I've found them here on the electoral roll.

Have they already accessed their adoption file?

[Davina] Over the last 12 years we've taken on more than 700 searches for long lost children... [man] I would really like to see my daughter.

This is my last chance.

...absent parents... Did she not want me?

And why did she not want me?

...and separated siblings.

They took my sisters.

I just want to know what happened to them.

We've found family members who have been missing for decades, and relatives people didn't even know existed.

I knew there was gonna be twists and turns, I said it.

[Davina] But meeting is just the beginning.

Just gobsmacked, like, this is my story she's saying.

And searching doesn't always go as planned.

This is the series where we find out what happened next.

-This week... -Hello.

...we catch up with three searchers navigating new relationships...

I probably cried more over the last two years than I've ever done in my life.

...and complicated feelings.

You have to be open to what you find, not just a fairy tale.

How's that search been going?

All the regs have been completed so we're ready to go ahead.

The most common type of search that the Long Lost Family team takes on is adopted people looking for their birth mothers.

We featured more than 50 of these searches over the last 12 series.

Everyone is searching for different reasons.

And everyone needs answers to different questions.

And often it's a life event that can spur someone on to search.

I was fighting for my life this time last year.

I never thought I'd end up with a brain tumor.

Maybe it was my illness in the end that pushed me to find my birth mother.

When you're close to your life being over, it just becomes more important.

You ready?

Ahhh!

[chuckles] [Davina] When ex-Premiership footballer Dominic Matteo came to us searching for his birth mother, he and his wife Jess had only recently explained to their son Luca and his two daughters that he was adopted.

Ahhhh!

Good save!

[Jess] Shall we do our family tree then?

So we've got Daddy, is there.

-Yeah.

-And Daddy has how many children?

-[Luca] Three.

-Three children.

[Jess] And then going upwards from Daddy is this one, is the lady that gave birth to Daddy.

Why do you wanna find her?

I wanna find her 'cause I wanna make sure she's okay.

-Oh!

-Make sure she's all right.

Dominic's adoptive parents saved all of his adoption documents.

-[Dominic] What's this?

-This is the letter that was written for your mum and dad.

His brain tumor made it difficult for him to read.

"I am writing to confirm that there is a baby boy who may be suitable for placement in your family.

His name is Stephen..." and then it goes on to say, "Stephen's mother is a single girl, aged 18, who is Scottish and a Catholic and her parents knew of her pregnancy and were sympathetic."

-That's good to know.

-Yeah.

I think when you get things like this out, straightaway I get a bit goosebumply.

It's quite difficult to take in.

Dominic was all too aware that he needed to find his birth mother before it was too late.

[Dominic] Is she okay?

Does she think about me?

Is she still alive?

I don't know.

And I need to know.

Dominic's adoption file included his birth mother's name, Margaret, and an old address in Glasgow.

Using the electoral roll, we quickly discovered Dominic's grandfather had remained living there until his death.

When we applied for his death certificate, we found that one of his daughters had registered his death and this led us to Dominic's birth mother, who was still living in Scotland.

Dominic is Margaret's only child.

-Hi.

-Hi.

[Nicky] Thank you very much for meeting me.

Wow!

This is incredible.

How do you feel about it all?

Well, something that's been so deeply buried, so, um, yes, it's a great thing.

And it's also daunting.

I've never stopped thinking about him.

I tried to do the right thing and make the right decision as best as I could 'cause I was 17.

I need to tell you that he was poorly last year, he had a rare brain tumor.

-Oh, no!

Oh!

-But he's really recovered incredibly well, and he's thought about what matters in life and how much he wants to meet you.

-That's important to me.

-Yeah.

But I've missed a lot, I've missed it all.

-His name's Dominic now.

-Oh!

He was a top class footballer in the English Premiership.

-My goodness!

-He played for Liverpool... -Mm-hmm.

-...and Leeds United.

Not for Scotland?

Yeah, played six times for Scotland.

-What's his second name?

-Matteo.

My goodness!

Oh!

[laughing] My goodness!

That's crazy.

I've seen... just running around the football field, but I can't totally picture him.

Have you got a picture?

Oooh!

Yes.

First picture I've ever had of him.

I'm overwhelmed.

[Davina] At last I was able to visit Dominic to tell him the news he'd been waiting for since his health scare.

-Hi, Dominic.

