What did you miss?
Long Lost Family viewers showered praise on fostered nephew Liam Pitts, who was found by the aunt he never knew he had.
Melanie Mackney contacted the ITV show which sees Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell help adopted and fostered children find out about their birth parents and reunite them with their families. She knew her mother had had twin girls before she was born.
The Long Lost Family team were able to trace her twin sisters Rosemary and Cathleen. Cathleen had tragically died in a car accident in 2021, but she left behind son Pitts, who had grown up in foster care due to his mother's mental health problems.
He won the hearts of viewers as Campbell met him to hear about his life and tell him his aunt wanted to meet him.
What, how, and why?
Melanie Mackney contacted ITV's Long Lost Family for help tracing her twin sisters after she had accessed her adoption record following the death of her adoptive mother. The furniture restorer from Hemel Hempstead had found out she had two twin sisters just one year older than her.
Her mother Maria fled the war in former Yugoslavia in the 1960s and moved to Australia, before coming to England in 1967. In her efforts to find her twin sisters Mackney learned through a DNA database she had two other sisters in Australia.
Mackney spent the first months of her life in a mother and baby home in London, where her mother was treated for schizophrenia. She said: "It put me off having children of my own in a way. I didn't want to have children, but I suppose I felt in me, would I be the kind of mother Maria was. I wonder if the twins were the same. I want to know what happened to them."
TV researchers were able to trace her twin sisters Rosemary and Cathleen. Cathleen had died in a car accident, but she left behind son Liam Pitts, who was keen to meet Mackney. He told Campbell: "I'm happy that this is happening. This was my mum's dream to finally meet her siblings, her biological family. And myself to meet my auntie and mum's lost sibling. It will be really emotional and exciting."
Pitts revealed his mother and her twin sister were found living on the streets with Maria as babies. They were later adopted together. Pitts himself grew up in foster care. He said: "I lived with my mum up to the age of seven. She was a good mother she just struggled with mental health issues. But I stayed in contact with her since I've been in foster care.
"It was tricky in the beginning, being separated from your mum. All you want to do is live with your mum. I could see it was hard for her to look after herself, let alone look after me as well. But my foster parents have been amazing. My mum knew that, that it would be best for me."
After meeting Pitts, Mackney revealed: "He said, 'I hope that I'm enough that you met me instead of my mum'. And I said you're more than enough. It does feel like belonging somewhere, I've always wanted to belong. And he's really mine."
What did viewers say?
Viewers were impressed by what a nice young man Pitts appeared to be on the show.
One wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: "What an amazing & lovely lad, he's very mature & is obviously a loving young man. #LongLostFamily." Another said: "Wow Liam, you didn’t have an easy start in life but you are an absolute gem. #LongLostFamily."
One posted: "He is an absolute Angel of a young man Xx #longlostfamily." And another shared: "What a stand-up young man he is. Comes across so well and doing his mother proud #longlostfamily."
Another viewer commented: "Bloody hell I'm in bits watching #LongLostFamily this Liam guy is different class. What a strong, classy human being."
What else happened on Long Lost Family?
Susan Stalley was reunited with son Steve Belgrove who she was forced to give up as a teenager. Belgrove had joined the army and settled in The Netherlands, where he was tracked down by the Long Lost Family team. He told presenter Campbell he had been telling his children about how he was thinking of trying to trace his birth mother just a week before he got the call from the show's researchers.
Belgrove and Stalley were reunited in a hotel in England by the Long Lost Family team and immediately shared a warm embrace.
Stalley told Belgrove: "I've waited so long for this day. 55 years, I haven't held you for 55 years." she added: "I've always held a lot of guilt giving you up." Belgrove told her "Because you were so young I always knew it must have been difficult."
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Stalley told him: "I love you. I knew that cuddle from when he was a baby, I felt that immediate bond. It was lovely." Belgrove said: "Fantastic. We will be a family now. That's my mother, it just feels natural. You can feel a bond there. I just feel like my mother loved me."
Stalley added: "There's my son right in front of me, I've longed for that, My family is complete and that's all I've ever wanted."
Viewers were in tears. One wrote on social media platform X: "What a lovely lady Steve's mum is. I've cried a few tears it has to be said. There's nothing like a mother's love #Longlostfamily."
Another said: "Sue is absolutely lovely, I'm thrilled for her to complete her family. You could see the release of pain vanish from her eyes. Wonderful stuff."
And another commented: "What a lovely moment emotional doesn't even cut it. Like mother like son eh."
Long Lost Family airs on ITV1 One at 9pm on Mondays.
