The ITV series has broadcast a follow up to the story of Susanne Barrow, who had been found as a baby in a phone box in London
A woman who was discovered as a newborn baby in a London phone box with a note from her birth mother has opened up on how her life has panned out half a century later.
Susanne Barrow originally appeared on ITV’s Long Lost Family in 2024 when she was reunited with her brother Brian and she returned alongside him for a follow up episode on Monday, August 17 when she admitted “I’ve been so lucky and fortunate”.
Susanne is now close to Brian and his family and the pair have discovered they have up to nine more siblings. And in a huge twist as the episode ended, Susanne shared how she finally found her birth mother after the original show was broadcast.
Earlier in the new episode, 50-year-old Susanne said: “Brian is a great big brother to have. I think I’ve been so lucky and fortunate, and he just oozes niceness.”
Brian, 56, added: “We get on really well. It’s a real good fit. It’s everything that I wanted and hoped it would be. I still every so often have to pinch myself to remember that you know you’ve got a little sister here that you had in your life all this time now, and will be in your life forever.”
While Susanne’s father has still not agreed to meet her, despite now knowing she exists, Susanne has been reunited with her birth mother.
Susanne had been discovered in a phone box as a baby 50 years ago in East London with a note from her desperate birth mother saying: “I cannot keep the baby. Please call her Maria. My maiden name is Roberts and I would like her to have it. I have no one to help me so please take care of her for me. I am going to try and find her again, even if it means going to jail.”
On Monday’s show, co-host Davina McCall caught up with Suanne who told her about the update following the original show’s airing.
“After the original programme aired, a woman got in touch and said that she might have some information on my birth mother,” Susanne shared.
“I went to meet her, and she just started telling me a story about her having a baby that was given up for adoption and the circumstances.
“I was sat there listening, thinking, right, ‘what’s this got to do with me?’. And as the story unfolded, I just thought, ‘hold on a minute, there’s a lot of things that tie up with me’.
“She said at the end ‘What do you think?’ And I said ‘There’s a lot that matches here’ and she nodded. And I asked her if she made a phone call, and she started crying at that point, and said yes, that was her. So it was just, it was a moment where it felt like it was real.
“She was a lovely person, warm, friendly. It was almost like there was a connection trying to get out.”
The unnamed woman agreed to a DNA test and has since been positively matched as Susanne’s mother.
She added: “It was almost like a spark igniting that had maybe just been there, you know, like when you’re trying to start a car.”
While her mum didn’t appear on the show, Susanne admitted: “We get on really well yeah. She’s had a lot of loss in her life, and it’s just so lovely that now there’s this joy as well, and I’ve been able to sort of tell her to forgive herself. So I think she’s feeling more positive and is getting used to telling people.”
Long Lost Family is available on ITV1 and ITVX
