ITV’s Long Lost Family starring Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell found its largest audience yet. Series 3, produced by Wall to Wall, debuted with 5.6 million and a 25% share. That’s 500,000 more viewer’s than last series opener of 5.14 m. It also won it’s 9pm slot, according to Broadcast Magazine.
Monday night’s show follows a son searching for his mother and a mother searching for her daughter.
Fireman Alan Ross-Harper’s wanted to learn what happened to his birth mother, who gave him up for adoption in 1958. All he had to cling onto was his adoption file, which gave few details of the mother he was desperate to find. Long Lost Family’s search for Alan’s mum was long and difficult but eventually she was traced to New Zealand where she lives.
For Susan, the pain of giving up her daughter ate away at her for almost fifty years. When she told her boyfriend she was pregnant, he left her on the doorstep of a mother and baby home, never to see him again. With no family to turn to, adoption seemed her only option. Susan’s daughter Andrea had a very happy childhood and never had the desire to learn more about her birth mother. That is until Sue’s letter arrived…
Missed Alan and Susan’s reunions? Catch up here on ITV Player
But hey… Don’t just take the ratings word for it… Check out the tear-fulled reaction on Twitter:
This is so sad Long lost family crying all the way thru it,how hard must it be to give up a child and they have no choice braking my heart x
— carolellenwright (@nannypat_carol) June 17, 2013
@ThisisDavina Love "Long Lost Family"couldn't wait for the new series.wasn't disappointed…BRILLIANT♡
— marymcnameemarshall (@minimarsh747) June 18, 2013
Just made @banj_7 watch 'Long Lost Family'. He's never seen it before. He is in an absolute state, as am I @ThisisDavina
— Lee Bradshaw (@HarryBradshaw) June 17, 2013