-How are you?

Come in.

I'm good!

Thanks.

Thanks so much.

Come in.

No worries.

We have found your birth mother.

No way!

No way!

[exhales sharply] That's incredible news.

She just couldn't give you the life that she felt you deserved, but letting go of you, it was the hardest thing she's ever done.

Oh, gosh.

It's incredible.

So to hear you have gone on... to be this success, she's just so proud of you.

Means the world to me 'cause I just...

I genuinely, all I ever wanted to know is if she was okay.

-Is she all right, like?

-She is all right.

What would it mean to you to see a photo?

Oh, gosh!

This could be emotional.

This is your mother.

Aww... Wow.

She looks very happy.

Beautiful.

[Davina] She has written you a letter.

"Dear Stephen, when I received the letter that you wanted to find me, I was very happy because I wanted to find you, but I was very apprehensive about how you would feel.

When I said goodbye to you, I did this out of love.

This was the most difficult decision of my life."

Oh... "I'm looking forward to meeting you.

This will mean a lot to me."

Aww... That's amazing, thank you.

Oh, gosh.

Whew!

[sniffles] Yeah, that was... that was beautiful, that was beautiful.

After nearly half a century apart, Dominic was reunited with his birth mother.

Hello.

How are you?

You okay?

-Yeah.

-Nice to see you.

You okay?

-You look well.

-So do you.

You look lovely.

-[laughing] -My goodness, 46 years.

-Forty-six, I know.

-You're really handsome.

-[laughs] -I always knew you would do well.

I willed you to do well.

You've been through a lot.

-In the last year.

-But the thing is, believe me, you being here today means the world to me, honestly.

Don't worry.

I mean that.

I mean that.

-I am... -I was worried about you.

I'll get through this, don't you worry.

She's got a lovely way about her.

So friendly and so loving.

It just felt right.

It just felt like a dream come true for me.

The connection was there after all this time.

I have a son who I'm extremely proud of.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-It's lovely to see you.

-It's a shame we've got to socially distance.

[Dominic] I feel like I wanna smile today.

I've had some tough times over the last year or so, so it's nice to be in this position now and we can be happy together.

[laughing] [Davina] It was a first for us and incredible that we found a birth mother who'd actually seen her son on television without realizing that it was the baby she'd given up for adoption.

But for Maggie and Dom, it wasn't the only coincidence.

-Hello.

-Hi.

-Nice to see you.

-Welcome to Glasgow.

-Ah, thank you.

Are you all right?

-Yeah, I'm great, I'm great.

Mother and son have discovered they may have crossed paths in person too.

[Maggie] I used to work very near here, up to the left in George Street.

[Dominic] Funny 'cause obviously my place, Brunswick Street, is pretty close to here.

[Maggie] He played for Scotland and made his debut just down the road.

It is surreal.

[Dominic] We used to go to Glasgow all the time, me and my mates.

There was always something in me dragging me towards Glasgow.

This is my, er, old apartment.

Just up there, all that glass there.

-Well, it's amazing.

-Me and all the boys used to go in for a few nights out and we'd always finish up there.

I used to pass by here all the time.

Had I known, I'd have popped in for a glass of red wine!

She is very funny, and she is, she's always cracking jokes.

Did you see a mad woman staggering out as you were staggering in?

-Yeah.

Was that you?

[laughs] -After-dinner drinks with the girls, yeah.

It is a bit mind blowing, but I just see him as my son first and foremost, and then just an amazingly positive, caring man.

[Dominic] Maggie seems like a different person.

She's kind of got her little boy back in a way, hasn't she?

Come on then.

Reuniting after a lifetime apart may be a dream come true for Maggie and Dom.

But there's a reality that overshadows their future together.

[Dominic] With my illness, it's a daily fight.

It ain't gonna go away like that.

It's just not how it works.

His health is still a major concern.

When you've had that near death experience and you're told you might not make it, it's hard to take it all in.

-So this one's got to go in.

-Yeah, for sure.

[Jess] 'Cause this is where it first began.

To help him process what he's going through, Dom's documenting his experiences in a book.

-That's a great picture as well, isn't it?

Celtic Park.

-[Jess] That's right.

When we think about what we've actually come through in the last two years, life got flipped upside down, didn't it, overnight?

Yeah.

My life will never be the same.

