug of love continued until Sharon moved away to Germany with her parents. Heartbroken by these discoveries, Sharon has been searching for her birth mother for nearly thirty years but without success. Watch what happens when we take on this seemingly impossible search and meet the man searching for the same woman, who is also his birth mother.
S5 Ep1
7.4
3rd Jun 2015
A couple search for the son they had to give up for adoption when they were teenagers. Susan and Chris were childhood sweethearts in 1962 when Susan was 14 and Chris 15.
S4 Ep8
7.4
1st Sep 2014
Gillian Carter from Sheffield became pregnant shortly before her 18th birthday and had hoped to keep the baby with the support of her aunt, but the arrangement fell through due to illness. Now, the 66-year-old is looking forward to a potential reunion with her son. Sandra Macdonald, 53, was given up for adoption in Edinburgh in 1960 and grew up with the feeling something was missing from her life. At the age of 15 she started searching for her birth mother, but she was met by disapproval and misinformation at every turn. Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell tell Gillian and Sandra's stories, guiding them through their emotional searches.
S6 Ep6
7.5
17th Aug 2016
This week two stories of women trying to bring their families back together. Whenever 62-year-old Val Moorhouse receives a card from her daughter Marisa, whether birthday or Christmas, Marisa signs her name, but also signs on behalf of her brother, Stephen - the son and brother who has been missing from their lives for 40 years. With a successful career, a happy daughter and beautiful home, 37-year-old Sam Cashmore has a life many people would envy, but her path to happiness has been overshadowed by the absence of two important women in her life. Today she desperately wants to be reunited with her birth mother and sister.
S1 Ep2
7.5
28th Apr 2011
Ever since he discovered the truth about his real father at the age of 15, Wayne has been on a quest to find him. Debbie Gave her son up to save her marriage, she never stopped wanting him back in her life.
S3 Ep4
7.5
8th Jul 2013
This week on Long Lost Family two stories of children separated from their parents. Long distance lorry driver, Laurence Peat was given up for adoption at birth. Despite a happy childhood and loving adoptive parents, it has been as an adult that he has been unable to shake off the feeling that he was unwanted. For decades Laurence has lived with this sense of rejection which has affected his own ability to have successful relationships. In the hope that finding his birth mother would make this feeling go away, Laurence set out to track down his birth mother but the information on his adoption file led him nowhere. Now, he is making one final attempt to find her and lay to rest his sense of being unwanted. Also, the story of Denise Temple desperate to find her daughter who she battled to keep when she gave birth to her nearly fifty years ago. Originally from Yorkshire, Denise now lives in Spain.
S4 Ep3
7.6
28th Jul 2014
Family man Richard Cue, 57, has always felt grateful for the love and support he received from his adoptive parents, so he wants to find his birth mother to thank her for the sacrifice she made in giving him up in 1957. Having accessed his records, however, he has been searching for almost a decade with little success. Tania Bartlett's mother Julie fell pregnant to Iranian student Ahmed Kazem in the early 1960s, but the couple drifted apart when Julie felt unable to join Ahmed to start a new life in America. Despite intermittent contact with her father in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Tania has spent the past 30 years searching for him, not knowing if he is even alive. Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell bring these families back together.
S5 Ep3
7.6
17th Jun 2015
At 39, Peter Gunn has struggled to come to terms with being given up for adoption by his birth mother when he was a baby. Although he was brought up by a loving family, a sense of abandonment contributed to his going down the path of addiction.
S6 Ep4
7.6
3rd Aug 2016
This episode features two stories of women haunted by events from their history: A mother whose brief time with her baby has been wiped from her memory and a daughter trying to come to terms with the legacy of her mother’s troubled past.
S3 Ep2
7.7
24th Jun 2013
We hear two lives shaped by unanswered letters. Wendy has never met her father and Helen is searching for her son who she was forced to give up for adoption more than thirty years ago.
S11 Ep8
7.7
23rd Aug 2021
Louise Stoppani is looking for the father she never knew, having discovered aged seven that the man bringing her up was not her biological dad.
S4 Ep1
7.7
14th Jul 2014
Ann Munro, 63, from Ringwood in Hampshire, gave up her son for adoption when she was 21 and her life ever since has been overshadowed by guilt and the longing to ask for his forgiveness. Louise Kendall, a 28-year-old nurse, lives in Bradford with her four-year-old son. She's hoping to meet her French father for the first time as she travels to Dijon, the city where her parents fell in love.
S2 Ep2
7.7
19th Apr 2012
Brenda Rhensius looks for the daughter she regrets giving up for adoption, and Maureen Clancy tries to find her brother.
S4 Ep2
7.8
21st Jul 2014
Sara Price-Parker, 44, decided to trace her birth mother Denise after the death of her adoptive mum, but her 25-year search ended in disappointment when she discovered her parent had emigrated to Jamaica in the 1970s. Sara is now turning to Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell as her last hope to establish contact. Pauline Wood, 77, always longed for a sibling to play with while growing up as an adopted only child. At the age of 28, she learned her birth parents later got married and had a son, but the quest to find her brother has gone on for decades to no avail.
S4 Ep5
7.8
11th Aug 2014
Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell help Sheila Thomas, who gave her daughter up for adoption in 1968, and Stephen Andrews who grew up ashamed that his mother could not keep him.
S1 Ep1
6.7
21st Apr 2011
Jennifer Wilson looks for her twin sister, from whom she was separated at birth when they were adopted by different couples. Karen Lloyd searches for her father, whom she has never met before.
S1 Ep2
7.5
28th Apr 2011
Ever since he discovered the truth about his real father at the age of 15, Wayne has been on a quest to find him. Debbie Gave her son up to save her marriage, she never stopped wanting him back in her life.
S1 Ep3
7.9
5th May 2011
This episode features Jeannie Elgar, who last saw her brother Geoffrey when she was eight, and Kirsty West, who struggled with the decision she made as a teenager to have her son adopted.
S1 Ep4
7.8
12th May 2011
Adopted as a baby, Laura McCarthy wants to find her mother and half sister. Sarah Gale was also adopted and had a happy childhood, but cannot rest until she finds her real mother.
Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell present the documentary series which aims to reunite family members after years of separation, and offers a lifeline for people who are desperate to find long-lost relatives.
The first episode of Long Lost Family aired on April 21, 2011.
The last episode of Long Lost Family aired on January 21, 2025.
There are 100 episodes of Long Lost Family.
There are 14 seasons of Long Lost Family.
Yes.
Long Lost Family is set to return for future episodes.
