[Davina] For thousands of people across Britain, someone is missing from their lives.

[woman] There's just this huge gap.

I can't imagine what it must be like to have a mum.

I just look and think, "That's my dad," but... he's just a stranger, isn't he?

[woman] And I just handed him over.

Broke my heart.

Finding someone when the trail's gone cold can feel like an impossible task, but that's where we step in... [woman] Oh, I can't believe it!

Oh, my goodness!

...offering a last chance to people desperate for help.

[woman] That's your dad.

It's yours.

With no idea where our searches will lead, we've travelled the world, uncovering family secrets and finding people that no one else has been able to trace.

[woman] She's beautiful.

Hope I can be that mother for her again.

[Davina] And finally, answering the questions that have haunted entire lives.

[sobbing] This week, two stories of missing parents.

A son who needs to thank his mother for healing a family.

She went through a lot to have me, only to give me up.

It was a selfless act.

And a daughter desperate to know if her father is still alive.

[woman] That was the last letter I received.

I have great fears of what could have happened to him.

[dramatic music playing] Our first search comes from Surrey and a man who wants to thank his birth mother for the sacrifice she made when she parted with him.

To be able to say, "Look, you did good.

You did good.

It was the right thing to do at the right time, and I really am humbly grateful."

Fifty-six-year-old Richard Cue was adopted by Florence and William Cue in 1958.

It was an adoption driven by the deaths of their two youngest children.

[Richard] My mum would always say to me, "We're going down to see the children," I knew that I was going off to the cemetery.

That pilgrimage was made every month without fail.

Rain, shine, it would be done.

You're not supposed to bury your children, are you?

And they've done it twice.

Yeah, I can always remember, as she walked away from the grave, my mum would always say, "Goodbye, cocksparrows."

Richard's parents lost their daughter Jaqueline at only four months old to cot death.

Ten years later, following an acute infection, they also lost their youngest son Ian.

[Richard] There must have been a tremendous amount of grief on the family.

My mum had a gray streak of hair at the front that run to the back, and mum had actually developed that after the loss of Ian and Jaqueline.

Their adopting me was a part of that healing process, because my dad felt that it was certainly something that was positive for my mother to focus on.

Richard knew from an early age that he had been adopted.

As adoptive parents, I couldn't have asked for better.

It wasn't a very financially wealthy family, but it was very wealthy when it came to love and affection, and I think that is probably more important than anything.

But as he grew up, Richard became increasingly aware of the person who had made this life possible.

My parents are the ones that sacrificed, brought me up, taught me right from wrong, but nobody can tell me that a mother can give birth to a child and, whether they've had to give it up or not, doesn't have a mother-child bond.

[birds singing] That little hole that the adoption's left, it's not something that goes away.

You always want the answers.

With the death of his adoptive mother in 1997, Richard began his search for these answers.

But he was to make an unexpected discovery.

"It is understood from the applicants that they did in fact receive the child from Mrs. Lambert, an aunt to whom the mother handed him."

The records showed that Mrs. Lambert was the aunt of his birth mother, Patricia Howard.

But this Mrs. Lambert was also someone Richard knew.

She was related to Richard's adoptive mother by marriage.

That's my old Aunt Lil.

As I grew up I saw her pretty regularly.

It was clear that Aunt Lil had acted as a go between for Richard's birth mother and his adoptive mother.

It was something that came completely out of the blue.

It's a sort of comfort in some ways because at least you know that the family was looking out for you rather than just being put out to care.

Richard now lives with a loving family of his own, his wife Tony and their ten-year-old daughter.

[Richard] That's it, whoa!

That's good.

But he still needs to find out what happened to his birth mother.

[Tony] He's said to me many times before, "I wonder what she's doing now?

I wonder if she's thinking of me today?

If she was family, why couldn't she have been more involved?"

[indistinct chatter] [family laughing] How much is it gonna cost you?

Yeah, what's it gonna cost me?

Richard has been searching for nearly ten years and despite knowing there's a family connection, has been unable to find any trace of his mother.

[Richard] You know, she went through a lot to have me, only to give me up.

That would've had an effect on her which would've been equally as devastating as my adoptive mother losing children.

