Episode 4 The Repair Shop

Welcome to The Repair Shop,

where cherished family heirlooms are brought back to life.

This is the workshop of dreams.

Home to furniture restorer Jay Blades.

Nowadays, everybody spends a fortune on stuff that, once it's broken,

they just bin it. But everybody has something that means too much to be

thrown away and that's where we come in.

Working alongside Jay will be some of the country's leading craftspeople...

Every piece has its own story.

It's amazing to think that some of my work becomes part of that story.

I've always played with things, I've always repaired things,

-and I just love it.

-There is a real pleasure in bringing people's pieces

back to life again.

..each with their own unique set of skills.

The right tool for the right job.

They will resurrect,

-revive...

-I'm warm, man!

-..and rejuvenate

treasured possessions and irreplaceable pieces of family history...

Wow. She's fantastic!

..bringing both the objects...

-Oh!

-This is what I remember.

-..and the memories that they hold...

-Wow!

-..back to life.

Oh, my God!

In The Repair Shop today, a much-loved toy lies in tatters.

That is quite serious, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-So how are you going to fix this?

You've got no reference - there's nothing there.

And Brenton's search for some precious metal leads him to a fellow

expert's stash.

Have you got any bigger diameter brass bar?

That might be the piece.

Failing that, THAT might be the piece.

That IS the piece! I can turn it down from there!

First to arrive at The Repair Shop clutching a cherished possession are

Roger and Frances Livet.

-Hello, how are we doing?

-Very well, how about yourself?

-I'm very good, actually.

-Good. I'm Roger.

-I'm Jay.

-Jay, nice to see you.

They've brought with them a piece of wartime history that survived

-against the odds.

-A music box, a rather battered music box.

OK, I know just... Steve! We've got a music box here, mate.

This job calls for the skills of music box maestro Steve Kember.

-Steve's the man.

-Yeah, Steve is the man.

Steve, nice to see you. Nice to see you.

Hello.

This poor fella was involved in a bomb in September 1940.

Hold on, let's rewind it a minute. What do you mean, involved in a bomb?

It was in a house near Beckenham and in 1940, a bomb landed on the house.

This was in there as well, hence this damage.

Like all things in the Second World War, you were either lucky or unlucky.

My grandmother, her two sons and an aunt were in the house at the time.

The bomb destroyed the family home, killing everyone inside.

Fortunately, Roger's mum Charlotte wasn't in the house at the time.

She had moved out a few years earlier after getting married.

The family she grew up with,

the family she expected to see for years and years,

had been taken away from her in just one afternoon.

It was something that hurt Mum all her life.

The family music box was one of the only possessions to survive the fatal blast.

There, in that music box, I have something that they have touched,

they have listened to.

It does bring a connection to the family which I wish I had known,

but I'm afraid I never did.

So this means a hell of a lot to me.

I can understand just the history to it.

What would you like us to do to this?

If possible, I'd like you to make sure that's safe to play.

Obviously the glass bit.

-Yeah.

-I haven't got the other bit of that.

If possible, if you can make the lid fit again,

that would be absolutely fantastic.

-OK.

-One thing I do ask,

can we leave as much of the scars and bruises as possible?

Because I think that's part of it.

-Yeah.

-To me.

-That's part of your family history right there.

-That's the history of it.

-I'm so pleased you said that, because

-it's sort of a monument to what happened.

-Yes.

And you don't want to sort of remove its history.

-Well, it's things that they would have touched.

-Yeah.

-If you make it too clean, they wouldn't have touched it.

-Yeah.

And it won't be there any more.

-No.

-The approach I would take if it were mine,

was I would do the best job possible on the mechanism and the outside,

the approach is more one of conservation.

-Yes.

-Rather than.

-I certainly don't want...

-..restoration.

-Yes. If that's possible, that would be fantastic.

It's very possible. It's in safe hands.

-Jay, thank you very much indeed.

-Thank you for bringing it along.

-Thank you both.

-Thank you.

Steve, thank you very much.

In order to determine the extent of the damage and which bits are missing,

Steve will have to first dismantle the entire mechanism.

It looks pretty dreadful, to be honest.

But don't worry - a lot of that is just dirt and grime.

Yeah, but you've taken all of that out of there, yeah?

No, no, no. I've just taken that out of there.

-And these parts here...

-You're showing off again, aren't you?

-Yeah!

-All right.

