Clarinda bought herself a plane ticket and was welcomed as part of the crew. Photo / NZ Woman's Weekly
Clarinda bought herself a plane ticket and was welcomed as part of the crew. Photo / NZ Woman's Weekly
The TV investigator reveals partner Clarinda makes him feel so lucky in love.
For the past seven years, Clarinda Franklin has become used to bidding her partner, David Lomas, au revoir regularly as he spans the globe, reuniting disconnected Kiwis with lost family members.
However, when school holidays aligned with the filming schedule of a trip to Lithuania and Greece for the new season of David Lomas Investigates, the Auckland principal bought herself a plane ticket and was welcomed as part of the crew.
Well, David came up with a more official – if not endearing – title for her while on the road.
“She was the ‘bag lady’,” he chuckles. “Usually, it’s just me and cameraman Ivars Berzins. So when he’s filming me walking down a busy street, we keep the camera bags close, but they’re unattended, and it’s hard keeping an eye on them while working at the same time.
David says Clarinda brought a much-needed “woman’s touch” to the series. Photo / NZ Woman's Weekly
“It sounds ridiculous, but you can’t believe how useful it is having that extra person to mind those bags and also, when I’m doing an interview, to neatly note down my questions instead of me trying to scribble them as I talk.”
So does she get an onscreen credit at the end?
“Yeah, personal assistant to Mr Lomas,” he laughs. “No don’t put that in!”
In a case of what goes on tour doesn’t stay on tour, the couple is happy to share a few insights into what happens behind the scenes of David’s hugely popular TV series.
Chatting from Clarinda’s stunning Mediterranean-style seaside home, he says she brought a much-needed “woman’s touch”, especially when filming episode one.
It features 22-year-old Justina King, who was looking for her birth mother in Visaginas, known as Lithuania’s “nuclear town” for its now decommissioned Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, where the TV series Chernobyl was filmed.
The young Whanganui woman shares onscreen that she was born with fetal alcohol syndrome, a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by exposure to alcohol before birth.
At 5, Justina and her younger sister were taken from her then-alcoholic mother by Lithuania’s social welfare and put into an orphanage. Four years later, she and her sister were adopted by a Kiwi couple from Gore.
Melita the interpretator, Ivars the cameraman, David, Clarinda and Justina. Photo / NZ Woman's Weekly
“Justina first came to me for help tracking down her biological mother five years ago, when she was 17,” recalls David. “But at that stage, I thought she was a bit too young for what we do. But we kept in touch.”
David says while Justina is bright and savvy, she struggles with emotions and concentration due to her syndrome, and he was aware the trip would be very emotionally overwhelming for her.
He explains, “It made a heck of a difference having Clarinda there to keep an eye on her, chat with her and help calm her nerves – rather than having two old blokes doing it.”
Clarinda continues, “I learned that when you’re on the road going from place to place, there’s a lot of setting up time involved, and also waiting around and that was hard for Justina.
“Because I’m a teacher, dealing with young people from a range of different backgrounds is quite easy for me. Being able to provide that little bit of extra pastoral care didn’t go astray.”
While Clarinda had her tissues ready for the rollercoaster of emotions, the highlight of her trip was witnessing the heartfelt moments of the reunions.
“We took Justina on a walk in the town where she spent her childhood,” shares Clarinda. “She remembered where she lived with her mother in a rundown high-rise apartment building.
“David had been defeated by bureaucracy trying to get permission to visit Justina’s old orphanage, so we wandered in when we spotted the gate open. It was a real ‘wow’ moment.
The highlight of Clarinda's trip was witnessing the heartfelt moments of the reunions. Photo / NZ Woman's Weekly
“Two of the teachers in the orphanage came out, and they and Justina recognised each other. It was incredible. There were screams, tears, laughter … Just a sensational scene burst out in front of us. I was so touched to share these moments that people had dreamed of and hoped for most of their lives.”
Adds David, who uses his iPhone as a second camera, “I was busy filming. But I turned around to see Clarinda wiping tears from her eyes.”
The affable TV presenter also continues to feel grateful to be welcomed inside people’s humble homes while filming abroad. What they may lack in English language skills, he says, they make up for in hospitality.
“You never lose the emotion of seeing people bond with a long-lost family member,” he tells. “I think if I became numb to that, I wouldn’t be able to do the story very well.”
The successful formula of the show remains unchanged. David reckons the bigger the challenge of finding someone, the better.
Sending flowers with a little message remains one of his most effective ways of contacting a stranger.
“You can write a letter, but you don’t know what happens to a letter,” explains David. “You send flowers from a local florist in someone’s town, and you’re pretty certain you have that person’s attention.
“It’s a quick way of finding someone if you can’t knock on their door yourself. And dare I say it – I buy the cheapest ones! I pick by price, not flower type. It works wonders!”
However, he admits that in a previous year, while busy sending bouquets to strangers, he forgot to send Clarinda some on her birthday while he was away working.
The couple has been together since meeting in 2018 and enjoy staying active, tackling the tracks of Queen Charlotte, Abel Tasman, Tongariro Crossing, Rakiura, Routeburn and Pouakai.
David still pinches himself that he has someone special to share his life.
The couple has been together since meeting in 2018. Photo / NZ Woman's Weekly
“It has been wonderful,” he enthuses. “We say to each other often, ‘We’re just very lucky.’ It’s quite remarkable that we met later in life and it seems to work and work and work!”
They were first introduced in a bar after the friends that each of them had gone to meet turned out to know each other.
“It hadn’t come up in conversation whether she was attached,” remembers David. “So I had to make inquiries to find out what her circumstances were and whether she was a single woman.
“Of course, I did some deep research and I knew her whole life story before I asked her out!” he laughs.
The pair keeps separate homes on opposite sides of Auckland’s Harbour Bridge – “more for practicality for our work” – but get together for weekends and holidays.
As we chat on a Sunday afternoon, Clarinda has her laptop next to her, preparing for an Education Review Office visit, and he jokes she’s the workaholic in the relationship.
Clearly, she brings out a more playful side to the serious persona portrayed by David on screen.
After they finished shooting a second story in Athens, the couple got to enjoy two leisurely days, paid for by themselves, where they caught a ferry to Hydra, an idyllic island in Greece. Then Clarinda flew back to New Zealand while David went to Honduras with cameraman Ivars.
“I’ve always enjoyed following David’s stories, hearing about how it is going and then seeing the outcome when it screens,” says Clarinda. “But now I’ve seen him live in action, I’m just more in awe of what he does.
“He has impeccable organisation – and yes, I’ve discovered he can be quite direct – but that ability to think on your feet and adapt to ever-changing dynamics was impressive.
“I’m so proud of the way he helps bring happy outcomes to so many New Zealanders.”
David Lomas Investigates screens on Tuesdays at 7.30pm on Three or stream on ThreeNow.
