It’s the best show on TV!

That’s what Stephen Fry and Richard Osman say about The Repair Shop – and millions agree. So how DID the slow, careful restoration of family treasures become such a surprise hit?

ATATTERED teddy falling to pieces, a family heirloom gradually crumbling in the attic, a precious clock that no longer keeps time… almost every household has a treasured possession that’s seen better days.

And there they hide away, untouched for years, their owners having lost the skills once handed down through generations that could bring them back to life, yet somehow reluctant to let them go.

And that’s the way many would have stayed if it wasn’t for The Repair Shop, BBC1’s surprise smash hit that brings together a host of master craftsmen to restore these most precious of objects.

Launched in 2017, the programme now has two million fans tuning in every afternoon. They include Stephen Fry and Pointless’s Richard Osman who have called The Repair Shop the best show on TV.

And its secret? A perfect blend of moving stories behind the objects needing mending, the breathtaking skills of the dedicated conservators who work on them, often for days, and the touching – usually tearful – moment the owner sees their most cherished possession restored.

No wonder the instant that each programme finishes, Twitter is alive with viewers delighting in the latest restoration or comparing how much they cried.

But there’s another reason this most gentle of programmes has proved so popular: it has tapped into our growing desire to go back to the days of ‘make do and mend’.

As the price of once-expensive goods like home electricals has come down over the years, we’ve lost the ability to repair that was once vital.

Indeed, some are designed to be almost impossible to repair, with sealed units or such complicated internal workings that only a very expensive expert could fix. So, instead, we throw them out and buy another.

How many of us could confidently take apart an iPhone or look underneath the bonnet of a car to do a repair, without seeking help from a professional?

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s millennials who most lack the skills their grandparents took for granted. Recent surveys have suggested just 17 per cent could mend torn clothing, a quarter could change a car wheel and only 43 per cent could wire a plug. But there are signs things are changing. In an era when we are much more conscious of the planet’s finite resources, the move away from mass-produced goods to much more precious items individually honed by artisans gathers pace.

And more repair shops are opening up on our high streets due to popular demand. In fact, the number of outlets fixing everything from phones to furniture has risen by more than a third across the UK since 2010.

And it’s happening online too. Facebook message boards are buzzing with local communities swapping and re- selling prel oved goods, while websites such as Preloved and Freecycle are rescuing and recycling items that would once have gone straight to the tip.

The Repair Shop was launched amid this changing culture, returning to our screens last week, much to fans’ delight. And thanks to its soaring popularity, there’s an accompanying book full of tips and hints to encourage us to start mending once more.

Here we reveal some of the heart- warming – and heartbreaking – stories that have made this series such a hit…