Davina McCall reunites Lancashire man with long-lost brother after 50 years on new ITV series
TV host Davina McCall was left in years as she reunited a Lancashire man with his long-lost brother 50 years after he was snatched from his mother’s arms at Preston railway station.
When Peter Macdonald was just 10-weeks-old, his mum tried to take him and his big brother to London to escape their father - but what happened next changed all of their lives forever.
At Preston Railway Station, just as the train to London was pulling away, their father unexpectedly turned up on the platform, reached inside the carriage window and tried to take the children.
Trevor was standing behind his mother and couldn’t be reached, but little Peter was grabbed out of his mother’s arms. The train pulled away and Peter, now 58, never saw his mother or brother again after that terrible moment.
Before he was six-months-old, Peter’s father placed him in foster care and he was separated from his entire birth family.
Peter, a retired painter and decorator who now lives in Accrington, said: “My father grabbed me off my mother. I was in her arms, I was two-and-a-half months old. I’ve never seen my mother again. That was the last time I was with my brother Trevor. I’ve always wanted to find him.”
Peter, whose wife Julie died three years ago, has two daughters and four grandchildren, and said he has always longed for his long-lost brother to meet his beloved family, saying: “Trevor’s been on my mind for over 50 years.”
Desperate to track him down, Peter has looked for him ever since he learned of his existence when he was aged seven, and there was an incredible breakthrough after Peter’s daughter Chloe wrote to the ITV show Long Lost Family.
Hosted by Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell, the ITV programme helps individuals reconnect with long-lost family members, often after many years of separation.
This week’s episode aired on Thursday at 9pm (September 18) as Peter sought to uncover what happened to his family after he was snatched from his mother's arms all those years ago.
After first hitting a stumbling block, with no trace of Trevor, the TV show’s research team searched for anyone called Trevor with the middle initial E (for Edward) born in 1963 and eventually found three possible matches. One replied, confirming that he grew up knowing about a younger brother called Peter, and lived in London, where his mother had fled to all those years ago. It emerges that their mother had sadly passed away 17 years ago in 2008.
The brothers arranged to meet in London, choosing their late mother's birthday for their reunion. Trevor revealed that their mum had urged him to find his younger brother after her death.
"When she got very ill, she started to talk a lot more, open up a lot more," he said. "She did say to me, 'Find him, Look for him'."
"I'm doing this for him, and for myself and for mum, yeah," he added. "I think she'd be proud of me doing that. Two brothers together at last.”
The new series of Long Lost Family airs on Thursday at 9pm on ITV1. Catch-up on ITVX.