-..are from my graveyard.

All of these parts came from the same village that this was made in.

If we have a quick look at the cone.

Cor blimey! There's a bit of fluff in between them two.

-There's a bit of fluff, we'll deal with the fluff.

-Oh, my God!

We've got the equipment, we have the technology to deal with the fluff!

I like your thinking!

Some of the items that enter The Repair Shop haven't just been handed down through generations.

They've been lovingly crafted by a family member.

Jonathan Dukes has a handmade heirloom for the attention

of silversmith and metals expert Brenton.

-Hello there.

-Hello.

-I'm Brenton.

-I'm Jonathan.

Nice to meet you. What have you brought me?

I've brought you some tongs from a set of fire irons that were made by

my great-grandfather in his foundry in the Black Country.

-Wow.

-Yes.

-These are fabulous.

But unfortunately, the hinge has come apart.

And are these all the parts?

-These are all the parts of the tongs.

-Because it's brass,

-it's quite soft and it will wear out in time, unfortunately.

-Yes, and that's what's happened.

I'm sure when these were made, they weren't expecting them to last that

-long, so they've done really, really well.

-Yes.

And the fact that you've still got this is brilliant.

These fire tongs mean a lot to me, because they were made by my

great-grandfather but our family's manufacturing history goes back

to at least 1829.

It would be nice to have them in their proper state.

Outside in the metal workshop, Brenton sets about his task.

So what I've got to do with these is replace the thread

in here.

Brenton's got a stash of threaded brass rods in his toolkit, so he

tries them for size.

That's going to be too small. I've got a bigger bit here.

That should do it. No, that's too small as well.

So these two bits I've got are no use.

So I'm going to need to get some brass from somewhere.

First port of call is clock maker Steve with his collection

of odds, ends and offcuts.

Steve, you know the fire tongs that I'm repairing?

-Yes.

-I've brought some brass from my tool box but they're too small.

Have you got any bigger diameter brass?

Do you want a thread?

-I can make the thread.

-You don't want a big thread?

Have you got a big thread?

-Actually, no, I haven't.

-All right, I'll make my own, then!

Here we go.

How big?

That might be the piece.

That might be the piece.

Failing that, THAT might be the piece.

That IS the piece, I can turn it down from that!

THEY LAUGH

If I could borrow those two.

-Yeah, of course you can.

-And I'll probably have about an inch of one of them.

-That would be brilliant, thank you very much.

-Okey doke.

-Thanks, Steve.

Steve Kember is rescuing a music box that miraculously survived

a World War II bomb during the Blitz.

Having never actually restored a music box that's been bombed before,

I'm quite happy with that.

Meanwhile, Jay assigns the task of repairing the music box case

to furniture restorer Will.

How you doing, Will? I've got a little present for you.

-An actual present?

-Of course not, it's a job!

So it's a music box.

Steve's working on the actual mechanism in there.

-OK.

-What we need you to do is fix that.

So it's missing a piece and you don't have the missing piece?

-Don't have the missing piece.

-OK.

What Roger wants is - not to be fully restored.

There's a lot of history in there and he doesn't want to lose it.

Doesn't want to lose it. So it is sympathetic restoration.

-But it's even more sympathetic in the sense that...

-Yeah.

-..we don't want any if this to go.

-OK.

-No damage to be hidden.

-OK. Yeah, that makes sense.

-All right, I'll leave it with you.

Next to arrive, Anne Bailey and her grandson Elliot.

They have brought in an old friend who met with an unfortunate accident.

They're hoping he can be revived by soft-toy restorers Amanda and Julie.

-Oh! What have you got for us?

-We have something from my childhood.

Right.

-And he's seen...

-Oh, look.

-..better days.

-Bless him!

Oh, dear. A bit of stuffing there.

I'm fairly sure that she was damaged by my Irish setters.

Yeah. It's what they do. So can you tell us a little bit more about him?

Yes, of course. I was given him by a person called Arthur Askey who was a

-comedian...

-Gosh, yeah.

-..who lived in our village.

-Right.

And he went, "Goo goo goo goo goo goo!" into my pram and I went...

-"Argh!"

-Yeah, as you would!

As you would. And I screamed and screamed and screamed,

because I was only about one.

And he said, "I don't think she likes me."

So he went away, and a couple of days, weeks later,

he came back with this, and gave it to me...

Fantastic. Oh, wow!