She's out there somewhere, and I would really like that opportunity to thank her, to put a few ghosts to rest.

When we took on his search, the only concrete fact Richard was able to give us about his mother was her full name.

But we knew without a date of birth, this wasn't going to be easy.

Richard told us his mother was called Patricia Ann Howard.

But initial checks brought up too many possibilities for us to narrow our search.

The only other clue we had from Richard's adoption papers was that his mother had been living in Welwyn Garden City when he was born.

We began a check of marriage records, and one that stood out for Patricia Ann Howard marrying in Hatfield in 1961, a few years after Richard was born and just down the road from Welwyn Garden City.

Was this Richard's birth mother?

We checked further and discovered this woman had remarried and was now called Patricia Walker.

We contacted her and she confirmed she was Richard's mother.

Now retired, she lives with her husband in West Sussex and has one daughter.

Richard has been searching for Patricia for more than a decade now.

Throughout that time, he's known about the family connection between his birth mother and his adoptive family.

But the question, "Why hasn't she contacted me?"

must have played on his mind so many times.

Was it too hard for her to see her son being brought up by other people?

Maybe promises were made that she felt she had to keep.

-Hello.

-Hello.

Nice to see you.

-I'm Nicky.

-I'm Pat.

Come in.

[Nicky] Thank you.

Is it Pat or Patricia?

-Pat.

-Pat.

What was it like when you heard the news that Richard was looking for you?

Delighted.

Surprised, um, because I've tried to look for him as well.

-You have?

-Yes.

Then I thought, no, I shouldn't do, really, because that's being selfish.

I don't know what he'd been told.

I've got a photograph of him, do you want to see it?

Yes, please.

This was Richard there, but his name was Calvin there.

-Calvin?

You called him Calvin?

-Calvin Lee, yeah.

-Look at his smiling face.

-He was a happy baby.

-[Nicky] That was when he was with you.

-When he was with me.

-How long was that for?

-Six months.

Six months with him.

He had no idea that he was with you for six months.

I tried to keep him, but circumstances wouldn't let me.

I couldn't, couldn't manage.

But I did try.

-What kind of family support did you have at the time?

-None.

They all disowned me.

-No one in your family was supportive or caring?

-No.

So it was a pretty desperate situation?

I was really desperate 'cause the money I was earning...

I worked... [laughs] I worked in a cigarette factory, um, stemming tobacco, and I used to take Richard to nursery, like seven o'clock in the morning, didn't get back until six o'clock at night.

The cost of it, paying my lodgings, his feed, his clothes, I was practically starving.

And then my aunt said, "Why don't you have him adopted?"

And she told me about her husband's niece.

So when your aunt suggested this, it seemed just like the only way ahead?

Yep.

It was the only way ahead for him, and all I wanted for him was a good life, a better life.

But I used to think to myself, "Will their love be as strong as mine?"

Um... you don't know.

You had to be strong, didn't you?

-You had to just get on with it.

-Yeah.

My aunt used to give me the photographs as he started to grow.

-How long did that go on for?

-Just till about four.

-[Nicky] So about four years?

-Yeah, yeah.

So why did the contact stop, or the information and the photographs?

My aunt got Alzheimer's.

And she was elderly there even.

And then I moved up north.

[Nicky] Mm-hmm.

You don't ever get over it.

A child that you lose.

[gasps] Oh, gosh!

Oh, gosh.

Oh, what a lovey young man.

He's gorgeous, lovely boy.

He's turned out really well, I am so proud.

[Nicky] And he's had a really happy life.

-[Pat] That's good.

-Yeah.

[sighs] That baby...

Sinking it all in.

[laughs] Thank you.

[gulls calling] [Davina] Before we tell Richard we've found his mother... our second story brings us to Kent and a daughter desperate to find her father who vanished more than 30 years ago.

[Tania] "Dearest Tania, please give me a number where I can call you.

I hope to be in England soon.

Always remember I love you very much.

Sweetheart, I miss you very much."

Really they're kind of filled with love, aren't they?

"Darling, please write to me in Tehran.

All my love, Dad."

