-We're twins!

-Oh, I know.

We shared a womb for nine months, a drawer for two months, and nothing for 30 years!

In this special episode of Long Lost Family, we find out what it's really like to be separated from your closest relative, born on the same day.

We tell the extraordinary story of twin sisters, raised in the same neighborhood, but prevented from seeing each other.

I said to my mother, "That's my sister over there, but I'm not allowed to go and speak to her, am I?"

And she said, "No, darling, I'm sorry, you're not."

We meet adopted twin girls who, at the age of ten, saw the mirror image of themselves for the first time.

-[girl] Twin sister?!

-[man] You have an identical twin sister.

That's scary.

This must have been scary.

Hello.

And we catch up with the long lost twins reunited in our very first episode.

It's 100% changed both of their lives.

[Nicky] We investigate ground-breaking studies of twins raised apart.

[laughing] -They both started laughing at exactly the same time.

-Yes, they did.

Both twins had very nervous habits, holding their hands clenched and kicking their feet a lot.

And you two were completely identical.

We couldn't tell you apart, really.

And we explore the ongoing debate about what makes us who we are -- nature or nurture?

Oh, she does look like you!

She does have glasses and grey hair, this is our woman!

[dramatic music playing] Our first twins were raised apart and forbidden from seeing one another.

Now for the first time, they're sharing their incredible story with Long Lost Family.

[woman] Growing up without my twin, there was always something missing.

I always wanted to know my twin, always, from being a little girl, so there was no question that, as soon as I could, I would find her.

[Davina] Elaine Allin an d her twin sister Mary Holmes were born just after the Second World War to an unmarried 19-year-old.

Disowned by her family, she was staying in a boarding house with her new-born babies.

We were just kept in drawers because we didn't have a cot or anything like that.

The twins caught the attention of a married soldier billeted at the boarding house.

Realizing their young mother couldn't cope, the soldier asked his wife if they could adopt the girls.

[Elaine] He used to come home at weekends and say about these two poor little babies, you know, and we were going to be put into an orphanage basically.

But the soldier and his wife decided they couldn't afford to adopt both twins.

What they said was, if another family could be found, they would split us.

They chose Elaine and another family was found for Mary.

Incredibly, the twins grew up just a few miles away from each other in Chesterfield.

But despite being so close, it was thought best to keep the girls apart.

[Elaine] I was maybe ten, and I looked across the road, and I said to my mother, "That's my sister over there, Mummy."

I knew it was her because she looked exactly like me.

"But I know I'm not allowed to go and speak to her, am I?"

And she said, "No, darling, I'm sorry, you're not."

Yeah.

Yeah.

Um... Yeah, that was quite, um, horrible really, yeah.

Sorry.

Yeah.

Mary's family had not told her she was adopted, let alone that she had a twin.

But in a small town, a secret like that was hard to keep.

[Mary] One day I was in town with my mother, and it was raining, and I was being dragged along, when suddenly my eyes fastened on this, er, photograph on the side of the cinema of this little girl with the film star who was in the film.

And I just stopped dead because I thought, "that is me.

That little girl is me."

And my mother was like, "What's the matter with you?

Come along," you know.

And of course as I've realized, because my mother knew that that was my twin sister, Elaine.

As Mary's suspicions increased, her mother had no choice but to confess all.

[Mary] I was summoned to the front room, with the family.

They had got something to tell me, and it's, I had been adopted as a baby, I was not their real child.

And that also I had a twin sister.

The world looked different to Mary once she knew she had a twin.

And I thought, this is brilliant, this is fabulous, but actually then straightaway I was told, "But you're not going to have anything to do with her at all."

I've gone from being on the ceiling to on the floor because, you know, like, well, "I've got a twin sister, but you're not going to let me see her."

As the twins grew, so did the nagging sense that an important part of their lives was missing.

After seeing her, I began to think about her even more.

I held my sister like a beacon of light in my head, and that's where she had to stay.

As adults, that yearning became a burning need to meet.

I always felt that I've got a twin sister and I need to see her and talk to her, and I just need to know her.