..with the hope that I wouldn't scream at him again!

-And did you?

-No, I don't think I did!

SHE LAUGHS

That's nice.

Yeah, we should be able to sort him out for you.

-That would be wonderful.

-You're welcome.

-And can you put a buttercup...?

-Of course he can have a buttercup.

-Yes, that's not a problem.

-I remember him having a yellow buttercup in his mouth.

But the main thing you want is to see him with a body.

Absolutely. He needs to be cuddled again.

-Absolutely. Thanks for bringing him in.

-Nice to meet you.

-Thank you.

-Bye-bye.

-Bye-bye.

Amanda and Julie are going to need all of their wealth of

experience to get this poor little lamb back on its feet again.

-What do you think?

-That's quite serious, isn't it?

-Hello, Jay.

-Yeah.

-So how are you going to fix this?

You've got no reference - there's nothing there.

We have got a bit of a clue,

in that we've got - if we turn him this way...

..so there's a tummy panel here.

-Right.

-OK? That's still intact.

-From here, we can kind of see how fat the body was.

-OK.

-If we just hold him up.

-That would have dropped down a bit.

-This sort of era, the style of this era, his head would have been up here...

-Right.

..and he would have been quite short in the body and very long in the leg.

You know you can rebuild that?

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-Yeah, yeah.

There's a lot of work here because it isn't just about doing that.

We've got to completely dismantle him.

This seam, we will undo all of this.

And the tail and the head will come off.

-Right.

-And also, I don't know if you can see here, Jay...

-Yeah.

..there's a little piece of wire here.

It's suggesting to us that he had a wire frame.

-OK.

-Certainly these sort of toys from this era were very often wired.

So this is going to take quite a while to do, isn't it?

Yes. It's very intricate, this one.

-I'm going to be off to do some painting.

-Thanks, Jay.

-Cheers, Jay.

-See you later.

-Bye.

Outside, Brenton's made his brass screw for the 140-year-old fire tongs.

He now needs to create a new thread, so that he can attach them together again.

It will make my life a lot easier if I can get the back plate off

here. It means I can drill all the way through and then it'll be easier

for me to cut the thread. So I'm just going to try and lever that off.

Brilliant, OK, that's got that off there.

So I'm really pleased I managed to get this plate off here.

I'm going to start cutting the larger thread in this piece.

And this brass cuts really nicely. It's nice and soft.

You go half a turn forward and then you go half a turn back.

So I'm just going to solder this plate that we took off earlier back

on now that I've cut the thread.

I'm really happy. That's soldered really, really nicely.

That plate is now stuck back onto the handle of the tongs -

how it originally was.

We've got to polish this up and this bit is now finished.

Back inside the workshop,

Steve has reached a critical point in the repair of the bomb-damaged

music box. He's given all the components a thorough clean.

Now he needs to get it singing again.

We're getting serious now.

This is the cylinder. It's had all the oil removed.

Now, we've prepared the clockwork mechanism, and that's all good.

If we have a look along the pins on the cylinder,

there are a significant number of them that are bent.

That one's bent forward, and so the timing of the note will be wrong -

it will be late. If they're either bent to the right or to the left,

we'll end up with some gibberish, and these deficiencies can be heard.

While Steve continues the painstaking process of straightening

the 8,000 pins, Will is tackling the section of the box's lid lost in the bomb blast.

I've actually salvaged this drawer front,

which was going in a skip, and I think that this'll be perfect,

if I can cut a section out of there

and splice it onto the front of this.

However, when you look at it like that,

you can actually see that the top is actually slightly domed.

You can actually see the gap on the outside,

which is going to be a bit of a problem for me,

because the only bit that I have to replace is flat.

It might look like I'm being quite forceful with this plane -

however, there's a lot of excess wood that needs to be shaved down,

and if I just used a file or sandpaper, I'd be there for days.

So the pressure is really on.

I don't want to do any more damage to the original top,

but I need to almost shave so close that I get a nice,

even surface for the new piece of wood.

That's pretty well finished for the pin-straightening part of the procedure.

Now we're going to produce some music.

We'll give it a go, and we'll see what we've got. Give it a wind.

TWO TUNES PLAY SIMULTANEOUSLY

TWO TUNES PLAY SIMULTANEOUSLY

Well, as you can hear, it's not that great.

We're playing a bit of one tune and a bit of another.

