ITV’s Long Lost Family reunited Avril with her daughter Eleanor 62 years after a forced adoption, following a heartbreaking setback when a rival TV show said it was unable to help find her

Long Lost Family star admitted she was turned down by a rival show(Image: ITV)

A star of Long Lost Family was previously rejected by a competing programme, being told “they’d never find her daughter”, three decades prior to their on-screen reunion.

Last week, Davina McCall travelled to Newcastle to meet Avril, who was on a quest to find her firstborn child. The 77-year-old is the mother of two daughters, Michelle and Sharon. Avril was a mere 15-years-old when she fell pregnant following a fleeting relationship with a boy she met at a dance. She was sent to a mother-and-baby home in Carlisle, where she secretly gave birth and relinquished her baby for adoption at just eight weeks old.

The devoted mum held onto a single photograph of her daughter from that period in her life, which has remained by her bedside ever since. Now, 62 years later, ITV producers managed to locate Michelle, whose name was changed to Eleanor by her adoptive parents.

The doting mum kept her daughter’s picture by her bedside for six decades(Image: ITV)

However, this wasn’t her first attempt to reconnect with her eldest child, having even approached a rival show for assistance in locating her firstborn. In an exclusive chat with Express.co.uk, she disclosed that The Trisha Goddard Show dismissed her, believing they would never be able to find her, reports the Express.

She shared with us: “I was listed on a couple of adoption agencies. I tried The Trisha Goddard Show, and she used to help people find their family.”

The ITV programme, which aired on Channel 5 from 2004 to 2012, regularly featured emotional family reunions, deep-rooted family secrets or disputes involving adopted children.

But after reviewing Avril’s situation, Channel 5 executives acknowledged that they wouldn’t be capable of locating her daughter even with their programme’s resources. She remembered: “Basically, I was told that I would never be able to find her because she had been issued a new birth certificate.

Davina hosts the ITV show

“So that led me to believe that there wouldn’t be an original birth certificate, and I was told that by two or three different professional people. But after 30 years, you just think, ‘Well, there’s not much else I can do. Hopefully, she might be able to find me’, but you just don’t know.”

The television personality went on to disclose that her other daughter, Sharon, became her greatest supporter when she considered approaching another TV programme for assistance. She confessed: “I have another daughter, Sharon, and I told her about Michelle.

“She was the one who said, ‘Yes, you should do it’. So that’s what I did. I wrote to Long Lost Family, and it went from there.”

The duo eventually reunited on Eleanor’s birthday, with Avril telling her daughter: “There aren’t any words to tell you, Eleanor. That I’ve always loved you and that you’re still mine. You’re my child.”

Long Lost Family airs on Thursday nights from 9pm on ITV1 or catch up on ITVX.