5 MINUTES WITH...

DOMINIC CHINEA

With a degree in graphic design, a career history in set design, a passion for classic car restoration and a popular YouTube channel, The Repair Shop’s Dominic Chinea is a jack of many trades – and master of many, too.

Series 10 of The Repair Shop features two of Chinea’s favourite ever repairs, some heartwarming stories of sentimental value and, of course, the same talented team of craftwork experts fans have come to know and love.

But what’s it really like working in the barn, and what can we expect from the latest season?

YOU’VE BEEN ON THE REPAIR SHOP SINCE SERIES ONE. WHY DO YOU LOVE WORKING ON THE PROGRAMME?

I’ve worked in quite a few workshops over the years, building props, set design – and honestly I can say there is no other workshop like it that I’ve ever been to, anywhere.

It is a unique place where we get to work side by side with the most talented people around. We’re in that barn, and it’s a very, very inspiring space. Everyone loves what they do.

OUT OF ALL THE ITEMS YOU’VE WORKED ON SO FAR, WHICH IS YOUR FAVOURITE?

The pedal car in this series is my all-time favourite item. Honestly, that was a dream.

I am a bit of a car nut, I do like my classic cars, and I think that’s as close as we’d get to actually restoring a classic car at the barn. It was for such a worthy family, they were so over the moon.

To see it on the race track, on the finish line, the two kids dressed up in their boiler suits, the chequered flag – it was just a goosebump moment. A really, really, really special thing.

Every single part was repaired, new, rechromed, repainted – it was just

THAT MOMENT WHEN YOU UNVEIL THE RESTORED OBJECT TO THE OWNER WHAT’S THAT LIKE?

It’s terrifying! Before they’ve seen it, and that blanket’s over it...

We all tread very carefully with the repairs, we try to keep those memories in it. It’s the attention to detail, the little things, it’s about keeping the integrity.

Every single nut and bolt that I take off, there’s a decision: whether we keep it, we clean it, replace it, put it back on. There are an awful lot of decisions to make, and that’s the pressure of the show. Once you’ve got all that done, standing there at the build table... you just hope they like it.

WHAT DO WE HAVE TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN THE REPAIR SHOP’S NEW SERIES?

Every year it gets better and better. Whether it’s the objects that we’re working on, the people that have brought them in, the reasons why these things mean so much to these people, the stories they’ve got attached to them.

A couple of the items that I’ve worked on are the best things that I’ve ever repaired down there, honestly. Two things: the pedal car – my all-time favourite item, and then a hammer, which seems like such an obscure thing, but it was one of the most satisfying, lovely things to repair, and the story attached to it.

It’s going to be the best series yet. For sure.

The Repair Shop, BBC1, Wednesdays, 8pm.

beautiful in the end. I’m really quite proud of it.