The cylinder is clearly not aligned properly with the tips of the comb.

The cylinder's pins play the notes of ten different tunes,

but if they're not perfectly in line with the teeth of the comb they

strike, the chosen tune will be either incomplete or jumbled up with another.

Let's have another go.

DISCORDANT SOUND

That's lovely!

We've got gibberish now!

Imagine somebody playing the piano and somebody sneaks up and shifts

the piano one key-width to the left or the right,

so you're playing all the wrong notes, in all the right places,

and that's what we've got here.

Soft toy restorers Julie and Amanda are trying to rescue a childhood treasure.

With a large portion of the lamb missing,

the duo must rely on their years of experience to fill in the gaps.

At the moment,

I am making the pieces that I need for the body out of felt.

I've made myself a pattern, so I've now got the body filled in,

so I know now, you know, what shape his body was.

Making them out of felt initially for two reasons -

one, because I want to sort of do a dummy run,

just to make sure that I've got everything in proportion.

And two, because I'm going to use this felt to line the pieces,

because we have sourced some fabulous fabric,

but it is a little bit... just a tad stretchy,

so the felt is going to support it and give it a bit of stability.

Now it's a case of completing the jigsaw puzzle,

as all of the lamb's existing pieces are stitched back together and

assembled with a new wire frame.

Hold on. Look, I can see sewing going on, and I said I'd been practising my buttons.

That's fine, we've got a job for you.

-Oh, is it?

-We've been saving a job for you.

Yep. You can turn this leg, OK?

What do you mean, turn it inside out?

-It already is.

-Pull this through so it looks like this.

-Like that? So like pulling my socks on?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-There you go.

-So now, the frame goes into...

-Yeah.

-The legs. That'll go down inside there.

Now it looks like a proper lamb.

-It's going to look like a lamb, isn't it?

-I think that's quite cool.

-We're getting there.

-That's kind of where we're at.

So you know what? I did have my doubts.

-Yeah, we know you did.

-But, yeah, you've got it all under control now, look.

-Yeah, it's getting there.

Oh, but this... You've missed a bit!

-What about the leg?

-Yeah.

-Are you going to put that on?

-There's a bit of a problem going on round here.

-Oh, OK, all right, that's cool.

-You're welcome.

Back outside in the metalwork area,

Brenton wants to get the components of the antique fire tools gleaming

before he puts the pieces back together.

As you can see, that comes up really nicely,

so I've just got to work on the rest of this handle,

get all of these marks off here that are a result of me heating it up,

and then it'll be fine to give back to Jonathan.

It's the moment of truth. Let's see if it goes together.

And, more importantly, stays together.

The tongs have been in Jonathan's family for 140 years,

but they haven't been working for the last 40.

Now he's back to reclaim a piece of his family's manufacturing past.

-Jonathan.

-Yeah, hello again, Brenton.

-Nice to see you.

-I'm hoping you've got something nice to show me.

Do you remember what you gave me?

I certainly remember what I gave you, which was a pair of fire tongs.

It was a pair, wasn't it?

Well, it was a pair, because it was two bits.

I'm really interested know whether you've been able to fix them for me.

-Well, would you like to see them?

-I'd love to see.

Let's reveal what we've got under here.

My goodness! They're a lot more shiny than they were before,

and they look to be in one piece.

They haven't fallen apart, which is lovely.

They open and shut - that's really good.

I'm really keen to know how you've actually done the fixing.

OK, well, if you want to take it apart for me.

If I take it apart, right.

This is the knob that unscrews.

-Correct.

-And you've somehow put a lovely new brass thread on that.

I've drilled the old thread out.

-Yes.

-And cut a new thread into it, and then...

It all screws together again.

-Polished it all up.

-And polished it all up.

-And, yeah.

That's exactly what I was hoping you'd be able to do, something like that.

OK, well, they're back to new again for you.

That's really good, I'm really pleased.

-Good.

-I really am.

It's so nice to have it working, rather than just something that clatters

to the floor every time you touch it.

I'm glad you're really pleased with them.

-Yeah, thank you ever so much Brenton, thank you.

-OK. Bye-bye.

Over on Julie and Amanda's workbench,

the once-disembodied toy lamb is being brought back to life.

We need to get on and get the stuffing in,

because he's looking a bit starved at the moment.

We have to kind of build it up. It's a bit like a brick wall, really.

You can't start at the top and work down.

-That's better.

