Long Lost Family 9pm

I do watch this but prefer DNA Family Secrets on BBC presented by Stacey Dooley.

apparently many on here cannot bear to hear her voice, so they are deprived of the pleasure of watching it.

But almost anything is preferable to Long Lost Family welbeck

I love LLF but can’t stand Davina. She is so gushy with a stupid look on her face. Cringe making!

I enjoy Long lost families I don’t mind Davina she’s no worse than many others I like Stacy Dooly too
I think this series about foundlings is particularly sad
Especially that poor chap last night although he seemed to take it very well that he was the only one of 5 babies to be left in a toilet and a middle one at that that must have been traumatic for him whatever the reason the mum had

surely it's about the heart breaking stories of these babies being abandoned at birth, Not about the presenters!

I watched on your recommendation and was duly sad.
I thought more could have been said about the possibility of post natal depression (and infanticide was associated with this) which could have caused the Welsh mother to dump her days old baby in the toilets.
The conclusion was that she was very poor. Sorry but no.
Apart from Hansel and Gretel, parents don't say we can't afford to feed our baby. She will have been breast feeding.
Was the suggestion that she was too proud to ask for help a euphemism for she had PND?

I find the DNA expert much stranger than the presenters.

I dislike programmes like this. Making entertainment, cranking up fragile emotions, publicising extremely painful personal experiences. The now widowed mother who abandoned her first baby on the steps of the church didn’t want to be identified.

IAM64 it was her THIRD child she had a ten yr old boy and eight yr old girl at the time!.........the girl died as an adult....... themother went on to have two more girls!

I wish they would not abandon babies in a toilet like this one... a hospital, telephone box but not a toilet!

My Father led an interesting life after he left my Mother, I would never put my DNA on any data bank. I am not interested in meeting any long lost half siblings, I love the ones I have grown up with.

I hope that those participating in these sort of entertainment programmes have successful outcomes as opposed to rejection and heartbreak once the cameras stop rolling.

Grammaretto My op didn't come with recommendations! just a post that it was on.....

Was the suggestion that she was too proud to ask for help a euphemism for she had PND?

That was my thought too.

The other thought was that the father, being in the Army, would have received a reasonable salary so why was the mother so desperately poor that she felt she had to abandon her baby?
I'm not sure when the Allotment system for junior ranks began, whereby a portion of the serviceman's pay was withheld and paid every month to the next of kin. That was to ensure that wives and children received some portion of the pay before it could all be spent.
PND does seem likely in that case.

Women must be desperate and live with the consequent guilt for the rest of their lives.

Nothing more interesting than other peoples lives. We are encouraged to become voyeurs.
I read Nicky Campbell's autobiography which certainly gives his role a certain credibility. I don't know about Davina.
Who do you think you are is starting another series and I like that more.

Grammaretto

Nothing more interesting than other peoples lives. We are encouraged to become voyeurs.
I read Nicky Campbell's autobiography which certainly gives his role a certain credibility. I don't know about Davina.
Who do you think you are is starting another series and I like that more.

I think Davina had an unusual childhood as her mother abandoned her as a toddler; Davina then went to live with her paternal grandparents.

Both she and Nicky would therefore have some understanding and empathy of others' situations, I think.

welbeck

apparently many on here cannot bear to hear her voice, so they are deprived of the pleasure of watching it.

Do you mean Stacey Dooley Welbeck? I can’t believe such superficial judgement still exists in this day and age. Stacey is a very talented documentary maker and has shown extreme bravery when making a documentary about The Taliban and compassion, investigating the disappearance of native Canadian girls and other very credible documentaries. Since winning Strictly she has been offered presenting jobs and made a good job of them despite not having the right speaking voice for some people.

I really enjoy watching LLF and like Davina and Nicky Clark...They always seem so genuine and happy when people get to find their families......DNA family secrets is also great...Love Stacey Dooley...so down to earth... Must be so hard to live with the longing of finding your mum/ dad or siblings...

Thanks Callistemon I didn't know about Davina.

I discovered quite recently, by a chance encounter, that my DF had a half sister. Did he know about her? I have no way of knowing as he and his brother have been dead a long time. I can't believe he did because people kept things secret in those days so his own mother who probably did know, never spoke of it.

It took over 78 years for me to find my sister.

Granmaretto I think you'll find many families cant feed their babies ,even 56 years ago .Poverty grinds women down.They were living in bad housing she had two children to care for and a job ,she couldn't cope with a third.
Nowadays of course she'd be blamed for not using a reliable contraceptive but for the majority of women back then it wasn't available mainly because their husbands didn't want to use contraception.
My mothers generation had a baby every year or two ,there were families of 8 .10 .12 and 14 children in my street in Glasgow ..and no they weren't all catholic families .Poverty was normal ,the father in that case was in the army so he ddn't have to deal with the consequences ,maybe she felt it was the only choice she had

Jane43, there is another thread about how enraged some people are by other people's way of speaking.
they call it lazy. sd was named as an egregious example.

Sure paddyann, I realise people were very poor but not many dumped their newborn in the toilets.
I feel, with no proof at all, that the woman was so depressed she wasn't rational.
I have watched my way through My Ain Folk the autobiographical Bill Douglas trilogy which shows the grinding poverty and misery of his childhood near Edinburgh in the 1940s.
www.imdb.com/title/tt0070424/

lemsip, I think we are at cross purposes. The man I referred to was his parents first child. They married when mum was six months pregnant. They were from Ireland and believed their ‘very religious’ parents would disown them for having sex before marriage. They left their son on the steps of a church. They went on to have 5 more children.

BlueBelle

I enjoy Long lost families I don’t mind Davina she’s no worse than many others I like Stacy Dooly too
I think this series about foundlings is particularly sad
Especially that poor chap last night although he seemed to take it very well that he was the only one of 5 babies to be left in a toilet and a middle one at that that must have been traumatic for him whatever the reason the mum had

I missed part of the programme ( dog needed to go out and then I noticed the drain was blocked). Was there no explanation of why he was the only child to be abandoned? I thought at first that maybe, with her husband being in the army she’d become pregnant by someone else but that didn’t seem to be the case.

Speaking as a person not brought up by my biological family, in LLF I think both Davina and Nicky together do a very good program. I feel they think about how the person is feeling and respect them by not telling delicate information in front of the cameras.
On the other hand, I remember watching one of the first DNA programs, the program introduce two men and were told that they could be related, which it turn out they weren’t which was rather sad.