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The Independent
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Moment man abandoned as baby in plastic bag finally meets birth family
A man who was abandoned as a baby inside a plastic bag had an emotional reunion with his birth family on Wednesday's (25 June) episode of Long Lost Family on ITV. In September 1984, Jon Scarlett-Phillips was discovered in the toilet of a leisure centre car park in Bletchley, Milton Keynes, wrapped in a blanket. Now 40, he enlisted the help of the show, presented by Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell, to trace his birth mother. In an emotional scene, the chef finally met his two half-sisters, who explained that his birth mother felt unable to join them both physically and mentally following a long period of illness.
The Independent
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Moment man abandoned as baby in plastic bag with placenta still attached finally meets birth family
A man who was abandoned as a baby inside a plastic bag with his placenta still attached had an emotional reunion with his birth family on Wednesday's (25 June) episode of Long Lost Family on ITV. In September 1984, Jon Scarlett-Phillips was discovered in the toilet of a leisure centre car park in Bletchley, Milton Keynes, wrapped in a blanket. Now 40, he enlisted the help of the show, presented by Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell, to trace his birth mother. In an emotional scene, the chef finally met his two half-sisters, who explained that his birth mother felt unable to join them both physically and mentally following a long period of illness.
Daily Mail
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews: Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace: Davina's DNA search show's been left behind by the march of science
Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace (ITV1) Science that seemed miraculous a few years ago is now commonplace. We would be disappointed if a complex paternity riddle couldn't be solved with a single DNA swab. Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace is now in its seventh series, helping people abandoned at birth to find out who their real parents were. And even presenters Nicky Campbell and Davina McCall no longer appear surprised when a five-minute genetic test matches an adoptee with blood relatives they've never met. But the possibilities created by global DNA databases are now far more astounding than anything Long Lost Family has shown us so far. Writer Barbara Demick spent years in China reporting on its cruel 'one-child-per-family' policy, which lasted from 1980 to 2015. Parents who dared have a second baby were punished with fines equivalent to several years' income. Officials from the Family Planning department smashed up their homes and confiscated their possessions — often stealing their children, too. Many thousands of Chinese children were adopted by Europeans, Americans and Australians. At that time, it was unimaginable any of them would ever be able to discover their own roots. 'An adoptee finding her birth family seemed no more likely than locating a particular grain of sand,' wrote Demick, whose book Daughters Of The Bamboo Grove was reviewed in the Mail on Sunday last weekend. African dish of the night: Visiting a pizzeria run by an Egyptian father and son, on Tucci In Italy (National Geographic and Disney+), actor Stanley was startled to learn the first pizzas were baked for the Pharaohs. Surely, if that were true, they'd be pyramid-shaped instead of round. Demick interviewed one man, Zhou Changqi from Hunan province, who was desperate for news of the daughter taken from him and his wife in 2001. He'd sacrificed everything in his search, and was now living penniless in a corrugated iron shack. 'I miss my daughter all the time,' he begged. 'I know if she's gone to America, I can't get her back. I'm not trying. I would like to get a picture of her.' Incredibly, in 2022, a DNA ancestry service brought them together. Zhou's daughter, who grew up in middle-class Indiana, took a test for health reasons, checking for genes that indicated a higher risk of cancer. Instead, she found her birth parents. Both stories in the first of the new series of Long Lost Family seemed unremarkable by comparison. A woman named Lisa who was left in another baby's pram in the late 1960s discovered she had three full siblings — all of whom were brought up at home by their parents, both now dead. Fortunately, Lisa enjoyed a happy childhood with her adoptive mum and dad. She must have wondered, though, whether she was any better off for knowing she was the only one of the four to be abandoned. And a man from Neath, 59-year-old Simon, learned that his birth mother was still alive — but that she didn't want to meet him. That, too, was an unrewarding outcome, though he was warmly welcomed by his extended family of cousins.