But the twins had no idea where the other one lived, and it was only at the age of 21 that Elaine found a crucial lead.

The clue that I had was that where she worked, which was the Cooperative Insurance Company.

I rang and spoke to a young lady and said, "Could I speak to Mary Black?"

And she said, "Oh, I'm awfully sorry, she doesn't work here anymore.

Three months ago she got married and her husband is in the navy and they now live in Singapore."

And I just thought, no!

[Davina] Whilst Mary and Elaine seemed destined never to meet, our next set of twins did come together as children in the most extraordinary circumstances.

[cheering] Gracie Rainsberry and Audrey Doering were reunited as ten-year-olds on American television in 2017.

[man] Girls are doing good.

Come on over.

[woman] Let's go and sit down over here.

But unlike Mary and Elaine's adoptive parents, Gracie and Audrey's are actively working on keeping the girls in contact with one another as they grow up more than a thousand miles apart.

We've had to both really commit to, you know, making sure that the girls connect, no matter how hard it is.

It's now two years since the reunion, and the families have travelled from America to London to take part in the latest research into identical twins.

Hi, Gracie!

-Hi.

[laughing] -How are you?

You got taller!

-She did, yeah.

-How are you?

You guys surviving?

But the fact that Gracie and Audrey know each other at all is down to a remarkable twist of fate.

It all started when Audrey's adoptive mother, Jennifer, began to search for information about her daughter's life in China before she was adopted.

I discovered a photo, completely 100% by accident, um, just...

I found a picture of her when I was looking for some other information.

I saw that there were two girls, they looked just alike.

The second I opened that photo, I had no doubt in my mind.

If I couldn't tell which child was mine, then how can they not be identical?

To discover that my child was a twin, every emotion you can imagine, every single emotion, from the "oh-my-gosh" excitement moment to "What is on the other side?"

Jennifer scoured social media in search of other families who'd adopted children from China.

Within three days, she tracked down Nicole, Gracie's adoptive mum.

So Jennifer found me on Facebook, and then my husband sent to me a picture of Jennifer with Audrey.

It was really, really overwhelming information.

You know, my first reaction was, it was upsetting, honestly.

I just had so many questions about why did this happen and how is this gonna change our life?

You know what, what are we gonna do now?

Because you can't unknow that.

[Jennifer] It's complicated.

Um, especially when you don't go looking for something of this magnitude.

You hope you're making the right decision for her, um... sharing the information, 'cause you don't know what's on the other side.

And once you open it, you can't close it again.

So what's it like for parents when they discover their adopted child has a twin?

And when they do find out, how do they nurture that relationship when the twins live more than a thousand miles apart?

The families have agreed to meet me to talk about their unique situation.

Hi!

Nice to meet you guys.

-Audrey and Gracie.

-Yeah.

So I really want to know, I mean, what's it like looking at someone's face and they look exactly like you?

Oh, no!

Now the tears!

Now the tears.

Yeah.

When did your mum tell you about Audrey?

They showed me a video of Audrey and it was like, it was just so weird.

Hi, welcome to the American Chinese Society where today, I, Audrey, will be contacting... -[dad] What are you thinking, Gracie?

-I don't know.

-[Nicole] Who is that?

-I don't know.

My sister I guess?

-[dad] What kind of sister?

-My Chinese sister?

[laughter] [dad] She looks exactly like you.

-Twin sister?

-[dad] You have an identical twin sister.

Does that blow your mind?

That's scary.

It must have been scary.

Come here.

Wow, that's so intense.

-Wow!

-[Nicole] Yeah, that was a lot.

[Davina] The next day Audrey spoke to Gracie for the first time.

[woman] Here's Gracie!

-Hi.

-Hi.

[woman laughing] [adults] Aww!

[woman] Audrey, go by dad.

Go by dad!

-It's okay.

-It's okay.

-[woman] Aww!

-They needed some hugs.

So what do you like to do, Gracie?

[Gracie] Oh, I like to do sports.

You do?

What's your favorite sport?

Soccer and basketball.

[dad] Soccer and basketball?

What's your favorite class in school?