-There we go.

Really pleased with how he's turning out -

finishing touch will be his buttercup,

which we'll put back in his mouth, and we might even put a bow on him!

It's been decades since Anne saw her childhood playmate in fine fettle.

-Hello!

-How lovely to see you. Come on over.

-Thank you.

-This must be it, is it?

-Yeah.

-Wonderful.

-Ready to go for it?

Yeah.

Oh, wow! He's fantastic!

-Even with the blue ribbon!

-Absolutely.

Wonderful. He looks almost real, doesn't he?

Yes, he does, yeah.

That is absolutely amazing.

I just can't believe you've managed to match that.

-You are an absolute poppet!

-Give him a cuddle.

There you go. That's nice.

You are an absolute love!

Even with your buttercup.

-Wow!

-Oh, yeah, he's got his new buttercup.

-New buttercup.

He has got a wire frame in him now.

-Has he?

-He would have had,

with the research that we did of that style and that era.

-Right.

-But the frame that's in him is not so rigid

that you won't be able to pose him a little bit, and obviously with care.

I will, I will. Yes, I shall look after him lovingly this time.

There you go. He's all yours.

-Wonderful.

-Do enjoy him.

-He's got a good few more years in him now.

He has. He's lasted 74 years.

-Probably do another 74.

-Yeah, another 74.

-Absolutely. Wonderful. Thank you so much.

-You're welcome.

It's a pleasure.

-Bye-bye.

-Thank you.

-Bye.

-Bye.

Music box fanatic Steve is lovingly restoring a precious piece of family history.

Grafting alongside him on the woodwork is Will,

whose remit was to restore the case while retaining traces of its turbulent past.

-Stevie.

-Ah!

-For you.

-Lovely.

I think this is as they specified.

-So we've got some of its original...

-Some of its original...

..character, and he's got a link with the event that...

-That has taken place, yeah.

-Yeah, excellent.

-Exactly. I'll leave you to put that in.

-Thank you very much.

-All right, matey.

-Cheers. Bye.

Right, let's see.

That's it. Rather splendid, I think.

This music box is the only link Roger has to the part of his family he never knew.

But will it look and sound just as he remembers it when he was a child?

-Hello. Nice to see you again.

-Good to see you.

-Great to see you.

-And you.

-Hi, Steve.

-Are you as nervous as me?

-Yes.

-Probably. Probably more.

OK. Anyway, are you ready?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

SHE GASPS

HE LAUGHS

Look at that!

It's reborn.

That is absolutely fantastic.

That is gorgeous.

Am I allowed to have a quick peek inside?

Yes, carry on. It's yours.

I can't believe it's the same thing.

-Look how clean that is.

-It looks beautiful.

Well, it has to be clean and sparkly, so it performs

as it was originally intended, and as your relatives once enjoyed it.

-Yeah. Now then, is it going to...?

-You know what to do, don't you?

-Can I just...?

-Yeah.

-Here we go.

MUSIC PLAYS

That is brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

This is a brilliant job, Steve.

-You really have done a fantastic job.

-Thank you very much.

Can you imagine, 1905,

people sitting around the fireplace with this playing in the background?

That sort of brings a connection with your family, does it?

-Yes, very much so.

-The fact they had this, and you have it.

Because of what we've done here,

your family now will be hearing the same music as your family then.

-So it's quite an interesting thought, isn't it?

-That is a very good thought.

I'll tell you what, Steve,

one of the things I wanted more than anything else was not to change it

too much, because the scars, the damage, the bits and pieces -

that's part of its history to me.

I had hoped that it would look like this,

but this is actually way beyond my expectations.

It is fabulous.

I'm pleased you're happy with the finish and the result.

More than happy. It's brilliant. Thank you.

Thank you, too. All right, then.

-Thank you very much.

-Thanks very much. Thanks for the privilege of working on it. Thank you.

This is something I've anticipated a long, long time.

I don't think anything prepared me quite for what I saw.

It was an emotional moment.

It's something that binds you to the people who have gone before.

If Mum was here now,

knowing that we're all listening to something she listened to

when she was a little one of five or six years of age,

that would just bring a big smile to her face.

As indeed it's going to bring a big smile to my face, too.

Join us in The Repair Shop next time,

as the team gets to grips with more precious pieces in need of some TLC,

and breathes new life back into them.

-Oh, my goodness!

-Beautiful!