That was the last letter I received from him.

What happened to him?

I need to know he's still alive... and if he is, that he's okay.

I really need to know that.

[Davina] Fifty-two-year-old mother of one Tania Bartlett runs a nail salon in Folkestone in Kent.

Her father, an Iranian student called Ahmed Kazem, was not part of her life when she was young.

[Tania] My dad met my mum in Folkestone.

He was here studying English, and they look really in love, don't they?

Ahmed had been brought up in Iran at a time when the country had close ties to the west, and like many young Iranians he looked to Britain to further his education.

He and Tania's mother Julie met in 1961, but by the time Tania was born a year later, Ahmed had left England and was three and half thousand miles away in New York, trying to build a life for his family.

The idea was dad was going to America and that mum would follow him there, and I think that was their plan.

But it just didn't happen.

Unwilling to leave behind their life in England, Julie never followed Ahmed to America with their newborn baby Tania, and a year later their relationship had ended.

From quite an early age, I always felt that I was quite different.

My mum was blond and very beautiful, but very, very blond, and I was this little dark-haired girl with lots of dark hair and very dark eyes.

Then, in 1977, when Tania was 15, she met her father for the first time.

[Tania] I was at home doing my washing and listening to the radio, when there was a knock at the door.

There was a man standing there, and I took one look at this man and knew immediately who he was, immediately.

It was like looking at a mirror.

It was my dad.

[Davina] In 1977, at the age of 15, Tania Bartlett met her Iranian father Ahmed Kazem for the first time.

[Tania] It kinda turned my world upside down.

I'd never, ever expected my Dad ever to be in my life, but he was so kind and so sweet, it was amazing.

Over the next four years, Ahmed, now calling himself Edward, swept in and out of his teenage daughter's life.

[Tania] He was here, there and everywhere, all over the place, and had a really busy lifestyle.

I remember meeting my dad in London and taking a taxi to this amazing hotel on Hyde Park Corner.

A world a million miles away from my own.

I think I had numbers for Belgium.

I had numbers for the States, and I called him in a couple of different places, in Tehran as well.

I used to go over to the phone box and call the international operator.

"I would like to place a reverse charge call, or call collect, to this number in Iran in Tehran."

And you'd hear the operator pleading with him, you know, "Good evening, Tehran, this is London calling."

It would sound absolutely crazy in the background.

Banging and crashing and voices and shouting, and, I don't know, sometimes it even sounded like it was gunshots in the background, it was crazy.

I don't know whether he was living in Iran at that time or whether he was working there.

I don't know what he was doing there.

Just sounded like it was the wild west.

[chanting] During this time, Iran was in turmoil.

In 1979 a revolution had ousted the country's leader and installed a new government hostile to western influence.

Violent demonstrations and riots became commonplace, and by 1981 the death toll had risen to several thousand.

In April that year, Tania received a letter from her father, asking her to write to him at an address in Tehran.

I wrote to him and that letter got sent back to me unopened.

Tania has not heard from her father since.

I have great fears of what could've happened to him.

I didn't back then.

I didn't because we weren't really aware of what was going on.

You know, he went in and out of Iran a lot during those times, a dangerous thing to do.

I need to know what happened, and I need to hear him, you know, kind of say that he's always loved me as well, it would be amazing.

It would be amazing.

[Nicky] When we took on Tania's search, we knew there was a very real possibility that her father might be dead.

Although Edward sent his last letter from Tehran two years after the revolution, it was still a dangerous place for anyone with ties to the west.

Even today, undertaking a search in Iran would be an almost impossible task, but given the chaos of the time, we had no way of knowing whether a paper trail could survive, if there ever actually was one.

But we did know that Edward had once had links to America, so we turned our attention there.

If he had settled in the United States, records might exist.

We decided to make a check of publicly available immigration and naturalization records, and it was then that we picked up what we thought was our first trace of Tania's father.

We found this naturalization document for an Edward also known as Ahmed Kazem.

Now, if this man was Tania's father, it looked like his connection to the United States was stronger than we thought.

In June 1970, Edward had become an American citizen.

Now, if he'd survived the turmoil of Iran, it was highly likely that he'd returned to the country that he called home, America.

