Adoptee Dara O’Briain says Dame Judi Dench inspired him to launch search for his birth mother

• Comic O’Briain, 51, said he knew he was adopted but something ‘I sort of forgot’
• Judi Dench’s performance in Philomena inspired him to search for birth mother

Dara O’Briain has revealed how Dame Judi Dench’s powerful performance in the film Philomena inspired him to search for his birth mother.

The Irish comedian, 51, said he always knew he was adopted but it was something ‘that I sort of forgot’. It was only after watching the 2013 film he realised his biological mum might be wondering what happened to him.

‘I genuinely walked out of the cinema going, ”Oh you eejit, you’re not the main protagonist in this story”,’ he will tell today’s Desert Island Discs.

‘Here’s a woman who gave a baby up for adoption 45 years ago and you have made yourself invisible because you’ve not engaged with the search.’

Inspired: Dara O’Briain (pictured) has revealed how Dame Judi Dench’s powerful performance in the film Philomena inspired him to search for his birth mother

Powerful: Judi Dench in the 2013 film Philomena which inspired O’Briain

The Oscar-nominated film is based on the true story by Martin Sixsmith of Irish Philomena Lee and her 50-year search for the son she was forced to give up for adoption.

O’Briain said he had already thanked Steve Coogan, who adapted the story for screen, but had never met Dench.

He met his biological mother in 2020 and said the fact he had a happy upbringing, wife and his own children meant the reunion ‘wasn’t filling a void’.

• Desert Island Discs is on today at 11.15am and will be repeated on Friday at 9am.

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