I've probably cried more over the last two years than I've ever done in my life.

-We should definitely put this photo in the book, it's nice.

-It's a nice photo.

Finding Maggie was pivotal in my recovery as well, wasn't it?

-When you think about it.

-Oh, yeah, absolutely.

How can you not be inspired by her?

She's a lovely person, she's got the best interest.

I don't think there's a bad bone in her body.

I think I've realized now how precious life is.

As a young lad growing up, you wanted success and all that.

For me, I've really realized what is important to me.

Who knows how long we've got on this Earth, and I'll tell you what, I ain't gonna waste a day of it.

[Jess] Right, give me those plates, please, Luca.

Nanny Maggie will be here soon, are you excited?

[Luca] Yeah.

Today it's Maggie's turn to travel from Scotland with her fiancé John to see her son.

[Maggie] Meeting Dom has changed my life.

-Hiya.

-How are you doing, Dom?

I did feel an emptiness over the years.

[Dominic] You okay?

Great to see you.

[Maggie] Something was missing.

It was missing, and now it's back.

-Hello!

-Come in, guys.

-Lovely to see you.

-Oh, it's lovely to see you.

[Dominic] I feel like the relationship's growing and growing each time we meet, each time we get together, each time we speak.

Maggie's already met her grandson Luca, but today Dom's arranged for his two daughters to meet their grandmother for the first time.

Nice to see you!

Oh, God, you're so pretty.

-[cork pops] -[cheering] [Dominic] I'm absolutely buzzing.

Something I've wanted for a long time.

-Oh, my goodness.

-[laughter] Oh, my goodness!

It was amazing.

-Hey!

-Cheers!

Cheers, everyone.

Just to see the girls, they're so nice.

-[laughter] -[Dominic] She is part of our life now, so I can't think of it any other way.

Just feels like we've always known her.

[indistinct chatter] [Maggie] It's a miracle that we're back together.

Going from no son to, it's like having the whole family.

[Dominic] I need to stay alive for my family.

I have to keep going for them.

Million percent.

That's everything for me.

And Maggie's now a huge part of that.

Whilst like Dom, some searchers are motivated by a sudden event, for many, trying to find their missing relative is something that has consumed them for years.

Our second searcher turned to us for help over ten years ago, but she dreamed of finding her birth father since she was seven years old.

Wendy O'Hagan grew up in Northern Ireland, during some of the most violent years of the troubles.

[Wendy] We've experienced bombs in the middle of our street.

And I have seen people being shot and, there's quite a lot that you forget.

And then you suddenly remember what war's like.

She lived on the Bogside, an area well known as an IRA stronghold, with her mother Sarah.

-Hello, what you doing?

-All right?

Sarah told Wendy when she was seven that her father was an American sailor who'd been stationed at a naval base in Derry.

His name was Grant Williams.

[Sarah] Grant was my first love.

The two of us were always very happy.

Nice times.

American troops were under strict instruction to stay impartial in the British-Irish conflict and were discouraged from mixing with local girls.

[Sarah] We would have come up around here.

But the tensions didn't stop Sarah and Grant being together.

This would have been our view here.

This is so gorgeous.

-It's the first time, you've shown me.

-Eh?

No, no, it's lovely.

It was a confrontation on the Craigavon Bridge that abruptly ended their affair.

[Wendy] My understanding was that he'd actually got in a fight with the British Army and in 48 hours he was deported.

She didn't know where he was gonna go, when she was ever gonna see him again.

And then to find out she was pregnant must have been... the devastation of her.

With Grant deported, Sarah had to inform him of the news by letter.

They continued writing to each other throughout the pregnancy.

[Sarah] That's the only thing that gave me hope was getting these letters, and me sending letters to him.

That's the only thing that gave me reassurance to go on for the child that I was carrying.

But soon after Wendy was born, the letters from Grant stopped.

[Wendy] My mother thought that he'd just maybe had met someone else, had moved on.

And she continued to live with a broken heart.

With Sarah's support, Wendy never stopped searching for her father.

I can honestly say to you I have thought of him every single day.

Has he passed away?

Is he still alive?

Or am I looking for someone that doesn't exist anymore?

I would like to know.

[Nicky] With so little information about Wendy's father, our only option was to work our way through every Grant Williams living in the United States.

Luckily, we discovered that Grant is a relatively unusual Christian name for American men of that generation.