Further checks revealed one possibility: an Edward Kazem, who was traced to Virginia on the east coast.

We contacted him, and he confirmed that he was the man we were looking for.

Although he did agree to meet me, he was insistent there were things we couldn't talk about.

The last contact Tania had with her father was a letter she received a month after their final meeting in London, but as years go by, her fears grow that she will never hear from him again.

But given that Edward got out of Iran safely, what possible reason could he have had for not getting back in touch with her as soon as he could?

And I wonder if he's ever thought about the effect his disappearance has had.

-Good afternoon.

-Edward.

-Yes, sir, how do you do?

-I'm Nicky Campbell.

Pleasure to meet you.

Please come on in.

We've come a long way to find you.

-Oh.

Thank you so much.

-Thank you.

[Edward] Come on in.

So how have you been since you heard the news that -Tania was looking for you?

-Oh, very excited.

This news was the best thing that ever happened.

Really.

Not just for me, my children.

We're all excited.

-How many children you got?

-Four.

-And do they know about Tania?

-They've always known.

They have always known about Tania as they were growing up.

And my wife too.

I lost my wife about three years ago.

I'm sorry to hear that.

[Edward] This is the only photograph Julie sent me.

And I kept them.

It's all I had.

[Nicky] Wow.

So that's Tania?

[Edward] Here's Julie and there's Tania.

The very first chance I got to go to England, I went and I looked for her.

-Is that when she was 15 years old?

-Yes.

That was the first opportunity.

Why was it so long?

Because I was going to school and I didn't have that much money, so I would do factory work, I would do delivery, and I would do all kinds of things, you know.

It's not easy.

I finished my graduate work, which normally would take six years or so.

It took me ten years day and night, and there was no way I could go to England.

So the first opportunity, you went back to England.

What was it like when you saw Tania?

Oh, my heart stopped, I swear.

I just couldn't believe this.

It was amazing!

She looked pretty much like me with dark hair, curly hair, and I was hearing her say, "Is this my father?

Is this my father?"

I wanted to apologize to her for all these years and tell her I love her and then hopefully we can move on, I'd be part of her life.

-Then you had a bond with her?

-Oh, yes.

We hit it off very well.

You sent her lots of letters, you sent her lots of presents.

Yes, yes.

And you met just off Park Lane.

She got a letter from you the following month, April 1981, from Tehran.

And then after that, until now, nothing.

Upon my return to the United States, shortly after, I was recruited by the United States government.

And because of the nature of the business, it was forbidden to contact anybody.

You were absolutely forbidden to make contact?

Absolutely.

I couldn't write to her.

I couldn't reach her anymore.

She remembers once phoning up and hearing hubbub in the background, and I remember the television, Tehran was a dangerous place at the time.

So she was worried.

She thought, "Is he dead?"

Oh.

[laughs] I don't want to go into detail what I was doing there.

But it was quite a time.

I mean, that was...

But I never stopped loving her, thinking about her.

Did you think this day would come?

[Edward] No.

I really prayed that, I just want to see Tania before I die.

-Would you like to see a photograph?

-Oh, would I ever.

Oh, that's her.

That's my Tania.

She hasn't changed a bit.

When I saw her in London, she looks just like that.

Oh!

Aw, God bless her.

Thank you.

Oh!

She did not deserve this.

-I can't take my eyes off her.

-[laughs] I really can't.

My God, she's beautiful.

[Davina] Fifty-six-year-old Richard Cue has been looking for his birth mother for nearly ten years.

For years, Richard's search for his birth mother Pat has been driven by this need to say thank you, thank you for the gift that she gave his adoptive parents, and also to tell her that he has had such a happy life, but Richard also needs answers.

-Hi, Richard.

-Davina!

I'm really pleased to meet you.

Come in.

Thank you, thanks very much.

You're quite different from some of our other searches in the fact that it's more of a benevolent gift that you want to give.

Just tell me about why it is that you want to find your mum.

My adoptive parents had lost two children.

Devastating, absolutely devastating.

Obviously my birth mother had gone through a complete upheaval herself.

