Chris Mason, a man abandoned in a phone box when he was just six days ago, was the first gut-wrenching true story in the new series of Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace.
The BAFTA award-winning series returned earlier this week (Monday, June 26, 2023). And the first of three episodes introduced a dad-of-four who yearned to discover why his mum left him.
His story began as a baby in a phone box in Lambeth, but ended with a whole new family in Florida…
Here’s the heartbreaking tale of Chris Mason on Long Lost Family, and what really happened to his birth parents.
Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace season 5
Nicky Campbell and Davina McCall returned to host series 5 of Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace. Each episode introduced a ‘foundling’, someone abandoned as a baby, often in the first days and weeks of their lives.
With the help of a team of genealogists, the orphans are able to solve the ultimate mystery of their lives – who they are. Born without trace, with no birth record or name, they have previously had no way of discovering the basic facts of their identity.
Using genetic genealogy with DNA technology, the team behind Long Lost Family spends up to five years unlocking the secrets of the past – often with heartbreaking consequences.
Series 5 of this ITV series featured five new foundlings on a quest to find out who they are. They included a woman found as a baby in an open-top Aston Martin in Marylebone, and a baby found on a doorstep at Christmas 1960.
However, the first episode of Long Lost Family introduced Chris Mason. Passers-by discovered him as a baby in a phone box in Lambeth.
Chris Mason searches for his mum and dad on Long Lost Family
Episode one featured the first international Born Without Trace search. It culminated in finding the paternal and maternal side of Chris Mason’s birth family on the other side of the world.
On 23rd December 1966, baby Chris was just six days old when he was found in a telephone box on Kennings Way, Lambeth. Talking to the camera, Chris said: “It’s an unnatural act for a mum to give up their newborn baby… Who is she and why did she end up abandoning me?”
After taking a DNA test, Chris discovered he had Italian and Irish heritage, but his search went cold. With the help of Long Lost Family, Chris Mason finally discovered what happened to his birth parents.
Chris’ Irish birth mother, Elizabeth, emigrated with her American airman husband to Maine in the United States. However, despite having three children, hers was an unhappy marriage. The married couple separated for a period before reconciling and this is when Elizabeth fell pregnant by another man.
While she was working as a waitress in a restaurant, Elizabeth had an affair with an Italian cook – and fell pregnant with Chris. However, her husband would not have accepted Chris. He kicked the family out of their home.
Pregnant and homeless, Elizabeth travelled to London with her three young children, but received little support from her Irish Catholic parents on arrival into the UK.
Her daughter Marie explained: “She was desperate. I believe she had no choice in the matter… She loved us and I believe she loved him and she left him to save him.”
She left Chris Mason in a phone box, hoping he would be found and have a happy life.
Long Lost Family Chris Mason: Elizabeth was forced to make a ‘horrendous’ decision
Sadly, Chris discovered that his birth mum Elizabeth (known as Liz) passed away in 2008, after battling with alcoholism. She turned to alcohol to cope with the guilt of abandoning Chris.
However, Chris was able to meet her two surviving children, Chris’ half-siblings Marie and Bobby.
An emotional Chris also discovered his birth father is still alive. Seventy-nine-year-old Italian birth father, Dominic, said: “I wish I’d have known.”
Far from judging his mum, Chris explained: “It must have been horrendous for my mum. I’ve always been more worried for her. I didn’t blame her for anything. It’s a shame I didn’t get the chance to tell her that.
“I would have had a violent, hard life in the States. Elizabeth did what she did for me.”
Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace is on ITVX now.
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