Long Lost Family returned for another edition of What Happened Next, and ITV viewers were left heartbroken as the show revisited Roy David who wanted to be reunited with his daughter Cheryl.
In 2021, Roy David wanted to find his daughter, becoming Long Lost Family’s oldest-ever searcher. Roy was in the merchant navy. Cheryl’s mother, Sylvia, cut off contact with him and “disappeared into thin air”.
Roy, based in London, searched for his daughter for decades but struggled to track her down. Lost Lost Family finally reunited Roy and his daughter, who lived in New York. But as the show revisited Roy, he wanted to reunite with Cheryl once again as he feared he was losing his sight.
Roy and his daughter had an emotional ‘first dance’
As Roy was worried about his glaucoma potentially leaving him blind in the two years since he met his daughter, he wanted to reunite with his daughter once again. Before departing Roy said: “I might not even get to make another trip, I don’t know.”
He visited a church in New York with Cheryl where he told her that he found her when she was six years old. But Cheryl’s mother and grandmother prevented him from seeing her.
It was the happiest birthday I ever spent in all my 89 years.
Cheryl later admitted she always felt like she missed out on her father and daughter dance at her wedding. To make up for it, the pair danced at his 89th birthday party. Cheryl confessed: “I got to dance with my father. Yes I did. When I was married, the first dance would usually be with your father. I never got that. I got it today. The love in the room was overflowing, it was a true blessing.” She added: “This trip has been a little bit different, because it’s probably the last trip he’ll make to the States. So it was really important that I made it as memorable and a happy time as possible.”
Roy reflected on his “happiest birthday” on the show too. He said: “What happened today will live in my heart for the rest of my life. It was the happiest birthday I ever spent in all my 89 years.”
Long Lost Family: What Happened Next: ITV viewers left sobbing
Long Lost Family viewers admitted to sobbing over the episode and finding Roy and Cheryl’s story very emotional.
One viewer wrote: “I don’t know why I put myself through the trauma of watching Long Lost Family. It gets me every time I balled my eyes out when I first saw Roy’s story and it’s got me again!” A second fan added: “Aww, that sweet old man and his daughter and son. So lovely. God bless them.”
Another viewer said: “Lovely, lovely story about Cheryl and Roy.” A fourth fan confessed: “I will never not well up at some point during Long Lost Family!”
An update at the end of the episode read: “Roy spent a month with his family in New York. Cheryl plans to visit him in London soon.”
Another added: “You never fail to make me cry. What a wonderful update programme about Roy.”
Read more: Long Lost Family viewers left sobbing over heartbreaking revelation as long-lost siblings meet
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