Jay’s restoring our faith
OH, JOY. THE REPAIR SHOP (BBC1, 8pm) is back with a new run of primetime episodes to envelop us in its warm embrace.This dose of slow-time TV transports us to a cosy environment in which sentimental items have value, and where expert craftspeople take pride in their painstaking restoration of said heirlooms.
It’s an approach in which the ugly modern mantra of the bottom line – how much the item is worth – is never mentioned, because it’s agreed that some things are worth more than money.Tonight, lovely Jay Blades is back in his rightful place at the front, receiving the treasures brought in by punters and assigning them to a restorer.
Some oddities do come through the barn door, too: former champion sprinter Neil Scott and his granddaughter Saadia ask master cobbler Dean to revitalise the worn-out running shoes he won medals with decades ago, but Dean has to work some magic to soften up the leather so it can be resewn.Also through the door comes Nigel, who is blind and brings in a damaged novelty drinks table in the shape of a bulldog that he calls Boozy Barman.
Nigel explains that he likes to feel the table’s different textures when he sips on his gin and tonic, forcing conservator Kirsten Ramsay to make sure her repairs to Boozy Barman leave him feeling, not just looking, like he used to.
The “reveals” are heartwarming confirmation that the series has got its formula exactly right – it’s a loving ode to the make-do-andmend mantra of our forebears, giving new life to personal treasures.Who’s crying?You are!
If you like Long Lost Family (and if you don’t, you may have a heart of flint), you’ll want to catch BRITAIN’S SECRETWAR BABIES (C4, 9pm).The format is similar, only this is a one-off documentary looking at the plight of two British people whose fathers were black American GIs stationed here during the war.
Good Morning Britain’s sports reporter Sean Fletcher meets Mary and John, both aged 77, who endured very difficult childhoods as a result of their parentage. Not only did they not know who their fathers were, but they were the first children of colour in their neighbourhoods, which brought lifelong feelings of isolation. Both endured racist abuse, even from their own family members.
Their tales are devastating and you long for Fletcher to bring them some answers. He also uncovers secret wartime documents in which public officials in Britain lamented white women mixing with black American soldiers during the war, fearful of the mixed-race babies it might produce.
Thankfully, with the help of DNA and genealogical databases, Fletcher unlocks some secrets of John and Mary’s heritage in a payoff worth tuning in for.