-Maths.

-What's your favorite class?

-Math.

-[Jennifer] Math!

Oh, my goodness, thank you so much for sharing that.

What's that like watching that back?

Does it take you right back to that, that time?

You can feel all those feelings all over again.

How has your relationship developed?

I mean, do you, do you think about each other a lot?

Do you miss each other when you're not with each other?

Yes.

So I think with, um, like Facetime and like messaging has helped too because even though we don't, can't really talk, like, every day, we can talk, like, enough where it's not like we drift so far apart.

And I mean, now you girls are a bit older, can you understand kind of what it's like for your parents to sort of-- 'cause they're really making that happen for you.

Yeah, it's, like, cool because, like, they make sure that we see each other.

-Which is really-- Aww.

-[women laugh] And that means a lot, right?

And for you two, that's an enormous leap of faith, right, because you guys were complete strangers.

-Right.

-And you've had to throw yourselves together.

We have a whole 'nother, you know, extended family called twin-laws.

-We are the twin-laws.

-Twin-laws.

And there's another even more fundamental bond between Gracie and Audrey that has brought them closer.

They were both born with a rare heart defect.

We both had to have two open heart surgeries just to, like, um, like, fix our heart, and then we've had multiple, like, heart catheters, and so, um, yeah, so we just, like, get our hearts fixed every once in a while.

Twin sisters Mary Holmes and Elaine Allin grew up in the same town.

Banned from seeing each other as children, as adults they were desperate to find one another.

We were searching for each other and had all the near misses, and we just never seemed to be in the right place at the right time.

I felt it's just like fate that we are never, ever going to meet.

So what did fate have in store for Mary and Elaine?

I'm meeting the twins to find out.

So, how did you find each other?

I was watching a show, and they had the dance-- The Young Generation.

They put the credits, all the names of the dancers, and up it kind of jumped out the screen: "Vince Logan."

And somebody had told me that Elaine had got a brother called Vince Logan who was in the theatre and he did dance.

-And you saw it?

Did you go... [gasps]?

-I did.

And so "ummed and ahhed" about it and will I... what will I do?

But in the end, I wrote a letter to Vince, and if it was him, if he could, you know, if Elaine was his sister, could he pass it on.

-And he did.

-And that's exactly what he did.

-Did you just fall off your chair?

-Um, yeah, probably, yeah.

[Davina] What was it like, do you remember?

It was, um, it was surreal.

Like, I don't believe this is happening.

-So what happened next?

-I got a letter from Elaine, and she'd actually enclosed a little photo of her as well.

And... Oh, right.

"Dear Mary, what a wonderful surprise.

I could hardly believe my eyes when Vince gave me your letter.

After all the years of wondering where you were and what you were doing, I just want to know everything about you.

You know, are you married?

Have you got a family?

Are you happy?

I know it sounds strange, but because I knew about you from, from being very small, I almost feel like I know you already."

-Aww.

-Um... -Aw!

-Sorry.

-"We..." [clears throat] -Sorry.

-You okay?

-Yeah.

Just thinking back.

-It brings it back, right?

-Yeah.

-She's going to... -Sorry.

-It's stupid-- -It's very-- It's not stupid.

It's really special and it's a fantastic, it's a fantastic letter.

"We will have to get together as soon as possible so we can really get to know each other properly.

Love, Elaine."

When the phone rang and we spoke, I think we just started to-- We just started talking.

Just chatting.

Normally.

You know, as if we'd known each other for however long, you know.

-Extraordinary, yeah.

-It was, yeah, yeah.

Tell me about the first meeting.

I was really nervous.

I mean, I'd been up and down the stairs, up, down stairs, you know, looking out of the window.

And then I saw this car come, and I saw Elaine's face, 'cause Elaine looked fabulous.

Oh!

Well, she thought I did.

Well, she did, yeah.

I mean, she did.

And did your fears disappear?

We literally got face-to-face for the first time.

I mean, to me, I thought, "Oh, I'm looking in a mirror."

-Yeah, it's so strange.

-It was a little bit odd.