And I don't actually know whether she was actually aware of the gift that she was giving to my mum, and that is the... that's really the crunch.

And really, what I'm looking for is the opportunity to thank her.

Well, your mum's been found.

Oh, wow.

That's brilliant.

It's been a long time.

I can only thank you.

[Davina] You can thank her.

Oh, that'd be even better, that's all I wanted to do.

That's all I wanted to do.

Where is she?

[laughs] -Little Hampton.

Near Little Hampton.

-Wow!

I went on holiday there about a year ago.

-So shall I tell you a bit about your circumstances?

-That would be lovely, yeah.

She'd sort of been disowned by her family.

-Mm-hmm.

-And she found herself alone, but she was determined to keep you.

Oh.

She worked like... so, so hard.

Things were so tough that she'd go without food so you could get looked after.

And that's where Aunt Lil stepped in and thought, "What kind of a life am I giving him now?"

And so she did decide to give you to Florence and William, which you know was an amazing gift to them but it was a great loss to her.

-It's so sad.

-It is.

There's your mum.

Wow!

She's written you something.

Wow!

"My dear Richard, where do I start?

So many questions, so many years gone since I kissed your sweet baby face... of six months."

[sniffles] "It was the worst hurt anyone could imagine.

But I was confident you were going to a better life for you.

I am now 74 years old but young at heart, so looking forward to seeing you and getting to know you.

Love as always, Pat."

[Davina] She really wants to meet you.

I really want to meet her.

-[Richard] Hello.

-Hi.

My fair woman.

-Seriously?

-[Richard] Seriously.

You all right?

[laughing] I can't see for the tears.

She looks lovely.

-Oh, I'm shaking.

-[sighs] [Richard] You all right?

[Davina] Just 48 hours after learning that we have found his birth mother, Richard has travelled from his home in Surrey to West Sussex.

After nearly 57 years apart, he will finally be reunited with his mother.

What a beautiful day.

It is gorgeous.

-The sun is shining just for you.

-Nice to see you.

[Nicky] How do you think he's feeling?

[Pat] If he's feeling like me, terrified.

Absolutely terrified.

We can't turn the clock back.

Just got to make good of the time we've got.

So that's what you want from the relationship?

Oh, yeah, I hope so.

-[Davina] Hey, Richard.

-Hey.

-How are you?

-I'm good.

[laughing] [Richard] Nice to see you.

-Are you ready?

-I am.

Let's go.

[Davina] Patricia wants to meet Richard at a hotel in Midhurst, a favorite place not far from where she lives.

Right.

This is it.

-You all right?

-Yep, I'm fine.

See you later.

[Davina] You know, it was lovely telling you that we'd found Pat the other day.

Have you thought about what it's brought you?

It's made me understand how incredibly sad, um, she must've been at that period, and also, you know, it's the realization that, you know, she had always wanted to keep me.

So your mum is in there waiting for you.

[Richard] Thank you.

Thank you.

Bye-bye.

[sighs] My God.

Hi.

Nice to see you.

[Richard] Ahh... [Pat] Gosh.

Good.

-Shall we sit?

-Yeah, let's sit down.

-It's lovely to see you.

-Oh!

I'm glad you found me.

I so wanted to make sure that you was aware of what a gift you giving me up was to my mum and dad.

That decision that you made couldn't have been easy... -It wasn't, no.

-...but... it gave me a future.

That's all right, you're in my life now.

-Yes.

Yeah.

-Yeah.

Every year, I always said, "Happy birthday, Richard."

-Oh, thank you.

-Always.

Just hoping that somehow it got to you.

I always wondered if I came into your head.

Oh, God, always.

[Pat] I feel no regrets at all now.

He's had a good life, and I am proud of what he's turned out to be.

He's a nice young man.

Young to me.

[chuckles] I just can't believe this is happening.

No, um, and, uh... you won't get rid of me that easily now.

I don't want to, I don't want to.

Now you're gonna be in our life now.

-Exactly.

-[both laughing] She had been thinking about me for 50 odd years, and I know that I'd thought about her over that 50 odd years.

It's a happy ending and a new beginning for me and my family.

