Ariel Bruce is a British independent

social work Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wo ...

er who works as a specialist search consultant for film, TV and documentary makers. Born in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, she is the granddaughter of Marxist economist Fritz Sternberg.

''Long Lost Family''

From 2011 until 2024 she worked as the lead search and social work consultant on the ITV documentary series, '' Long Lost Family''. As the head consultant, Bruce undertook the research into tracing missing family members for the series. ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...

'' has described Bruce as "the Agatha Christie of the adoption world". Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace is presented by

Davina McCall Davina Lucy Pascale McCall (born 16 October 1967) is an English television presenter. She has presented various television shows for Channel 4, including ''Streetmate'' (1998–2001, 2016), ''Big Brother (British TV series), Big Brother'' (2 ...

and

Nicky Campbell Nicholas Andrew Argyll Campbell OBE (born Nicholas Lackey; 10 April 1961) is a Scottish broadcaster and journalist. He has worked in television and radio since 1981 and as a network presenter with BBC Radio since 1987. Early life Campbell wa ...

, and was announced as the winner of the Features category at the 2021

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

awards (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) and the winner of the Best Factual Series category at the 2021 Rose d’Or awards. Long Lost Family was recently announced as the winner of the 2021 TV Choice Award for Best Lifestyle category. The documentary series previously won the

(British Academy of Film and Television Arts) for Best Feature in 2014, as well as the prestigious Royal Television Society TSProgramme Awards for the Popular Factual and Features category in 2012. Alongside ''Long Lost Family'', Bruce has worked on a number of other British TV series, including ''

Who Do You Think You Are Who Do You Think You Are may refer to: Television series * ''Who Do You Think You Are?'' (British TV series), a genealogy documentary with many adaptations: ** ''Who Do You Think You Are?'' (American TV series) ** ''Who Do You Think You Are?'' ...

'' and ''The Gift''. In the early 1990s she worked on the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

TV series '' Cutting Edge'', providing research for the episode entitled "Relative Strangers". In 2009 Bruce returned to ''Cutting Edge'' to work on an episode called "The Homecoming" which told the story of a former child care home residents attempts to trace their birth family. From 2024 onwards Ariel will work as a Consultant to the Social Work team.

Media work

Documentary film credits include 2014's ''A Tale Of Two Thieves'', written by Erin Donovan about the Great Train Robbery's mysterious 'Ulsterman'. Bruce was employed by the film makers to trace Patrick Mckenna (The Ulsterman). Another credit includes ''Juvenile Liaison 2'' by

Nick Broomfield Nicholas Broomfield (born 1948) is an English documentary film director. His self-reflective style has been regarded as influential to many later filmmakers. In the early 21st century, he began to use non-actors in scripted works, which he call ...

. She has also worked as a search consultant on ''Hanratty: The Mystery of Dead Man's Hill'', produced by

Bob Woffinden Robert Woffinden (31 January 1948 – 1 May 2018) was a British investigative journalist. Formerly a reporter with the ''New Musical Express'', he later specialised in investigating miscarriages of justice. He wrote about a number of high-profi ...

as part of the ''True Stories'' series. Bruce acted as consultant social worker to Caradoc King of

United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...

. Caradoc wrote his book, ''The Problem Child,'' about his life experiences. Katherine Norbury also instructed the services of Bruce when tracking down her birth parents. She wrote her book,''The Fish Ladder'', published in 2015 by

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London, part of the London Borough of Camden in England. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural institution, cultural, intellectual, and educational ...

about her experience. British Journalist

Kate Adie Kathryn Adie (born 19 September 1945) is an English journalist. She was Chief News Correspondent for BBC News between 1989 and 2003, during which time she reported from war zones around the world. She retired from the BBC in early 2003 and ...

CBE also instructed Bruce's help in tracing both her birth mother's and birth father's families. Bruce is acknowledged in Adie's books, ''Nobody’s Child'' and her memoir ''The Kindness of Strangers''. In 2018 Genevieve Fox's Memoir "Milkshakes and Morphine" credits Ariel Bruce as the 'super sleuth' who assisted her in a family search. Fox is a former features editor at

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

and

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

. In 2021, Bruce appeared on the podcast Changes with

Annie Mac Annie Macmanus (born 18 July 1978), known professionally as Annie Mac, is an Irish DJ, broadcaster and writer. She hosted a variety of shows on BBC Radio 1, including BBC Switch and ''Future Sounds''. She also DJed in various locations, includ ...

for International Women's Day. in 2023, Bruce was interviewed on Generation Shame, a personal and political podcast by Jon Holmes. In 2025, Bruce was interviewed as part of Laura Ancell's prodcast, ''DNA Trail: The Promise;'' 'a gripping true-life story of a young woman’s deathbed promise to her father that takes her on a remarkable journey to solve a family mystery.'

Social work

Alongside television work Bruce and her team, trained social workers specialising in post adoption services, carry out private searches for missing family members. One such private client was the British actress

Stephanie Cole Patricia Stephanie Cole (born 5 October 1941) is an English stage, television, radio and film actor, known for high-profile roles in shows such as '' Tenko'' (1981–1985), ''Open All Hours'' (1982–1985), ''A Bit of a Do'' (1989), '' Waiting ...

, whom Ariel helped to reunite with her half sister. Cole went on to name and thank Bruce in her autobiography and in interviews after the search.

Charity work

Ariel Bruce is a trustee for the Overseas Plastic Surgery Appeal (OPSA). Bruce has visited Pakistan to assist the OPSA surgical team with social work care for the parents of children with often severe facial abnormalities.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruce, Ariel 1951 births Living people British social workers British women television personalities Television people from London British women