Author Archives: arielbruce

Long Lost Family: Episode 5

Episode 5 of ITV’s Long Lost Family is aired tonight at 9pm and tells an emotional tale of two adults who are searching for family members they only found out about recently. In the instance of Richard, searching for a long lost older brother, he was only made aware of his brother John’s existence a few years ago, after the death of their mother. She had given her first son up for adoption before meeting and marrying Richard’s father and subsequently having Richard.

Ariel and her team often work on cases such as this one; where an adult has found out late in life that their parents had a secret child that no one knew about. The urge to find a recently discovered sibling is a strong one, as we see from Richard’s determination in this episode.

You can read more about the episode here (Click Link) and can tune in to watch the drama unfold at 9pm on ITV1.

Catch up on all episodes so far on the ITV Hub – Click Link

How Long Lost Family Saved My Life

The ITV series Long Lost Family, on which Ariel works as lead consultant, is a huge hit with audiences all over the country, drawing down the largest share of viewing figures every week. However it is easy to forget about the people who feature in the hit show, especially what happens to them after the cameras stop rolling.

Episode 1 of series 7 saw Simon Day reunited with his birth parents, who had given him up for adoption in the 1970’s. An emotional on screen reunion brought tears to eyes of millions of viewers, but it was in the aftermath of the meeting that the drama really started.

Simon had been experiencing heart problems, and it was only through meeting his birth father James that they were able to identify these problems as a hereditary heart condition; one that Simon would require immediate medical attention for. Through the support of his newly found family, Simon was able to have the necessary surgery and prevent the condition from getting worse. The effort’s of Ariel and the Long Lost Family team saved Simon’s life.

Read more about Simon’s condition and the family reunion by clicking here (click link to open article).

Series 7 of Long Lost Family continues on ITV1 at 9pm on Wednesday 9th August at 9pm GMT.

Who Do You Think You Are – Lesley Sharp

Ariel had the pleasure to work with BBC One’s “Who Do You Think You Are ” team on an episode featuring actress Lesley Sharp. The ‘Scott & Bailey’ actress was adopted as a baby and wanted to find out more about her biological father.

A clip featuring Lesley can be found here – Lesley Sharp

With the help of Ariel the WDYTYA team were able track down members of Lesley’s father’s family for what would prove to be an emotional reunion.

A full interview with Lesley can be found on this link (click to open)

Long Lost Family Summer Party

Ariel was delighted to host the Long Lost Family team for a Thank You/Summer party on Friday the 21st July 2017, just ahead of the broadcast of episode one of the seventh series. Kate Adie was also able to come to the party and celebrate with the team.

The weather was favourable, allowing the team to enjoy an afternoon in the garden, reflecting on the research and stories of the upcoming season.

The weather couldn’t have been better for the party.

With the hard work of series seven behind them, it was a wonderful chance to get the team together to celebrate the many successes, whilst simultaneously looking forward to series eight, which has been recently commissioned.

Sam & Debbie helping at the Party – what a team!

Episode one of the new series was broadcast on the 26th July 2017, with 4.2 million viewers. Episode two will be broadcast at 9pm on ITV1 on Wednesday 2nd April.

To catch up on previous episodes visit ITV Hub (Click here to open)

Long Lost Family Season 7 – Episode 1 Reactions

Season seven of ITV’s Long Lost Family aired on Wednesday 26th July, capturing the largest audience of the evening with 4.2 million people tuning in at 9pm, and an extra 230,000 viewers watching on ITV+1.

Ariel and her team had undertaken all of the research and investigation to trace the missing family members for the show, so it’s particularly rewarding to see their hard work pay off with such high viewing figures.

The Daily Telegraph’s review (click here to open) said: “Long Lost Family offers cathartic balm in a world of psychic stress”. The joy of watching previously lost family members reunited in highly emotional scenes dominated the headlines of other national newspapers too.

Many people took to Twitter to express their love for the show as the hashtag ‘Long Lost Family’ was trending around the country throughout the evening. People who have been helped by Ariel and the LLF team also posted about their experiences of working with the team, expressing their gratitude to the show. This included Ann Beggs, one of the reunited sisters featured in episode one.

Your team found my Birth Mother. She denied me, yet your team still work with me now. Your programme changes lives x #longlostfamily

— Pip R (@AtTheMoulin) July 26, 2017

Huge thank you to everyone who has messaged me. Can’t thank the LLF team enough, the love and care they give is outstanding #longlostfamily

— Ann Beggs (@AnnBeggs) July 27, 2017

To catch up on episode one of series seven, as well as previous seasons, click on the link to visit the ITV Hub (click link to watch).

Episode two of the series airs on ITV1 at 9pm on Wednesday 2nd August.

Long Lost Family: What Happened Next

Popular ITV1 show Long Lost Family has been pulling on the heart strings of viewers for 6 seasons now, and is about to return for a 7th Season. However what happened after the years of searching have been brought to an end and the tearful reunions have taken place is a question many viewers wanted answered.

Long Lost Family: What Happened Next serves to fulfil that need as they revisit the people who were reunited in previous episodes thanks to Ariel and the team’s research. Stories like that of Ron and Christine, brother and sister who were separated in early childhood and reunited for the first time in 65 years by the LLF team. As The Guardian puts it in one review: “If that didn’t make you blub, then you’re a liar, or a robot, or both.” – To read the full Guardian article Click Here.

Long Lost Family returns to screens with series seven on Wednesday 26th July at 9pm. Previous episodes can be found on ITV hub (click link to open).

NEWSFLASH – Long Lost Family Returns Weds 26th July 2017

Series seven of ITV’s hugely popular Long Lost Family, on which Ariel and her team worked as lead researchers, will return to screens on Wednesday 26th July at 9pm. The prime time show sees presenters Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell reuniting family members from all over the world in highly emotional scenes.

Ariel and the team worked tirelessly for many months, contacting distant family members, carrying out DNA tests and delving through family trees to make the emotional reunions possible.

Episode one, airing on Wednesday 26th July, sees teenage sweethearts Marion and James searching for the son they were forced to give up in the 1970s. An often familiar scenario for Ariel and her team, the episode is a must watch.

Episode 1 of series 7 of Long Lost Faimly will be broadcast on ITV1 at 9pm on Wednesday 26th July, and available on catch up shortly after that. Series 1-6 of Long Last Family can be found on ITV Hub or Youtube (click link to view episodes) so you can catch up on the emotional and heart warming reunions that have already taken place.

New Team Member

Ariel is very pleased to welcome Carolynne Bull to the team. Carolynne has been registered as an Adoption Support Agency since 2006 and has been awarded an Outstanding in her last two OFSTED inspections. She is registered with Ofsted as Adoption Support Agency number 1234951.

Carolynne has experience of working with all three corners of the Adoption Triangle for the last 17 years both as a Counsellor specialising in adoption issues and as an Intermediary.

Ariel Bruce

Independent social worker specialist in tracing people