Being on the show has helped repair my heart
Expert Suzie on turmoil behind emotional episode
Tears at finding the name, right emails I had from people after it aired was astonishing. It felt like a hug from the whole population.”
Suzie had lived in Colorado for more than two decades, working as a master saddler. Eight months before his death in 2013, her American husband was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
One item on his bucket list they ticked together was a trip to a motorcycle rally in Sturgis, South Dakota. Suzie said: “That’s one of my proudest moments. I had to drive the truck and trailer with our HarleyDavidsons Suzie’s brother on Steve offers her comfort board, while looking after him as he was dying.”
When her mother and aunt also died within five months, Suzie went into autopilot. Three years later she came back to the UK when her brother Steve Fletcher, a horologist, was hired for The Repair Shop and producers offered her a job too. Suzie says of the feelgood TV show: “We always say that we can repair anything in the workshop. And what I’ve told everyone there is that they’re now repairing my heart.”
■ The Repair Shop, BBC1, 8pm, Tuesday, July 7.
WHEN expert Suzie Fletcher broke down on The Repair Shop, viewers learned that she had lost her husband to cancer.
Now the leather expert on the BBC1 hit has shared the story behind her tears – saying the show is helping her to “repair my heart”.
In an episode shown last week on BBC1, viewers saw Suzie, in her early 60s, moved to tears while renovating a rocking horse belonging to Julie Yates.
Julie had recently lost her husband Paul to cancer and knew that he had signed his name on the toy somewhere after attempting to restore it back in the 1980s.
In the episode, which first aired last July, Suzie found the name and broke down in tears. She wept: “I’m really pleased for Julie that it’s here.”
She added simply to viewers: “I too lost my husband to cancer.”
Suzie explained to the Radio Times: “I realise I hadn’t scratched the surface when it came to the loss of my husband.
“In a way, it was the start of the grieving process.
“The amount of
TV’s Suzie presenting