We were able to narrow our search to a handful of men who fitted the right profile.

We wrote to them all, hoping one of them was Wendy's father.

And the response of a Grant Williams living in New Mexico caught our eye.

Although his reply didn't confirm that he was the man we were looking for, the letter contained a clue that gave us hope.

He signed off with the abbreviation "VR."

Now, that means "very respectfully," and you rarely hear that outside military circles.

It looked like we had our man.

We contacted him, and he confirmed he was Wendy's father.

He has since married and had five more children.

-Hello.

-Grant.

-Yes.

-Nicky Campbell.

Nice to meet you.

Come on in.

How's it been since you found out that Wendy was looking for you?

Well, it was quite a shock at first.

Anxious to learn more about her.

Of course, I have a thousand questions.

But let's talk about back then in Northern Ireland, right at the time of the troubles.

-And you met this girl.

-I met this girl.

Wendy's mother, yes.

Sarah.

So what happened?

Why did you leave?

Sarah lived on the south side of the border, and where I was working was on the north.

I think I was under a little suspicion for how much time I spent over there.

And I mean under suspicion by either the... the British Army or the constabulary.

-And they thought?

-IRA sympathizer.

-What happened?

-I was giving her a ride home, there was a knock at the window and a soldier asked me for my ID, and then they opened the door and dragged me out and beat me in the street.

They put me in the back of a vehicle and threw me in jail.

How did your superiors in the military react?

That night they took me to Belfast and they got me out of there.

And I was given orders, no contact, and don't ever talk about this.

But I didn't care, and I sent Sarah a letter so she'd have my address aboard ship so she could, we could communicate.

And, um... Oh, God, I wrote her that I wanted to come back.

-And pick up where you left off?

-Yeah.

My last letter wasn't replied to.

-She never received it.

-Really?

I thought I was just off their radar, they'd forgotten.

I mean, they went on with their lives and I was just a bad memory.

I didn't know if Wendy knew about me or what had she been told.

Did you ever look for Wendy?

For the last 10 or 12 years, I started searching.

I just didn't know enough to be able to find them.

So what on earth do you think she looks like now?

I haven't got a foggiest idea.

I don't know if she's... Oh, my God!

She's beautiful.

Look at her!

Even though I have never met or known Wendy at all, um, I love her.

Thank you.

[Davina] At last I was able to give Wendy the news she'd been waiting for... -Hey, Wendy.

-Hi, Davina, how are you?

...since she was seven years old.

Come in.

[Davina] You've been looking for a long time.

[Wendy] Yes.

[Davina] Your dad has been found.

Really?

Really?

-Really?

-He is so happy.

-Where is he?

-He's in New Mexico.

[sobbing] -All that way.

-When he got deported, he was told to never have any contact with anybody in Ireland ever again.

And actually he broke those rules and contacted your mother and carried on writing to her.

And he was so, um... upset to find that his letters hadn't got through.

-So he did write?

-He did.

-He did write?

-He did, he did.

This is your dad.

I'm so glad this has happened.

I've never been so happy.

Thank you.

Four weeks later, Grant made the 5,000-mile journey to London to meet his daughter for the first time.

Oh, my God!

Oh, my God!

Oh, it's so good to meet you.

-I look like you.

-I know.

Let me look at you.

Oh, my God, you do!

[laughs] You wanna sit down?

-Yes, please.

-Okay.

[sighs] I'm so happy I found you.

Me too.

I'm really happy.

I never knew what anybody thought.

Everything disappeared, everything got cut off.

All the communication was lost.

I understand.

We can live in the past.

I lived in it for too long now looking for you.

-Yeah.

I'd like that.

-Let's start again.

Okay.

[Wendy] I think this has made my father very happy.

And me, extremely happy.

I don't have to look or search again.

That's it now.

[laughs] It's now been nearly a decade since Wendy first met Grant and they've seen each other as much as possible.

That was three years ago now, and that was the last time I actually saw him.

Sadly, since that visit, Grant has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

I feel a little bit angry.

You feel you've just got that person, and then you're starting to lose them.

And that is difficult.

Not wanting to waste any time, Grant's now come to Derry to see his daughter.

[Grant] I'm here for her, to see her, to meet her, to know her more.

I do wanna make the most out of this, the time that we're here.

