Reboot for golden oldie
THE REPAIR SHOP (BBC1, 8pm) continues to work its magic on us. The heart-tugging series makes Antiques Roadshow look positively crass with its reliance on the big reveal of an object’s price tag. This show operates confidently on the understanding that our most precious possessions are worth more than they’d fetch at auction.
Any mention of money would generate looks of abject horror and much clutching of pearls in Jay Blades’s barn.
Tonight, his diligent elves tackle some tricky restorations. Anthony from Norwich brings a very rare model car for the attention of silversmith Brenton West. The gold-plated model of the Lotus Esprit was presented to his father Michael Kimberley, former CEO of Lotus Cars, and Anthony is full of guilt for wearing it out through playing with it as a child and wants it restored as a treat for his father.
Harriet brings in a very special locket.An avid metal detectorist, she found it with an engagement ring years ago, buried by her then boyfriend for a surprise proposal – and master goldsmith Richard Talman gets to work repairing it.
Ceramics expert Kirsten Ramsay helps Rachael and her mum Bev, whose statues of jazz musicians are broken and need some TLC.
And then Rhona from Paisley turns up with her dad’s old set of bagpipes, silent for decades. She’s eager to hear them again and spark fond memories of her late father... Who’s been slicing onions?!
There’s been much merriment made about the myriad ways Sean Bean has died on-screen – that scene from Game Of Thrones when Eddard Stark unexpectedly met his maker still gives me chills.
Well, it looks like Sean’s got another ill-fated date with destiny in SHARDLAKE (Disney+), a fantastic new four-part murder mystery series set in Tudor times.
Up-and-coming actor Arthur Hughes plays the title character, a clever young lawyer who’s caught the eye of Thomas Cromwell, King Henry VIII’s henchman, played with bite and a posh accent by Yorkshireman Bean.
Of course, even those of us who bunked off history lessons know Cromwell eventually has – spoiler alert – a date with the chopping block. But the show is not about him; it’s really a 16th-century Inspector Morse, with Shardlake the erudite, brooding copper at its centre, like John Thaw’s Morse.
Shardlake is sent to a Sussex monastery where one of Henry’s emissaries has been murdered – ordered by Cromwell to investigate whodunnit and hopefully close down the monastery for good.
The series was shot in eerie, real-life castles full of imposing turrets, dark corners, windswept corridors and monks who look haunted by secret goings-on.
Make a date to watch it, even if Sean Bean falls victim to the executioner at some point.