Brothers Fred and Jimmy O’Donnell spent 80 years apart. Their Irish mother gave birth out of wedlock, first to Jimmy, who was placed in an orphanage, and later to Fred, who grew up in a Catholic boy’s institution. Both boys grew up completely unaware of each other’s existence, and their mother was sent to one of Ireland’s notorious Magdalene laundries, where she remained as a ‘fallen woman’ for the rest of her life.

This wonderfully touching and emotional story reached an amazing conclusion once Finders International were invited to help the family. BBC Family Finders broadcast the whole story all the way through to the boys “first Christmas”.