I wanted to know what's the best thing about being a twin?

Oh, wow!

Has anyone ever asked us that before?

-I don't think they have, no.

-I don't think they have, actually.

-Um... -I mean, I-- I think it's just like having a second self.

Yeah, having somebody there so that something either good or bad happens to you... -First thing you think.

-...first thing, you know, that person, that other self, she's there for you.

[Nicky] Mary and Elaine's extraordinary story came to the attention of researchers from the University of Minnesota in the United States.

In 1984, ten years after the twins had met, they were invited to participate in the Minnesota Project, a ground-breaking study of twins raised apart.

One of the young researchers on the project, Dr. Nancy Segal, is now a leading expert on separated twins.

I'm meeting Nancy to find out what the tests revealed about Mary and Elaine, and also what the latest thinking is about the nature/nurture debate.

So tell me about the Minnesota Project.

It's the most comprehensive study of twins raised apart ever published, telling us that genetic influence is very, very important.

So what about Mary and Elaine?

How did they inform the Minnesota Project?

What struck me so much about Mary and Elaine was just how similar they were in their mannerisms.

Both twins had very nervous habits, holding their hands clenched and kicking their feet a lot.

Oh, my God, you must be joking, I can't draw at all.

Okay.

They're being asked to draw a picture of a person and they both deny having any kind of artistic ability.

They were similar in that they both drew women with tight waist and very fashionably dressed.

And I think it's because they're both very clothes conscious.

What I'd like for you to do now is to tell us about any coincidences that might have characterized your lives that you've discovered since you met so far.

[giggling] [indistinct chatter] Besides giggling.

-They both started laughing at exactly the same time.

-Yes, they did.

Sensitivity perhaps to being on the spot, but they seemed to like each other so much and have such an easy understanding.

And I think our politics are the same.

This is an interesting finding because most people suspect that you get your political views from your rearing family.

But twins raised apart like these are informing us that we get our political views maybe outside our family, that there is a genetic component to that.

So any other interesting case studies from the Minnesota project?

These twins are among the most fascinating that we saw.

They were the first pair that launched this study back in March of 1979.

Met for the first time in Ohio at the age of 39 and discovered a long list of similarities between them.

They both had dogs named Toy.

They both had benches constructed around a tree.

They both used to scatter love letters to their wives around the house.

They both had named their sons James Allen and they both had worked part-time in McDonald's and part-time as sheriffs, and both drove to the same three-block strip of beach in Florida and they drove there in their light-blue Chevrolets.

Wow!

Many people have experienced not seeing another person genetically related to them, but if that person is an identical twin, that is so powerful.

It is very, very powerful.

And when they meet each other, do they get a real sense of completeness in their lives?

I think they do.

Many twins do.

So now for the first time they're seeing themselves largely mirrored in another person, and I think they really celebrate the similarities.

So what's your latest research?

My latest research is on Chinese twins raised apart from birth, separated indirectly through the one-child policy.

[Nicky] One of the sets of twins from China that Nancy has been following is Gracie and Audrey.

As the girls didn't know of each other's existence for ten years, they're growing up in different families in different states of America.

They are very similar in so many ways.

They look exactly the same.

I can never keep Gracie and Audrey straight.

The bottom line is the genetics affects many more behaviors than we ever would have thought.

And the second is that living with somebody does not make you like them.

One fundamental genetic trait the girls share is a rare heart defect.

So, Gracie just had her surgery in November, and I think it's helped knowing each other because, um, we can help each other and, like, get through it and just, like, knowing that somebody's, like, there.

Whilst in London, they're visiting St. Thomas' Hospital to meet twin expert Professor Tim Spector.

They want to find out whether their bodies differ at all and how they're coping with the same condition.

Tim has devised a set of bespoke tests for them.

The best way of doing this is to try and get that pressure on quickly.

[woman] Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze!

-And stop.

-[twins laughing] As well as their grip strength, Tim tests their balance and lung function.

And... blow.

And stop.

So the difference between you really is that, although you both had a number of heart surgeries, Audrey had a little bit more of her lung affected and so that means that she has less air in the lungs to push out.

