Ryan Thomas enjoyed an emotional reunion with a carrier pigeon that he believes to be the reincarnated spirit of his late father Dougie.
The actor’s dad Dougie James died in 2020 aged 72 – a year after he appeared alongside his sons in the ITV docuseries, Mancs In Mumbai, where they explored their heritage.
Now, Ryan has claimed Dougie has returned in the form of a bird, revealing the feathered friend has paid several visits to them in recent days.
Taking to Instagram on Tuesday night, he explained: ‘You are not going to believe this. I’ve gone out with the kids all day today. Lucy’s [Mecklenburgh] been at home.
‘She calls me at 5 o’clock and she says, “I could hear tap tap tap tap tap at the back window.” I said no, please tell me you’re lying.
And she sends me a video of my dad [the pigeon]. My dad came back. He was trying to fly into the windows, try and get in.’
Ryan Thomas enjoyed an emotional reunion with a carrier pigeon that he believes to be the reincarnated spirit of his late father Dougie (pictured with the bird and son Roman)
The actor’s dad Dougie James died in 2020 aged 72 – a year after he appeared alongside his sons in the ITV docuseries, Mancs In Mumbai , where they explored their heritage
Now, Ryan has claimed Dougie has returned in the form of a bird, revealing the feathered friend has paid several visits to them in recent days
Ryan, 41, continued: ‘I said, you’ve got to feed him. Feed my dad now, because I need to see him when I get back. I’m not into all this, but now I’m fully invested.
‘I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, I don’t know how I’m supposed to make Dougie come back, but I need advice on – what sort of home do they stay in? What do I do? I’ve not seen my dad yet, so I’m hoping he’s back tomorrow.’
The Coronation Street star went on to share a snap of Dougie the pigeon set to the music of his late father’s song Still.
He captioned the snap: ‘Don’t know what’s going on here but I’m so connected to him, so weird [heart emoji].’
Ryan also pointed out that Dougie the bird’s markings, joking: ‘It’s even got a moustache like me dad’.
The father-of-three then shared a video telling son Roman, five, that the bird had flown back so ‘daddy’s home’.
He was later seen on the phone with Psychic Sally Morgan – asking for her thoughts on whether the pigeon could be his father – to which she responded resolutely ‘yes’.
Ryan’s fiancée Lucy Mecklenburgh also offered her thoughts on the scenario, revealing that on Monday the family had driven five hours from their home in Essex to Manchester, after identifying the pigeon’s owner.
However, once they arrived, the pigeon promptly flew off – only to return to their home in Essex the following day.
Ryan claimed his late father Dougie has been reincarnated as a carrier pigeon, with the feathered friend travelling from Manchester to their home in Essex to visit them
The Coronation Street star went on to share a snap of Dougie the pigeon set to the music of his late father’s song Still before pointing out their similar facial features
He was later seen on the phone with Psychic Sally Morgan – asking for her thoughts on whether the pigeon could be his father – to which she responded resolutely ‘yes’
Ryan’s fiancée Lucy Mecklenburgh revealed that on Monday the family had driven five hours from their home in Essex to Manchester, after identifying the pigeon’s owner
Lucy then revealed she’d left food out for Dougie the pigeon, who was happily making himself at home in their garden
She explained: ‘We spent five hours in a car with a pigeon that when we arrived flew away anyway!
‘Ryan and Roman are going to be actually buzzing about this, I don’t know how I feel about this, assuming now this makes it our pet.’
Lucy later clarified: ‘I can’t keep a straight face – loads of people are asking me why we haven’t returned him to his owner.
‘That was the plan, we tracked him down and there’s a vet that lives next to door to us in Essex and he tracked him down in Manchester.
‘We rung him and he didn’t seem that bothered – maybe because he’d been gone for a while or he was bit I’m not sure it is mine so we let him out the cage and then he flew away but now he’s back.
‘So what do we do? Do we ring the owner again? Do we keep him? Do we keep putting food out for him? I just don’t see myself as someone with a pigeon enclosure in my garden.’
Lucy then revealed she’d left food out for Dougie the pigeon, who was happily making himself at home in their garden.
It’s been five years since Ryan announced his father, Seventies music legend Dougie – who was the lead singer of Dougie James And The Soul Train – had died.
It’s been five years since Ryan announced his father, Seventies music legend Dougie – who was the lead singer of Dougie James And The Soul Train – had died
Dougie was also father to Ryan’s twin siblings, Emmerdale actor Adam and Island contestant Scott.
At the height of their fame, Dougie’s band toured with The Jackson Five and his sons inherited his love of the spotlight.
‘It’s always been in our blood – we’ve always wanted to entertain,’ Adam previously shared.
Dougie split from the boys’ mum when the twins were born, leading to a bitter divorce, and the family explored their feelings about his absence on their show, Mancs In Mumbai.
Adam told Star TV magazine how his father was not always around in the brothers’ youth, saying the Mumbai trip became ‘quite emotional’ for them.
He said: ‘My dad left us for years when we were younger and then he came back into our lives and we never really talked about it.
‘There were a lot of unanswered questions, which we touched on and I think we needed to. It got quite emotional.’
The month-long journey saw the Thomas brothers retrace the footsteps of their grandfather Nolan, who immigrated to the UK from India in 1947.
Dougie was also father to Ryan’s twin siblings, Emmerdale actor Adam and Island contestant Scott, with the family touring India while they filmed their ITV series Mancs In Mumbai
Ryan shared: ‘He always referred to his dad as his hero. And the moment it hit him was when he went to where our granddad went to school. I said, “Dad, this is the exact same playground that your dad played in when he was a child.”‘
Scott, who is Adam’s non-identical twin, said the trip put things into perspective for the brothers and their father, adding that it has brought them closer together.
The brothers visited the Dharavi slum which is the most populated place on earth with 700,000 people living in just 0.8 square miles.
They travelled from chaotic Mumbai to the beaches of Goa while also meeting long-lost relatives for the first time and felt an instant kinship.
