Long Lost Family continues this week, and follows the bittersweet tale of mum Diane Kerridge, who was forced to give up her son for adoption.
Diane was just 16 when she became pregnant out of wedlock. At the time, it was seen as something shameful, and her mum forced her to put the baby up for adoption.
Nearly 60 years later, Diane begins the search for her son, and is stunned to discover he lives in Los Angeles and has some very famous connections.
Here’s everything you need to know about the emotional story on Long Lost Family episode 2 (Monday, July 10, 2023)…
Diane Kerridge’s story on Long Lost Family on ITV1
Long Lost Family continues its 13th series. In episode 2, presenters Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell help Diane Kerridge, who is searching for the son she was forced to adopt when she was a teenager.
Diane Kerridge had a child nearly 60 years ago when she was just 16 years old. Her mother was so ashamed, she forced Diane to give her child up for adoption.
Long Lost Family takes on Diane’s search, following leads to the west coast of America in the hope of bringing Diane’s years of longing to a close.
Now a grandmother, Diane explains how she met Steve when she was 14 at a local youth club in Norwich. After two years of dating, Diane discovered she was pregnant.
Diane reveals: “I was really, really shocked. My mum was angry, and she made all the decisions. She decided I would have the baby adopted when it was born. There was no question about that. My mother was obviously very ashamed of me. She didn’t want anybody to know about it.”
She adds: “When I gave birth to my son, I was 16. I was a child really. There was a stigma attached to being an unmarried mother at that time. It wasn’t my choice that he wad adopted. I wanted to keep my baby.”
The pregnant teenager gave birth in West Norwich Hospital. Diane recalls: “I was with him in hospital for nine days. I couldn’t stop looking at him. He was such a beautiful baby. I named the baby Paul.
“On the last day a social worker came, and I knew she was coming to take him. I asked her ‘please don’t take him’ but she did. I was so traumatised at losing him.”
Diane reunites with her adopted son Paul Cox
Tragically, Diane’s mum did not pass on any of the updates from social services either. Diane says: “I think about him all the time. I think about him on his birthday and Christmas, and wonder how he’s getting on. I feel desperately that I need to find him.”
Diane, now 74 and living in Dorset, later married and had more children. She kept this part of her past as a shameful secret. With the help of the research team on Long Lost Family, Diane is finally able to track her son down after nearly 60 years.
The show’s specialist intermediaries discover that Paul was adopted by a couple who lived in Twickenham, in southwest London, and they continued to call him Paul.
Finding no trace of Paul in the UK, they were eventually able to find him living in America. He moved to the Los Angeles in the 1990s and forged a career as a specialist audio engineer, working with some major international music stars, including Madonna and Stevie Wonder.
Nicky Campbell meets Paul at his house in the hills behind the Hollywood sign. He’s surprised to learn that Paul had initiated a search for his mother in 2010 – and the agency that undertook the research reached the wrong conclusion. Paul was incorrectly told that his birth mother was dead.
Thrilled to be reunited with her son, an emotional Diane says: “I’ve got my boy back. It’s a wonderful feeling.”
Long Lost Family episode 2
Episode 2 of the popular ITV series also follows the story of a woman who, having lost two precious members of her adoptive family in a single year, is desperate to find her birth family.
Sara Hathaway, 47, is the mother of two grown children. She had an idyllic childhood with her adoptive parents and siblings. The family remained close as Sara grew older and had a family of her own until, tragically, tragedy tore her family apart. Her mother Dilys and older brother Dan both died in a single year.
Bereft that her family has become “smaller and smaller”, Sara turns to Long Lost Family to find her birth family. What Sara learns out about her birth mother’s life shocks her, but she also discovers that her family is bigger than she ever knew…
Long Lost Family continues on Mondays at 9pm on ITV1.
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