A special scan searches for any other differences in the twins' body composition.

Because although it's clear from the twins' outward appearance how much influence genetics have, genes don't act alone.

New research is showing that what happens inside our bodies is playing a huge part in shaping who we are.

As Gracie and Audrey wait for their results, I'm joining Tim to find out more about his research.

Tell me about your latest study.

We're working on the Predict Study, which is the largest nutritional intervention study of its kind ever performed.

We're taking a thousand twins, giving them all identical meals to see how that affects their general health.

One of the major surprising results of the studies is that identical twins often vary enormously in their food responses to the identical food.

So there's no such thing as an identical twin?

Everybody's different inside?

Everybody is an individual, even identical twins, because not only do we have genes but the internal environment of our bodies, which can make us react differently to food.

-Thank you.

-[Nicky] So if twins have been separated, is one of the big reasons for different attitudes, different behavior, different aptitudes, actually what they've been eating?

It's probably the number-one factor.

The results for Gracie and Audrey have come through.

Okay, girls, so this is when you went into the body scanner, and you two were completely identical.

Okay?

No difference in fat, muscle, bone.

Er, we couldn't tell you apart really.

But what about how your environment might affect what you're like inside?

If you remember, you very kindly gave us your stool samples.

-Yuck.

-[laughing] Anyway, you did it and we found that Audrey had a more diverse diet and Gracie had more carbohydrates in your diet and more fats.

-Do you think that's true?

-Yeah.

I feel like I go more out of my comfort zone and Gracie's more of like a pickier eater.

Those foods can determine your health and your reaction to illness as well as your moods and appetites and behaviors.

So as they grow up with the differences in their heart condition, how will they change?

Your heart condition's gonna put stresses on your bodies at different times and this is probably going to make you more different as you age over time.

So the big conclusion of this is your internal environment is really crucial to shaping who you are as individuals.

[twins chatting, laughing] [Davina] For Gracie and Audrey, growing up in different environments, eating different foods may make them less alike as they get older.

But it can't change the connection that they have as identical twins.

There you go.

Okay.

[Audrey] I think about Gracie a lot.

Um, like every day.

When you're having a bad day or anything, you can just, like, go and talk to her, and it's just... it's just like Audrey's just helped me with so many things and it would be hard without her.

It's like a special bond that, like, you can't get rid of.

But as their trip comes to an end, another separation looms for the twins.

[Jennifer] I want them to be together.

But I know in our world that we can't have them together all the time.

I know as they get older, into the high-school years, it'll be harder for them.

I want them to...

I want them to be at each other's weddings.

I want them to be together.

In some respects not all family is together.

You don't have to live with somebody to be family.

You just... You have to know they're there in your heart, and that's all that I want for them, I want them to have that connection.

Okay, what was your favorite cereal as a kid?

Uh... Coco Roos.

It's one thing to be reunited as children, but what happens if you don't meet each other until you're in your sixties?

In our first-ever episode of Long Lost Family, we reunited the lovely Jennifer and Kathleen who'd been apart for more than 60 years.

[contemplative music playing] There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of her.

I just think, "Ooh, there's somebody missing."

When Jennifer Wilson came to us, she'd been searching for her twin sister for decades, with the help of her daughter Nicole.

I think if you meet her that you'll both look the same.

I'm not sure if you'll be identical, but I think you'll both be little old women.

-[gasps] -[laughing] Jennifer was adopted in 1943 and grew up in the industrial town of Rotherham with the people she thought were her parents.

Just up the road lived a kindly neighbor called Auntie Eva.

But when she was 11, Jennifer discovered the truth about who Auntie Eva really was.

A cousin of mine told me, she said, "You know your Auntie, she's your mum."

So I went home and said to me mum, "Is Auntie Eva my mum?"

And she said "Yes, she was."

I said, "And also my cousin told me I was a twin, is that right?"

And she said, "Yes."

But her mum couldn't tell her any more and Jennifer's search for her twin sister began.

[Jennifer W.] This just means everything to me.

Everything.

