Long Lost Family presenter Nicky Campbell reveals the stories and life moments that have made him cry

Nicky Campbell: the moments I have been brought to tears.

“We’ve had the most complex and challenging stories ever in this series.

There was a lovely woman in Liverpool worried she was responsible for her mother’s death. I was chatting to her and, as she told me her story, which was so desperately sad, I started crying. So she actually started comforting me, rather than the other way round.”

There was an elderly lady a couple of series ago whose son had been looking for her.

He’d written her a letter and, as she didn’t have her specs, she asked me to read it to her. As I read, it was like it was my own life.

The way he was talking about his adoption really hit home on such a personal level.

I just cracked up. You are aware the camera is rolling, but sometimes you can’t help it.

We always say to people we have to make sure viewers understand the story, but we won’t show everything. If you saw the unedited show, that would be even more emotional.

When I tracked my birth mother down it was emotional, but also very scary.

In Long Lost Family the people have support at every stage along the way. They always have someone to talk to and undergo psychological tests to make sure they are strong enough.

I was a 29-year-old doing it on my own without any support. It was terrifying. It was like a bungee jump without the elastic attached.

But I think it helps with the people on the show.

It’s a helluva new world they’re entering and it helps them to know I’ve been through it too.

I was doing my radio phone-in on assisted dying and I just found it relentless, with three of the most powerful calls coming in a row.

One strong-sounding guy from the north of England was in floods of tears saying he wished he’d been stronger as he saw his wife die.

Then we had a call from someone saying they wanted to stay strong for their daughter and then there was another equally emotional one.

When I tried to give the Samaritans’ helpline number out at the end I just couldn’t do it and started crying.

Then I went into the newsroom and found half of them were in tears as well!

The song that makes me cry is The Hungry Years by Neil Sedaka. The lyrics are about appreciating what you have in life and not wanting more than what you’ve got and thinking it can get better. It’s a positive message because you realise that life is great and we should stop chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow you’ve already got it.

I had to break the news on the radio that Spike Milligan had died.

He had the most remarkable brain, was an amazing performer and was just part of the furniture of British life.

I loved Spike. I met him a couple of times and he was genuinely the funniest person I’d ever met.

Having to say the words “Spike Milligan has died” made me cry. You do hope you’ll be more professional than that, but it just got to me.

I do cry quite a bit including recently when our little West Highland Terrier Misty had five puppies. When they were born we were all the girls, Tina and me down in this darkened room in the middle of the night.

She’s a beautiful dog and after the labour she was lying there exhausted on the floor feeding them all. It was like nature in the raw and she instinctively knew what to do. We were all hugging each other and it was such a moving moment.

There are so many things that bring tears of frustration.

When you see human beings being blown to pieces for no reason or children who are neglected or the people of Nepal suffering after the earthquake.

And then it makes me so emotional to see animals killed for no reason.

You see elephants and rhinos in Africa being slaughtered for their horns so that people in China and Vietnam can have trinkets and tooth picks. Or beautiful big cats being killed so that people can have leopard or tiger skin rugs.

And I cry at dolphins in the swimming pools of millionaires in Dubai or dolphins in SeaWorld in Florida being treated like pieces of furniture and kept in pools for people’s amusement. They don’t realise how cruel it is.

My mum’s 93 and still alive and well in Edinburgh but, oh, there was a lot of crying when I lost my dad. He went peacefully in the hospice, but I think about him every day.

I think about him most when a football or rugby match is over because I used to phone and natter with him. I still sometimes reach for the phone and then realise he’s not there any more.

When it comes to films, it has to be It’s A Wonderful Life every time. It’s because it’s such a beautiful, family film. It’s about the people you love and, like my song choice, appreciating what you’ve got in life.

Nicky Campbell is back this week in ITV’s hit series Long Lost Family, which reunites loved ones after decades apart.