Long Lost Family... Saved My Life!

Simon Day explains how his reunion with his birth parents had profound consequences…

- Hannah Davies

It always brings tears to the eyes of viewers, but last year’s episode of Long Lost Family,

where divorced couple Marion Williams and James McDonnell finally found their beloved son Simon Day, was particularly heart-wrenching.

Marion and James had always longed for the son they were forced to give up for adoption as teenagers in the 1970s, as their families refused to support them. Simon had also been desperately searching for his birth parents.

But the drama really began after their on-screen reunion.

Here, Simon, 47, tells TV Times all about it…

What was it like meeting your birth parents for the first time?

I was a complete bag of nerves until I saw them, and then we just instantly clicked. It felt like I’d known them all my life – it was really spooky. The funny thing is that I’d been looking for them since I was 21, too. I had a good hunch that they hadn’t wanted to give me up, because when I was a baby they’d kept me for seven months – and I was right!