I've got a happy marriage, good grandchildren, daughters, but this is just so different.

It's just so different that I've got to meet her.

I've just got to.

[Nicky] When we took up the search with the help of a specialist legally allowed to access adoption records, we found that Jennifer's twin was now called Kathleen, and incredibly, she lived with her husband just three miles away, also in Rotherham.

Until we contacted her, Kathleen had always thought she was an only child.

I went to break the news that it wasn't just an ordinary sister we'd found.

Which way in?

Here?

Okay.

Right.

-Kathleen.

Hello.

-Hello.

-I'm Nicky.

-Yes.

Pleased to meet you.

-You too.

-Yes, come in.

Thank you.

I've been so looking forward to meeting you.

-Yes, and me.

-Well, that's the two of us then.

So, what were you thinking when you first heard that Jennifer had been looking for you?

It was a surprise, a very big surprise.

I know that was the first inkling you've had that you've got a sister.

Yeah, I had no idea, no idea at all.

She's been really, really desperate to find you, her sister.

And the reason that she is so incredibly desperate to meet you is that she's not just your sister, she's your twin sister.

-I knew.

-Did you?

Yeah.

Don't ask me why.

Wow!

Gosh!

Oh, a twin.

Would you like to see a photograph?

Yeah.

I would.

Gosh, it gets better, don't it?

Wow!

Gosh.

Wow!

Well, I suppose she is like me, isn't she?

-Must be so strange.

-Oh, it is.

Where does she live?

Three miles away.

You're joking!

Gosh.

Where?

Rotherham.

Oh, you're joking!

Wow!

[Davina] Finally I was able to tell Jennifer the news she'd been longing to hear.

And it's good news.

Your sister has been found.

Brilliant!

Oh, I want to just...

I feel I could tackle the world today.

The one that should be next to me holding my hand is here.

Oh, I can't wait.

Oh, I can't!

I think you'd better go and tell Nicole in the kitchen.

-Okay, good luck.

-Thank you.

Nicole!

They've found her!

[shrieking] -Really?

-Yeah!

Yeah, look!

They call her Kathleen!

-Oh, gosh!

-And she lives three miles away!

-Does she?

Where does she live?

-I don't know.

And she's sent me a letter.

And she does look like you, she has got glasses and grey hair like an old woman!

A week later the twins were reunited in the park that unbelievably they'd both played in as children.

-Hiya!

-Hello.

Lovely to see you!

All this time I've been looking for you.

-Oh, it's incredible!

-Yeah.

Oh, I can't believe it.

Oh!

And I've only known five weeks.

It's unbelievable.

You've even got the same glasses as me, they're in my pocket.

Oh, I can't see without mine, I'm as blind as a bat.

Oh, it's so nice, I can't...

Whether it's nature or nurture, it's clear that even when twins have been raised separately, they share an incredible bond.

When Mary and Elaine met, the connection was instant.

You are warming to this person straightaway because this person virtually is you.

Audrey and Gracie have become able, despite the distance between them.

Audrey has just helped me with so many things and it would be hard without her.

And they are just two examples of twins who've discovered this unity.

Sharon and Debbie.

They met for the first time in their forties and just fell into each other's arms.

They both have weird habits of rolling their eyes.

They make funny faces and the same taste in clothes.

So almost a decade since our twins, Jennifer and Kathleen, met, have they too found that unique bond?

And how has their relationship developed?

♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ ♪ Happy birthday to you... ♪ Today, the twins are celebrating their 76th birthday together.

♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ [cheering] [cheering] [man] Speech!

-Speech?

-[man] Speech.

Thank you for all coming.

Very nice.

Really enjoyed it.

Couldn't have been a better day, and I'd like you all to put money towards buying me this house.

[laughter] It's 100% changed both of their lives.

They just-- I can't ever imagine them being apart, to be fair.

There were definitely a part missing from my mum, but now she's found her, she's like whole.

Right.

Who'd like a piece of cake?

[family] Me!

[kisses] [Jennifer W.] I think about Kath most days.

It's just grown and grown, we never have an argument.

It's as if I've always known her, that I've never been without her.

