The series four finale of Sort Your Life Out left viewers in tears on Tuesday night as Stacey Solomon and her team helped tidy up a family home full of memories.
The episode of the BBC One show featured Shirley and Martin who had raised their two daughters in their Surrey home – the same house where Martin grew up.
With their grown daughters out of the house and children of their own, Stacey Solomon and her team – Dilly Carter, Iwan Carrington and Rob Bent – set out to sort through sixty years of memories.
After packing up the house and storing all of the family’s belongings in a large warehouse, it was revealed that they had 189 out-of-date items of food, 124 towels and 306 stuffed animals, among thousands of other belongings.
Viewers praised the moving scenes in which Shirley and Martin discussed the adoption of their daughters Sarah and Katherine and their future plans to foster children in their home.
The series four finale of Sort Your Life Out left viewers in tears on Tuesday night as Stacey Solomon and her team helped tidy up a family home full of memories
Stacey Solomon and her team – Dilly Carter, Iwan Carrington and Rob Bent – set out to sift through sixty years of memories
The couple revealed that after they married 44 years ago, they thought they would have children straight away, but realized ‘nothing happened’.
“To this day I don’t know how we got through that time,” Shirley admitted. They explained that the adoption process took eight years before they were able to welcome first Sarah and then Katherine into their home.
Shirley explained that because it had taken so long to start their family, she was reluctant to part with their belongings and memories, explaining how she felt “so lucky” to have her two children.
The couple also revealed to Stacey that they hope to raise children when they retire. Stacey talked about the idea when she explained that her husband Joe Swash, whose own mother was the foster mother, has the same plans once their children leave home.
Home organizing expert Dilly also shared her story about the emotional episode and explained to Sarah and Katherine how she was adopted.
“I know when I had my own child Nellie, she was my first bloodline,” Dilly said. “You think, ‘You’re the only person I’m related to.’ I have no one else in this country, no one else in my life.”
Katherine and Sarah both told Dilly that such an open conversation with her about adoption had “healed” a part of them. “It’s been a really healing process for me to be in this process and own it,” Sarah explained.
Viewers praised the touching scenes as Shirley and Martin spoke about the adoption of their daughters Sarah and Katherine and their future plans to foster children in their home.
After packing up the house and storing all of the family’s belongings in a large warehouse, they discovered they had 189 out-of-date items of food, 124 towels and 306 stuffed animals, among thousands of other belongings.
Home organizing expert Dilly also shared her story about the emotional episode and explained to Sarah and Katherine how she was adopted
“I can’t have any more children,” Dilly continued. “So now I’m hopefully going to come full circle and adopt myself.”
In the latest reveal, Stacey revealed the transformation into the guest room and revealed that the team sought advice from experts on how to create a welcoming space for foster children.
“If we can give just that little bit more back to some of the children who are so desperate, it would mean the world to us,” Shirley told Stacey after seeing the room.
Daughter Katherine was also full of emotion as she thanked the team at the end of the episode, calling her parents “so deserving.”
“They gave us a life we potentially never would have had and you managed to make their home beautiful for them and we couldn’t have done that. So thank you.’
Viewers were left in tears at both the home’s transformation and the family’s story, tweeting: ‘What a BEAUTIFUL family! Every episode is cheerful, but this one really got me’
“You really are the most incredible family,” Stacey told them. “And you deserve every happy memory.”
“The feeling of returning a family home to the home they deserve never gets old,” the presenter continued. “Every time I’m just blown away by it and I feel so grateful to be a part of the lives of all these families.”
Viewers were left in tears at both the home’s transformation and the family’s story, tweeting:
‘What a BEAUTIFUL family this week! Every episode is cheerful, but this one really got me’; ‘Such a lovely, lovely family and a brilliant #SortYourLifeOut, how wonderful such a magical group of kind-hearted, special, generous people caring for others on both sides’; ‘I just cried my way through #sortyourlifeout’; ‘The feelings were felt and it was nice to see adoption being talked about so openly.’