And Grant's illness isn't the only bump in the road that father and daughter have had.

[Wendy] I think initially I met a stranger.

I looked at my father and I knew that I was his daughter because I could see myself in him.

But I thought for me, emotionally, the connection's not there.

One day he said to me, "I love you," and I froze.

And I thought, this didn't feel right.

It was like a stranger telling me that he loved me.

So for a good few weeks, I didn't wanna contact him.

I felt very distant from him.

Having only just found him, Wendy was at risk of pushing Grant away forever.

I thought, oh, you know, this is not for me.

It had came to the stage where I thought I'm gonna have to tell him why.

I said to him, you know, "Dad, it made me feel funny."

And he said, "Of course, baby girl."

He said, "That's normal, but you've got to remember," he said, "I've always loved you."

And then I had to sit back and think, well, you know what, I've got two children also, that's how it is with me.

It didn't take long for Grant to show Wendy just how much she had been in his thoughts, since the moment she was born.

[Wendy] He gave me, like, a Christmas box.

When I opened it up, I think I was so shocked because this was my first pair of baby shoes.

My mother had actually sent them to him on the ship.

I took out this one here and I couldn't believe, at the bottom... was my baby tag, from the hospital.

This was just extremely emotional for me.

It just proves how much he cared.

[Grant] She's always been in my life.

There's no if, and or buts about it.

There's nothing more to say.

She's my daughter.

-Hi.

-Hug me!

-[laughing] -Mmm!

Okay.

Since then, Wendy and Grant have become close.

And he's also made contact with her mum, Sarah.

...favorite coffee.

Together they've gradually been able to make sense of the past.

How was your journey?

A few years ago they discovered that it was the US Navy who intercepted Grant's letters to Sarah.

I have a lot of anger from what went on.

Sometimes I have memories.

Mostly it's just anger.

I...

I'm still angry.

It's only now that Grant feels able to retrace his steps from that fateful time.

[Wendy] You look how much sadness that went on down there, it's really...

It's a lot of things happened here.

-A lot.

-A lot.

It's an extremely difficult subject how my father was separated from my mother.

But not everything's a beautiful story.

We have to hear the ugly as much as the good.

He wants to share with me what happened.

[Grant] It was a big, big deal.

So, um...

I didn't think I'd ever get to go back again, but here I am now.

You know, it's nice, whatever happened in the past is the past now, isn't it?

-Mm-hmm.

-And at least you're able to come back whenever you want.

-Yeah, that's cool, yeah.

-Mm-hmm.

And now you feel more relaxed.

And it's good to have you here.

-Okay.

Thank you.

-You glad to be here?

Yeah.

[laughs] Grant's trip to Northern Ireland isn't just an opportunity to heal old wounds.

It's also a chance for Wendy's son to spend time with his granddad.

Have you got any hair left?

Extra hair?

-Yeah.

-'Cause I could use some, you know what I mean?

-I've got a couple... -[laughter] Times like this is really important.

My dad's condition now is rapidly changing every day and it's very emotional for us, so sitting down together and spending time together, it's extremely special.

Oh!

Thank you.

Well, I'm just thrilled that I've got all this going on.

I'm gonna take every minute, every minute.

Cheers!

[Wendy] Finding him was one of the best things that I've made the decision to do.

What can I say?

He's there and I love him.

Many of the searchers who come to us have one single goal in mind: finding their missing relative.

But meeting the person you've been looking for isn't always the end of the story.

Once I'd found Bryan, I thought, great, that's it.

Job done.

Sit back and enjoy your life.

And then all of a sudden, wow.

I have another sister.

Colin Deering and his younger half-sister Helen Salmon came to us desperate to find their brother Bryan, who their mother Nellie had given up for adoption as a baby.

Here it is.

My bedroom.

Colin stumbled upon Bryan's existence as a teenager.

[Colin] When I was 14 or 15, being in bed early, used to creep through the hallway and look through the crack at the television.

And I'd catch Mum go to this drawer and pull out a photograph of a young child in a highchair and have tears in her eyes.

And I wondered who the child was.

But it was only when Colin left home to join the army at the age of 17 that their mother revealed the truth.

The day that Colin left, we went to the front doorstep.

-Mum was there and I was there.

-Yeah.

I remember.

And you were... Everybody was crying!