They look gorgeous, don't they?

I'm gonna get...

If people say to us, "Are you sisters?

", and we say, "We're twins," really, you know really proud that we're, we're twins.

[Kathleen] It's an unusual bond.

It's as if you're one.

It's lovely.

-That's mine!

Oh, no.

-No, it's not.

Since the reunion, the twins' families have also formed a close bond.

With Auntie Jenny in me life, it's like your family tree, it's got another branch.

It's fantastic.

I look at me mum now and it's like it's took 20 years off her.

Oh, lovely!

Just nice, that, for me holidays.

Oh, thank you.

"A sister is a friend, a friend that is true, a sister is precious, and my sister is you."

-Thank you.

-You're welcome.

I think it's obvious that they're twins, and there must be some genetic force there because they are so similar.

They often finish each other's sentences.

-They know what each other's thinking.

-It's the way they laugh.

The way they stand.

Way they sit.

That's a definite one, the way they sit.

Look.

Last year's birthday present.

I opened mine and Jenny started laughing.

I bet it's a chance in a million that we'd pick-- Because we weren't together, were we?

No.

No.

Definitely not.

But the reality of being back in each other's lives means that the twins don't just celebrate good times, they also have each other through bad moments.

[Jennifer W.] It's been a difficult year because my husband's died.

Um, and it was such a shock.

It was a shock because he wasn't ill.

He went into hospital because they thought he'd broken his hip, and that was the Sunday, and he died early hours of Thursday morning with sepsis, pneumonia, and his kidneys had packed up.

So it's been, it's been really hard these last few months.

My Auntie Kath helped my mum go through it, and I don't know whether she would have if it weren't for me Auntie Kath.

[Kathleen] Well, I hope my support's been good for her.

-Hiya, Kath.

-Hiya.

-You all right?

-I am.

Are you?

Yes, thank you.

She'll ring up, and if there's any problems, we solve them between us.

[Jennifer W.] I've been able to talk to her, and she's just been there for me.

I'm saying, "I can't, I can't, I can't manage without him."

She says, "Yes, you can.

You can do it."

Today, they're saying their final goodbye to Jennifer's husband Howard.

-I'm gonna say something.

-Something?

-Yeah?

-Go on.

Here we are, Dad, in your garden.

I know you're gonna be mad they've not cut your grass.

We love you, Dad.

And we love and miss you.

-And we hope you're behaving yourself!

-[chuckles] Come on, Howard, I'll sprinkle a little bit for you.

-Yeah.

-Thank you.

Yeah.

To help her deal with her loss, Kathleen is taking Jennifer on a special holiday.

They're going on a cruise together in September, and that's what my mum and dad really loved doing, cruising.

They've been on so many.

What you taking?

Have you brought... Yeah, I'm, I'm taking this, you know, dress for formal night?

-Mm-hmm.

-I thought that would be... -Yeah, that's nice.

-...nice for formal night.

Are you taking this?

Our leopard skin top?

-Ooh!

-We're dressed alike, aren't we, in these?

-Eh-up.

Yeah, they'll look nice.

-I'm taking that.

-I can wear that with me shorts.

-Yes, I might do that as well.

-Ooh, not long now, Jen.

-I know, I'm right excited.

I'm right giddy.

No one can see what's over the horizon, but the twins' special bond will help them navigate whatever lies ahead.

I can't imagine life without Kath at all.

No, I don't know what I'd do, I'd be really lost without her.

Yeah.

So she'd better not think of disappearing anywhere!

All packed, all off.

Southampton, here we come.

And I do feel good that we've got each other, and I'm sure Jenny would be there for me like I'd be there for her through good and bad.

My hopes for the future are that we don't have any more sad times for a really long time.

I just want them to continue as they are, being two little old ladies, shopping, chatting, eating, making up for lost time.

[Kathleen] I wonder if they'll have a Caribbean night?

[Jennifer] I reckon they'll have two.

[indistinct chatter] [upbeat music playing] Whoo!

[laughing] [screaming] It's on sale, size ten.

[peaceful music playing]