Adopted woman whose birth mother refuses to meet her becomes tearful on Long Lost Family and is comforted by Davina McCall after seeing a photo of her sister for the first time

A woman searching for her long-lost twin siblings was overcome with emotion when shown a picture of her sister for the first time in a touching scene from ITV’s Long Lost Family.

Episode six of the hit series airs Thursday at 9pm, featuring hosts Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell, as they follow Naomi’s quest to find her birth mother and sisters.

Growing up as an adopted child in Plymouth, Naomi enjoyed a content childhood before eventually settling in Gloucestershire with her husband of 30 years.

Despite always knowing she was adopted, Naomi couldn’t suppress her curiosity about her biological family.

Her questions were finally answered during her teenage years, when her parents – who died when Naomi was in her 20s – gave her a letter they had kept since she was a baby – one packed with astonishing details.

Naomi discovered her birth mother had given birth to twin girls, who had also been adopted.

In the episode, she says: ‘It told them about my mum being 19 when she’d had me… And it described that she’d had twin girls and that they’d been adopted elsewhere. 

‘And these babies were placed for adoption by a society in Cheshire. I was obviously very surprised when I found out that I had sisters. It was shocking’. 

For years, Naomi wondered what had happened to her sisters, asking herself whether they had been kept together, whether they knew they were adopted and whether they had been happy.

Spurred by details revealed in the letter, Naomi retraces her journey back to her Plymouth childhood to track down her birth mother. 

She says: ‘I spent my first 6 weeks here and my birth mother looked after me all that time. The attachment must have been there. And the idea of one minute the baby’s there and the next they’re gone, you just can’t imagine.’

Nicky and Davina, alongside the Long Lost Family team, eventually locate Naomi’s birth mother and make contact. 

But, while she reveals she is open to future communication, she informs them that she is not yet ready for a face-to-face meeting.

Discussing the emotional impact of this response with social worker Ariel Bruce, Nicky notes: ‘I think to have to hold back because her birth mother needs time and needs space in which to deal with being found. I think Naomi might find that really quite difficult to deal with.’ 

Later, the search leads the Long Lost Family team to discover that Naomi’s twin sisters were called Gail and Elaine. 

Tragically, Gail had died in 2020 after being diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in the 1990s.

The team were, however, able to make contact with Elaine, who was living in Manchester. 

Having also grown up with loving adoptive parents, Elaine tells Nicki that after enduring significant loss – including the deaths of her husband and adoptive mother – she is finally ready to meet Naomi. 

She says: ‘The fact that she’s gone to so much effort to find us, she must really want to meet us.’ 

And when Naomi is given a photograph and letter from Elaine, the significance of finally seeing her sister’s face becomes clear.

Looking closely at the photograph, an emotional Naomi tells Davina: ‘Oh look. Wow.’

Davina tells her, ‘I think you look alike. I can see it for sure’ to which she responds, ‘Do you?’ 

While discussing the similarities in their facial features, Naomi warmly describes her sister’s aura by noting, ‘It’s very warm, very welcoming. Very welcoming. She looks happy. Mm, She does look lovely.’

The scene closes as Davina pulls Naomi into a warm embrace, finally providing the deep familial connection she has spent years longing for. Naomi breaks into tears, clinging tightly to the host. 

The episode also follows Liz, who was adopted at birth and begins a search for her birth mother and an older brother. Her search leads to the discovery that her brother John is alive and living less than 30 minutes away from her in Lancashire.

Long Lost Family continues on Thursday 1st October at 9pm on ITV and ITVX.