Marie, 61, learned on ITV’s Long Lost Family that she has three half-brothers in Norfolk while searching for her birth father. The search did not find James, but it did leave her with a new family link and a local connection that reached into her own working life.
Marie and Long Lost Family
Marie appeared on ITV with Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell during filming earlier this year. She had gone on the programme looking for James after saying, "I had a name and a vague location of where he may be but every avenue I went down I hit a brick wall."
Her search came from a longer family story. Marie said, "I lost my grandad at 16 which broke my heart and left me confused and angry," and added, "It also led to me to want to find out more about my dad." She grew up with her grandparents near Dereham after her 17-year-old mother was unable to care for her.
Norfolk brothers
On the last day of filming, Davina McCall told Marie that the show had found three half-brothers: Anthony, Paul and Ian. Marie said, "It's so strange as one one my brothers lives practically down the road and another has known my uncle for years."
Paul lives in north Norfolk and took the Greater Anglia train from Sheringham to Norwich most days for work. Marie regularly worked on that service as a train conductor, creating the possibility that they crossed paths many times without knowing they were family.
After filming earlier this year
Marie said, "It has been a life-changing experience in such a positive way," and added, "I am now in constant contact with my brothers after the filming earlier this year." The unanswered part of the story is James, whose search did not lead to a reunion, even as Marie gained three brothers in the same county where she lives and works near Norwich.
