David in Only Tools..
Double act hits road to meet the makers
Meet TV’s newest double act... and they’re not a comedy duo but a right pair of tinkerers. Mind you, the banter and repartee between Jay Blades and Sir David Jason is so constant, and amusing, it could have been scripted.
Before the interview has even got going, Sir David is taking swipes at Jay – and it is soon evident that this is the pair’s modus operandi. In fact, it becomes difficult to get an answer from either without the other butting in with a quip or alternative version of events.
Their zinging rapport is part of why their new BBC Two series, David & Jay’s Touring Toolshed, is such a joy.
And beneath the veneer of friendly snark, their respect and esteem for one another is palpable.
Case in point: Jay is late to the Zoom call. Asked what his favourite moment from the series was – meeting the crafters, touring the country perhaps? – Sir David responds: “Well, I was going to say it was working with Jay.
“But now he’s not joining us, I can tell you the truth, that no way was he my favourite person. You can make what you like out of that.”
The veteran comic actor, 83, continues: “Seriously, though, it was great working with Jay. He’s a super character. Lovely fella. Very, very easy to work with. He’s the sort of person where what you see is what you get.”
Jay appears on screen in a burst of laughter. “You’re not wanted now,” Sir David quips immediately.
“You thought you could get away without me being there, hey?” responds Jay. “David, you rein it in now. You behave yourself. It’s not the David show, like you wanted it to be. They didn’t edit me out. I’m in there.”
In Touring Toolshed, Sir David and Jay travel the UK to lend a hand to crafters and makers, both amateur and professional, and learn about their projects. Wearing matching blue caps, they visit craft shows, country fairs, steam rallies and engineering fairs.
Their mobile toolshed pulls up and the presenters and various experts help to solve tricky challenges.
Reflecting on working with the comedian for the first time, Jay, 53, calls him
“a national icon”. “It was a real joy working with someone I grew up with,” he adds.
“And then you’re working with someone who is perfect in every single way. The age this young man is, we’d have done a full day’s filming – 14 hours, let’s say – and we go back to the hotel and have dinner, and he’s talking about what we can do tomorrow. It was as if I was working with a teenager.”
Jay is a longtime furniture restorer, author and presenter of shows including The Repair Shop and Jay Blades’ Home Fix.
And Sir David – best known for playing Cockney wheeler-dealer Del Boy in beloved sitcom Only Fools and Horses for 22 years – has a long-held
We will inspire people to invent, create, something that nobody else has seen SIR DAVID JASON ON WHAT HE WANTS THE SHOW TO ACHIEVE
passion for inventing and fixing things, too. So, where did that originate?
He says: “Going back into history, when I first started work, I was an apprentice electrician.
“When you are an apprentice to any trade, you have to absorb all sorts of traits – you’re bumping into people who are bricklayers, plasterers, pipe benders, plumbers.
“And if you’re interested in making things, it leaves its mark. You get interested in how a plumber bends a piece of pipe and that sort of thing is still with me, I still love bending pipes.
“Well, now the pipe I bend is round Jay’s neck, but...”
“Well, don’t tell them about that,” retorts Jay. “But Sir David still makes, and I still make. And what I love about making is the future aspect of it – you never just make something and that’s it. You’re always seeing the next step. ‘Where can I take this? How can I move it forward?’
“We had a load of different makers come along and the beauty for me is upskilling, so a lot of the people did have a stumbling block and we teamed them up with an expert who would help them right now with the problem at hand – but also in the future, so when they make something else, they’ll have the ability to do it.
“There’s a lady on there who made these beautiful puppets but she didn’t know how to make them move.
“We had an expert show her how to organise the motor, so when she builds another puppet, she can apply those skills.” One project that particularly impressed the pair involved upcycling aircraft windows.
Sir David explains: “We met a couple of chaps who worked on an airfield. In the corner of the airfield was a broken-down aeroplane that had been there for months and was just rotting away.
“So the pair of them started to take it apart, recycle and polish the windows, and sell them – and they were going like hot cakes. And it was brilliant to see how they were making something out of nothing – that was quite an eye-opener, wasn’t it?”
“They were making rubbish attractive and desirable!” exclaims Jay. The idea has flourished into a fully-fledged small business turning the portholes into mirrors and mosaic tables.
“You’d never believe that something that was rotting in a field could be turned into such a desirable item,” Jay continues. “That’s the beauty of what we found. There were so many people with brilliant ideas.”
Do they hope the show will inspire viewers to start tinkering themselves?
“I don’t use the word hope,” says Jay.
“I know it’s going to, plain and simple. This show, you’ve got a legend such as Sir David, and someone who knows about making and is as enthusiastic about it as me, and that enthusiasm comes over on screen and people will be inspired to continue making, tinkering and pushing it forward.”
“I’m sure he’s right,” says Sir David, followed by a brief chat between the pair about the shock of finding themselves in agreement about something.
He goes on: “We will inspire people to invent, create, perhaps see something that nobody else has seen.
“So we’re hoping that what we’re going to achieve is for people to be inspired and get off their...”
Jay, chuckling, adds: “Seats.”
■ David & Jay’s Touring Toolshed is on at 6.30pm on Monday, BBC Two.
14 hours of filming and he’s talking about tomorrow... it’s like working with a teenager
JAY BLADES ON HIS TIRELESS ‘NATIONAL ICON’ CO-STAR