[Colin] And I was saying goodbye and Mum turned round to me and said, "You know the photograph that you kept asking me about?"

She said, "Well, that's your brother Bryan."

And Colin's face sort of dropped, and he said, "Another brother?"

She said, "Yes, you have another brother."

Nellie had fallen pregnant with Bryan in the 1940s while she'd been touring as a music hall performer.

But with limited leave from the army, Colin had little opportunity to find out more before their mother passed away.

It was to Helen she gave her dying wish.

One of the last things I can remember Mum saying was that Colin really needs to know Bryan, and, yes, we've got to find him.

[Colin] I needed to know that he was okay.

Because, after all, he is my brother.

-Hi.

-[Nicky] Working with an adoption specialist, we were eventually given Bryan's new surname, Westwood.

But that wasn't the end of the trail.

No trace was found for Bryan Westwood in this country.

But the search did lead to a member of his adoptive family who revealed that Bryan had moved away in the 1970s, to South Africa.

We trawled through public records and social network sites and eventually tracked Bryan down.

-[Bryan] Hello?

-Hello, Bryan, it's Nicky here, Nicky Campbell.

Hi, I'll let you in.

[Nicky] How do you feel about all this?

The day I was told, I mean, I just, I just broke down because I didn't know, and I've never known until that phone call, that I had a brother and sister.

Don't even know my biological mother's name.

-Nellie.

-Nellie.

That's nice.

Looking for you is something that Colin and Helen promised her that they would do.

Okay.

Got a photograph here of Colin and Helen.

Wow!

It's like looking in the mirror.

-They've written you a letter.

-Thank you.

"Dear Brother, we have waited so long to say these words.

We first found out the day Colin was looking to join the army back in 1962."

The same year, that's the same year I joined the army in 1962.

Yeah, Royal Signals.

He was in Malaya, Germany.

-Northern Ireland a lot as well.

-I did 12 tours in Northern Ireland.

We must have come across each other, can you believe that?

"We hope to see you soon.

Love Helen and Colin."

You wouldn't be able to keep me away with a team of wild horses because I really respect and I'm proud of the fact that they have taken the time to, to look for me.

[Davina] Finally I was able to tell Colin and Helen that their mother's wish was complete, and their brother had been found.

-Hi, Davina.

-How you doing?

-[kisses] -Well.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Hey, Colin.

-Hi, Davina, lovely to meet you.

-And you.

[Davina] So I'm interested because your mother had asked you to find her son.

[Helen] Mm-hmm.

How important is that to you both?

It's extremely important to me.

Yeah, I wonder what he's really like.

Whether he's alive, he's happy.

That's the biggest thing, I think.

He is alive.

And he is happy.

Oh, thank God.

That's wonderful news.

Does he look like Colin?

[Davina] You can see for yourself.

[Helen] Oh, gosh!

-[laughs] He does.

-He does.

He's written you a letter.

[Helen] "Dear Colin and Helen, it was so kind of you both to take... to take the time to bother finding me."

-Of course we would.

-Here, let me.

"It tells me you are really caring people and it means so much to me.

Your brother, Bryan."

Oh, I'm so happy.

Yeah.

One week later, Bryan flew to Cumbria to meet his siblings.

Like looking at myself.

Hi, guys.

Hi, Bryan.

[Bryan] Welcome.

It's been so long.

-Hey, twin brother.

-Yeah.

Wow!

-Aww, just look at you two.

-Shall we sit down?

-[Bryan] Yeah, let's.

-Oh, goodness.

I had the shock of my life when... -I bet you did.

-I'm sure.

...when they rang me up.

But my God, when I saw your photograph, well, that's my brother, that's my brother.

Yeah, there's no mistaking our parentage.

-No, no, not at all.

-No.

I'd have loved to have met Mum.

Well, she's up there smiling right now.

She's doing a big tap dance, I'm sure she is.

Yes.

All of us together now.

[Colin] I felt that part of me has been reunited with part of Mum.

[Bryan] I've just said to my brother and my sister that we must never, ever lose contact now.

It's a feeling of belonging.

Since Colin, Helen and Bryan met eight years ago, they developed a sibling bond.

But recently there's been a tragic turn of events.

[Colin] Every day she's in my thoughts.

She was like a crutch to me.

If I felt down, I could always phone Helen, she would bring me back up.

