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91Èȱ¬ One's Missing Live is recommissioned after a successful debut series
Liam Keelan, Controller, 91Èȱ¬ Daytime, has recommissioned 91Èȱ¬ One's Daytime series Missing Live, following a hugely successful first series in which 17 missing people featured in the programme have been found.
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Presented by Louise Minchin (91Èȱ¬ Breakfast) and Rav Wilding (Crimewatch and former Metropolitan Police detective), Missing Live is a live studio programme based on the previous 91Èȱ¬ Daytime documentary series Missing.
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The series follows the work of the police and the charity Missing People in their efforts to discover the whereabouts of some of the 200,000 people who are reported missing each year.
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The move to a live programme has proved very successful, not only attracting a strong audience across the series' four-week run, but also a total of 17 people featured during appeals on the show have since been found.
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Throughout the series, hundreds of phone calls and sightings were reported to the programme.
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Among those found as a direct result of the programme is Paul Hopkins. In his 50s, Paul has autism and lives in Berkshire with his parents. He went missing after failing to turn up for work one morning at his local supermarket.
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After an appeal on Missing Live, a sighting of Paul in Brighton was reported. Paul's dad and brother-in-law headed down to Brighton to look for him and within hours they found him. He is now back home with his family.
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Others who have been found include Lin Sinh Luc, a Chinese pensioner who has lived and worked in North London for more than 30 years. He was reported missing by his family to the police when he didn't come home from his daily walk.
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Following an appeal on the show he was spotted by a taxi driver in West London who had watched the programme.
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Positive leads are also being followed up on a number of other missing persons cases from information provided as a result of the programme.
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Liam Keelan said:
"I had no hesitation in recommissioning Missing Live. Not only has it proved extremely popular with the audience, but it has received praise in the Commons and, crucially, 17 people have been found.
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"It's exactly the sort of programming that 91Èȱ¬ Daytime should be doing."
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Paul Tuohy, Chief Executive of the charity Missing People, said:
"Missing Live has without doubt enabled successful resolutions to cases that might otherwise remain unresolved.
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"Missing People has been inundated with sightings and information from the public about those featured as well as offers of support for the charity.
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"I'm delighted to hear that the series has been recomissioned and we look forward to working with 91Èȱ¬ One once again on this ground-breaking format."
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Made by Leopard Films, Missing Live used filmed reconstructions of individual cases, alongside live studio interviews with friends and family, to explore the true-life drama of missing persons' investigations.
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The series also included direct appeals for missing people, up-to-the-minute information on cases featured and stories of loved ones reunited with people who have been missing – sometimes for years.
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Among the guests featured in the series, Kate and Gerry McCann were live in the studio to discuss the disappearance of their daughter and their campaign to introduce an "Amber Alert" system to help track missing children in Europe, while Bob Geldof also appeared to discuss his involvement in helping to find missing children.
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During the series ground-breaking technology and techniques used to help find those who have disappeared were demonstrated – from age-progression techniques to behavioural recognition cameras.
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The programme was also praised in Parliament when Liberal Democrat MP Susan Kramer and the former Conservative Minister Peter Bottomley signed an Early Day Motion recognising the series' "immense value in bringing wider understanding and exposure to the reasons many people go missing, as well as the technology and techniques involved in trying to find them."
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James Burstall, CEO, Leopard Films, and executive producer for the series, said:
"Missing Live is a truly interactive programme as it has directly asked the British public for help in finding missing persons – and they responded.
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"This is public service TV at its most compelling best – we've built a two-way relationship with our audience and they have helped us return a number of people to safety. We very much look forward to building this relationship with the 91Èȱ¬ One audience into the future."
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Gerard Melling is the 91Èȱ¬ executive producer for Missing Live and Miles Jarvis and James Burstall are executive producers for Leopard Films. The series producer is Rachel Ford.
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RB
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