PICK OF TODAY’S TV

THE REPAIR SHOP, 8PM, BBC1

OUT OF nowhere, this gentle, unassuming daytime show about restoring treasured antiques won our hearts and a coveted primetime slot, and made presenter Jay Blades a household name. The secret of its success is that it lets the objects and their owners do the talking as the experts quietly beaver away, never stealing the limelight from the touching stories behind the wear and tear. The show starts a tenth series tonight, and the first arrival is a unique challenge for horologist Steve Fletcher (pictured with Jay) — the largest timepiece he’s ever tried to restore at the barn. This horological rarity was designed and built by Monica Norton’s father, Ron, a cabinet manufacturer by trade but who had always dreamed of building wooden clocks. This huge example took thousands of hours to make and was built for a display at

the World Trade Center in Dallas. Time is ticking for Steve as he sets about restoring this three-metre-tall wonder to its former glory, but if any man can be trusted with the job its Steve, whose clock and watch repair business was opened by his grandfather in Witney in Oxfordshire in 1910 and has been in the Fletcher family for three generations. Dominic Chinea, meanwhile, tries to put the va-va-voom back into a rusty Austin J40 toy pedal car, before master hatter Jayesh must repair a cap that’s been worn by a Rotherham United fan for the past 30 years.