The Guardian
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
TV tonight: real stories of abandoned babies and reunited families
9pm, ITV1A new run of this affecting, long-running series which uses a mixture of fancy DNA technology and old-school sleuthing to reunite people with their biological families. We begin with Simon who, in 1966, was left in the outside toilet block of a mother-and-baby home in south Wales. We also meet Lisa, who almost 60 years ago, was left in another baby's pram. Can Davina McCall, Nicky Campbell and their team help the pair find some answers about their origins? Expect tearful revelations. Phil Harrison 7pm, BBC TwoBy any measure, Martina Navratilova has had a remarkable life. She was a tennis prodigy, winning a national title in Czechoslovakia at the age of 15. Her subsequent life has included gaining US citizenship, political activism and sadly, several bouts of cancer. There will be plenty to talk about then. PH 8pm, BBC OneThe roving Repair Shop 4x4 reaches Scotland. Highlights include daredevil action in Glasgow as Lucia ascends the 68-metre (225ft) spire of the city's cathedral to see first-hand how it is holding up to weather damage. Dom remains on terra firma but mucks in with flame cleaning and regilding the spire's golden cockerel weathervane. GV 9pm, BBC OneHave Elizabeth and Letitia maintained their intimacy? Have Fin and Sioned got itchy feet since returning to rural Wales? And has the race taught Caroline new powers of self-assertiveness? Six months after finishing their jaunt, the teams reunite to ponder their experiences. PH 9pm, BBC ThreeIt's makeup brushes at dawn for Cherise, Jake and Jade, but who will get a 'ding dong, darling!' from judge Val Garland, and who is weeping before they've even finished their final look? Luckily, the reality contest remains largely feelgood TV, even during this tense finale. Hannah J Davies 11pm, BBC TwoAn unvarnished take on the week's biggest stories (recorded so close to transmission that no details are available in advance). Which rather prompts the question: can one take a proper overview before the dust has settled? BBC world affairs editor John Simpson is having a go anyway. AC
The Herald Scotland
22-04-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Four cardinals accused Pope of heresy. Is this a sequel to Conclave?
So fair play to 5 Live where Nicky Campbell's morning phone-in show immediately pivoted to cover the news. Times Radio's morning news show had the advantage of running until 10am, so Nick Wallis and Rosie Wright had an extra hour to digest and reflect. Wallis spoke to author and commentator who was effusive in his praise of Pope Francis. 'He was a radical in the deepest sense of the word,' Wilson suggested. 'He was the most radical world leader we've had in decades.' Read more On Monday evening Radio 4 broadcast The Life of Pope Francis, presented by Edward Stourton. It was a programme that had clearly been in the works for a while - given the Pope's health in recent months, no surprise - and as such it offered a clear-eyed assessment of the man's life and legacy that didn't shy away from the fact that the head of the Catholic Church is a political position as much as it is a spiritual one. Was Pope Francis a liberal, Stourton asked? An American nun argued that such a label didn't fit. His ministry couldn't be reduced to labels. 'I don't think you can call it liberal, progressive or conservative. I call it a pastoral, human approach.' Instead of wagging a finger, author Paul Vallely added, he was a Pope who put his arm around people. That said, four cardinals accused him of heresy. There's probably a sequel to Robert Harris's Conclave in all this. Coincidentally - or maybe not so coincidentally given that it was Easter Monday - Radio 4's Start the Week took religion and spirituality as its theme, asking whether Matthew Arnold's 'sea of faith' was indeed retreating. The answer seemed to be no. There's a growth in church attendance among young people in both conservative and liberal churches. Pope Francis attended the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families at Phoenix Park in Dublin, as part of his visit to Ireland (Image: Danny Lawson) Perhaps the more interesting line - and certainly the one that resonated most for a lapsed Protestant atheist like myself - was the reminder that our ideas of nationhood and identity and self and even art have been shaped by centuries of Christian thought. We are Christian even when we're not, I guess. One of the radio upsides of the Easter weekend on radio is that it's one of the few times Radio Scotland shakes things up ever so slightly. (Is there any other UK radio station that is so rigid in its programming?) What that meant on Monday was another episode of the occasional sporting series Scotland v the World, presented by Andrew Cotter. This episode revisited a moment in Italian football history. Cotter told the story of Scots Jack Diment and James Squair who had won the Scudetto back in 1905 with Juventus. And it was a good story. Diment and Squair - both from Durris originally - went to Turin to work for a shipping company and ended up playing for Juve at the same time. This was a decent, snappy half-hour documentary, albeit a bit bare bones; just a couple of voices telling us what happened and actor Colin McCredie playing Diment in dramatic monologues that were, in truth, a wee bit too Hot Shot Hamish-flavoured for my taste. Rose Reilly won the Italian championship with Napoli, Lecce and AC Milan And then halfway through Cotter deviated away from the stories of Diment and Squair to remind us that while no men have repeated their success in Italy - though Billy Gilmour and Scott McTominay could do so with Napoli this season - three Scottish women have. Indeed, more than 20 Scottish women have played in Italy and Rose Reilly won the championship with Napoli, Lecce and AC Milan. I'll be honest. This seemed a more interesting story than that of Diment and Squair's, especially as we got to hear from Reilly herself and some typically excitable Italian commentary of her success. Suddenly, it was like the programme had just been given a jolt of electricity. A good reminder that radio isn't always just about voices. A little sonic texture can add extra juice to any broadcast. Listen Out For: Local Hero, Radio 4, Sunday, 3pm Bill Forsyth's classic 1983 film about an oil exec seduced by the beauty of Scotland has been adapted for radio by Marty Ross. The cast includes Harry Lloyd, Greg McHugh and Sophie Kennedy Clark.