Sadly, in 2021, Helen was diagnosed with cancer and passed away suddenly.

And as you can see, my sister and Bryan really got on well.

At least we had all them years together.

By finding Bryan, Colin and Helen were able to reunite all of their mother's children before it was too late.

Happy, happy memories.

They're both... here.

But completing the maternal side of his family has made Colin reflect on how little he knows about his father's side.

Colin was raised by his mum and Helen's dad and never knew his birth father.

[Colin] As a child, I'd never seen him.

I didn't have a photograph of him, I didn't know nothing.

But although I never knew him, I missed him.

Colin's mother had told him that his father was a well known theatre producer and actor called Rex Deering, who she had met during her time on the stage.

[Colin] He was an entertainer.

He had his own troupe of dancers, acrobats, singers, and used to tour round the various seaside sites.

In his quest to feel closer to Rex, Colin's come to the West Cliff Theatre in Clacton-on-Sea, where Rex performed frequently from the 1930s to the 1950s.

[Colin] Yeah, I can really picture him coming out the side, walking to the microphone and saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, we now present the Caxton Ramblers."

[applause] He must have some guts to stand in front of an audience like that.

I'd be buckling at the knees.

Rex passed away in 1991.

So this glimpse into his father's life was the most Colin ever hoped to find.

[Colin] I'm never gonna meet him.

He's gone now.

But for me to be in the theatre where he stood and entertained people... mind blowing.

But whilst Colin was researching Rex's time here, something extraordinary happened.

This all started, I think, January last year.

A hundred and 50 miles away, someone else was doing the same thing.

Rex's granddaughter, Beverley.

[Beverley] I like to try and find information out about the family because we don't know a great deal about them.

So I tried typing in my grandfather's stage name and up came an article about the West Cliff Theatre in Clacton.

So I added a note, "Does anybody know more about this gentleman?"

And Colin's son got in touch.

I thought, wow, have I actually managed to hit the jackpot here?

Beverley's mother, Sylvia, who's now 93, is Colin's older sister, 14 years older than him.

[Colin] When I heard from Beverley, it was unbelievable.

After all these years, suddenly finding I have another sister.

Wow!

Although Sylvia knew her father, she'd always thought she was an only child.

Well, I was surprised, certainly surprised.

Nobody ever spoke about me having a brother, and I wanted to arrange a meeting.

Today, Colin's come to Daventry to meet Sylvia in a hotel near where she lives.

How you feeling then, Dad?

Bit jittery and nervous, but that's all to be expected.

Colin's daughter Pauline's come to support him.

Well, have a great time and I'll see you soon.

-Enjoy it.

All right?

-Yeah.

-Thank you.

-Be strong.

[Colin] I'm on tenterhooks.

It's a special day indeed.

[Sylvia] I'm a great believer in families.

So it's a brother I'll have to get used to and learn about.

-I'm going to leave you here.

-Yes.

Okay?

And I will be waiting somewhere else with a cup of tea and I will see you later on.

-All right.

-Okay.

I'm a bit apprehensive.

I hope we'll get on.

[Colin] The first thing, I would like to give her a big smile.

And then a big hug.

Hello!

Sylvia.

[Sylvia] Hello.

-Oh, oh, bless you.

-These are for you.

Ah, thank you.

Thank you.

[Colin] Thank you.

Absolutely fantastic.

Meeting you at long last.

It really is amazing that after all these years... -Yeah.

-It's lovely us meeting.

I'm very, very pleased about that.

-Yeah.

-You're not disappointed then?

Oh, no, you could never disappoint me.

-Oh, good.

Good.

-Yeah.

I'm really on top of the world.

She is my eldest sister.

Love her.

Love her to bits.

What do you remember, really, about my dad?

'Cause I know nothing about his life.

Not a great deal 'cause, I mean, with him being in the theatre, he was all over the country most of the time.

-[Colin] Yeah, that's right.

-And I was only a little girl, so I didn't see much of him.

There was a connection.

I hope there was for him too.

It's very nice to know I'm not on my own.

I hope we'll keep in touch now.

-Hello.

-All right, Dad?

-Okay?

-Yeah.

-Good.

Fine.

Lovely to meet you.

-Colin.

Colin.

Hello.

How are you?

I've stopped looking.

I found what I wanted to find.

Astonishing.

Really astonishing.

[peaceful music playing]