[Davina] It's been over 30 years since Tania Bartlett last heard from her father, who disappeared from her life in 1981.

Since then she's been haunted by the fear that he may no longer be alive.

I'm on my way to tell her that he is alive and well and soon she's going to be able to get all the answers she needs.

[knocks] Hey, Tania, how you doing?

You all right?

[sighs] -[Tania] Come on in.

-Thank you very much.

So tell me, when you got that last letter, and it's been such a long time, have you ever sort of thought, "I wonder what he's thinking"?

-Oh, yeah, all the time.

-Yeah.

But I think it's darker than that.

I've always kind of wondered whether he's still here, really.

Well, you can have your dad because he's been found.

-You're joking.

-No.

-He's still alive?

-He's still alive.

He made it through all of that?

-He made it through.

-Really?

-He made it.

-[gasps] Where is he?

He's in America, and he is so thrilled.

Is he?

Really?

He was recruited by the US government, and because of that he was forbidden to contact you, but he kept precious photos of you.

[Tania] He kept them.

[Davina] He kept them.

Do you want to see a picture?

Yes, please.

-There's your dad.

-Oh, wow!

[Tania] I can't tell you how amazing that is.

Oh, wow.

Bless him.

[Davina] I've got something else for you.

"My dearest Tania, I am writing to let you know how much I love you and missed... missed you all of these years.

I never stopped thinking about you, and I prayed that one day before I leave this earth, I would have the opportunity to reunite with you.

I hope we can build a relationship and move forward.

Love you very much, your father."

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Two weeks after hearing the news that her father is alive, Tania is going to meet him for the first time in over 30 years.

Edward has made the 4,000-mile trip to London to reunite with his daughter.

-Well, good morning.

-[Nicky] You made it to London town.

-Good morning.

-[Nicky laughs] -Good to see you.

-Right, let's go.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Oh, look at me.

Oh, my God.

-[Nicky] You're shaking.

-I am.

This is the most exciting thing that has ever happened and there's a lot of exciting things in my life.

-Oh, I know.

-I guarantee, but this is... -[Nicky] Is this it?

-Never thought I would see this and I would live long enough to see my daughter.

It's just amazing.

[Davina] Hello!

So how have you been?

I've felt amazing.

This huge weight was completely gone and lifted off me.

It's been a marvelous two weeks.

I can't wait any longer.

Tania wants to meet her father at a hotel on Park Lane in Mayfair, just as she did when she last saw him in 1981.

So, uh, you're gonna meet Tania there.

Yeah.

God bless you.

-Good luck.

-I'll see you.

God bless us.

[Davina] We are so over there.

For the first time in so many years, it's just gonna be you and your dad.

[Tania] Yeah, it's huge.

I really didn't realize how much it had affected me.

[Davina] Oh, it's big, isn't it?

[Tania] Yeah!

[sighs] So we're here.

-You all right?

-Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm as ready as I'm ever going to be.

Baby, baby!

Oh, my God!

I can't believe this.

Oh, I love you.

I miss you so.

Honest to God!

How are you?

-I'm fabulous.

How are you?

-Look at you!

-Oh!

-I'm better...

I'm better now.

Sit down.

Please, let me look at you.

You're more beautiful than when I remember you.

[both laugh] Oh, God!

-Good to see you.

-Good to see you too.

Thank you so much.

I am so sorry, baby.

It was just beyond anything I could have done.

-[Tania] I understand that now.

-And you forgive me?

I forgive you with all of my heart.

-I love you so much.

-Please, don't worry about it.

And I swear from my heart, always, always...

I have all your letters.

I kept every single one of them.

[Tania] What happened all those years ago, he just needs to not feel bad about that anymore.

You're beautiful.

You're just so beautiful.

I have your picture by the bed all the time.

[Edward] Reunited with my daughter after all these years.

I feel great.

I've never felt this good.

So happy.

I've always wanted to explain to her because of circumstances we were apart and that weight is lifted.

[Tania] He's great, my dad.

He's a really cool guy.

I'm just so glad he's alive.

And he's exactly what I remembered him to be like.

Exactly what I remembered him to be like.

He's still that person.

[peaceful music playing]