Nicky Campbell admits he had trepidation about his role presenting ‘Long Lost Family’, because… “I didn’t want it to be tacky and insensitive”.
“I intended it to be made, with respect and dignity,” he explains.
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Nicky Campbell presents 'Long Lost Family' with Davina McCall
‘Long Lost Family’, which he presents along with Davina McCall, helps people – many adopted, fostered or in other ways separated from loved ones – to find one another, some after many years of searching. How can it have the respect and dignity it promises, I wonder, with cameras following every flicker of emotion?
“You don’t feel grubby doing this. It’s sensitive,” Nicky assures me. “We don’t need to sensationalise, the stories are already dramatic enough. There are counsellors throughout the whole process, and support afterwards.
“And they cut anything they think is intrusive.”
For Nicky, this is the work closest to his heart of anything in his career.
“This job doesn’t feel like a continuation of my career, it feels like part of my life,” is how he puts it.
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'Long Lost Family' is a cause close to Nicky's heart
Nicky is adopted himself, something he chose to share in a book ‘Blue-Eyed Son’ charting his voyage of discovery in 2004. He even learned his paternal grandfather had been in the IRA alongside Michael Collins. Did it help to share his tale?
“There’s definitely something about getting it off your chest,” he reflects. “And the ongoing relationships are a bonus.
“I think it helped answer the questions I have about myself, the questions we all have and take for granted until you realise some people don’t have the answers."
Nicky has recently written of how upset he was when he challenged some litter bugs in his local park, and was tiraded with abuse, and we move onto the subject of putting kindness first. His shows ‘Your Money Their Tricks’ and ‘Watchdog’ show a pattern of a crusader at work, and he admits he “likes people, but also holding people to account. And I do like getting to the heart of things”.
“It can be anything,” he says. “Even picking up someone else’s litter – you’ll get it back in some form.”
He’s a sentimental, open gentleman. When I ask him for the biggest act of kindness ever afforded to him, he talks of his wife Tina and her many gestures of support, and mentions a song he’s recently written for her. Nothing lost about Nicky’s family, not any more.
Nicky has also found time to write an album with Kate Robbins - 'We're Just Passing Through' - which he says was where he channelled his emotions while filming 'Long Lost Family' - taster below...
'Long Lost Family' continues tonight on ITV at 9pm.
In pictures: 15 celebrities who were adopted...
15 Celebrities Who Were Adopted
Jamie Foxx(01 of16)
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Born: December 13, 1967, Terell, TX.Adopted By: His maternal grandparents, Esther Marie Nelson and Mark Talley. Foxx's mother was also adopted. (credit:Getty)
Jack Nicholson(02 of16)
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Born: April 22, 1937, New JerseyAdopted By: His maternal grandparents (unofficially). Born to New Jersey showgirl June Nicholson when she was still a teenager, Nicholson believed his mother was his sister until TIME magazine called him to verify information in an article. (credit:Getty)
Ray Liotta(03 of16)
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Born: December 18, 1954, New York, NYAdopted By: Mary and Alfred Liotta, Newark, New Jersey. The "Goodfellas" star found his birth mother in 1997 after hiring a private investigator. "It has affected me since I was little. When I was younger I felt like damaged good," he has said about it. (credit:Getty)
Steve Jobs(04 of16)
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Born: February 24, 1955Died: October 05, 2011 Adopted By: Clara and Paul Jobs. Jobs' biological sister, novelist Mona Simpson, found him in 1985 and let the world know about his last words when she delivered a eulogy at his funeral last month. (credit:AP)
Frances McDormand(05 of16)
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Born: June 23, 1957Adopted By: Noreen E. and Vernon W. McDormand of Chicago, Illinois. The future actress was adopted by a registered nurse and a Disciples of Chris pastor, who also adopted McDormand's two biological siblings. (credit:Getty)
Patti Stanger(06 of16)
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Born: May 31, 1961Adopted By: Ira and Rhoda of New Jersey. "I was adopted, and although I loved my adoptive parents, I always wondered why my biological parents gave me up. Like many adoptees, I subconsciously felt unloved and unlovable," Stanger wrote in the book "Become Your Own Matchmaker." (credit:Getty)
Nicole Richie(07 of16)
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Born: September 21, 1981, Berkeley, CA.Adopted By: Lionel Richie and Brenda Harvey. The couple took Nicole into their home at the age of 3, after her biological parents -- one of whom was a musician who toured with Lionel -- couldn't financially look after her. Nicole was legally adopted at age 9. (credit:Getty)
Debbie Harry(08 of16)
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Born: July 1, 1945, Miami, Florida Adopted By: Richard and Catherine Harry, Hawthorne, New Jersey (credit:Ebay)
Dave Thomas(09 of16)
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Born: July 2, 1932, Atlantic City, New JerseyDied: January 8, 2002Adopted By: Rex and Auleva Thomas, Kalamazoo, Michigan (credit:AP)
Nicole 'Snooki' Polizzi(10 of16)
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Born: November 23, 1988, New York Adopted by: Andy and Helena Polizzi (credit:Getty)
Darryl McDaniels, DMC(11 of16)
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Born: May 31, 1964, Harlem, New York Adopted By: Byford and Banna McDaniels (credit:Getty)
Gary Coleman(12 of16)
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Born: February 8, 1968, Zion, Illinois. Died: May 28, 2010Adopted By: W.G. Coleman, a pharmaceutical representative, and Edmonia Sue, a nurse practitioner. (credit:Getty)
Faith Hill(13 of16)
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Born: Audrey Faith Perry, September 21, 1967, Jackson, Mississippi. Adopted by: Pat and Edna Perry (credit:Getty)
Melissa Gilbert(14 of16)
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Born: May 8, 1964 Los Angeles, CaliforniaAdopted by: Ed Gilbert and Barbara Crane, actress and dancer. (credit:Getty)
Larry Ellison(15 of16)
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Born: August 17, 1944, New York, NYAdopted By: His birth mother's aunt, Lillian Ellison, and her husband (credit:Getty)
Scott Hamilton(16 of16)
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Born: August 28, 1958Adopted By: Ernest and Dorothy Hamilton, Bowling Green, Ohio (credit:Getty)