Restoration drama
THE REPAIR SHOP
BBC1, 4.30pm
ONLY on The Repair Shop could a broken matchstick ship or battered old chair reduce the general public to a sobbing heap.
This is the series that sees Jay Blades and a team of expert crafts people bring treasured family heirlooms back to life.
As crumbling items are restored, it’s all so heartwarming that there’s a sense that humanity is also restored.
So good news, this series is now screening an episode every single week day.
And it starts with an emotional big-hitter. Lesley brings in a dilapidated, dusty old model ship, which was handcrafted out of matchsticks by her beloved father who died aged 35, when she was just seven.
“We haven’t got much left,” says a tearful Lesley. “Just a couple of photos and this boat.”
It’s up to wood whizz Will Kirk to fix it, and it’s going to be a painstaking job.
“It looks like it’s hit an iceberg,” he says, before asking Jay for “a lot” of matchsticks.
Also in the shop is Tara, who never met her late grandmother but was given her machinist’s chair as they both share a love of needlework.
Metal expert Dominic Chinea and furniture upholsterer Sonnaz Nooranvary join forces to restore the vintage furniture.
Finally, it’s up to ceramics conservator Kirsten Ramsay to take care of Nipper, a dog-eared piece of memorabilia. She’ll have to turn her hand to papier mache to do up the black and white pooch that holds memories of the music industry.