The Repair Shop (2017–…): Season 7, Episode 13 - Episode #7.13 - full transcript

Welcome to The Repair Shop, where
precious but faded treasures...

This is bad.

I don't think I've ever seen a chair
quite so broken as this.

..are restored
to their former glory.

That is lovely. Isn't it?
That's lovely, isn't it?

Furniture restorer Jay Blades...

Bringing history back to life

is what makes The Repair Shop
so special.

..and a dream team of expert
craftspeople...

Amazing.

It's a bit like brain surgery.



Go on!

..come together to work their magic.

Yahoo!

When you look at something
that looks so hopeless, like this,

it makes me even more determined
to get it back.

That's teamwork!

..employing heritage craft skills
passed down the generations...

It is a privilege to be able to do
something for somebody

that means so much to them.

..preserving irreplaceable
heirlooms.

To bring those pieces back to life

is just the most wonderful thing
and I'd like to do it forever.

The team will restore the items...

Wow!



..the memories...

I'm so happy to see it!

..and unlock the stories
that they hold.

That's made it all worthwhile.

In The Repair Shop today,

Julie and Amanda summon up
some wartime spirit...

I don't think I've ever had to take
on such a well-attached shoe!

..as they restore a 1940s doll
belonging to an unsung hero.

That era, it was
a make-do-and-mend era.

They just had to do what they could.

So, yeah, I've just got
to keep calm and carry on.

And it's no easy ride for needlework
expert Sara Dennis...

The rayon slips one way and the silk
slips the other way.

So, it's a dance, it's a sewing
dance, really.

..as she and Suzie put the
va-va-voom back into

some driving gloves.

This is quite a challenging repair.

This leather is almost tissue-thin.

But the barn's first arrival
is Jenny, from London,

with a well-travelled piece
of furniture

holding some very precious memories.

Hello. Hello! Hello.

She's hoping mechanical music expert
Stephen Kember

can bring it back to life.

Now, that is a really...
It's a side table, isn't it?

It's a musical table.
Oh, it plays music? It plays music.

But it hasn't played music for...

Crickey, I haven't heard it play
probably since I was a teenager,

which is quite a few decades ago.

OK. So, how did you get this
and where is it from?

It was bought in Capri.

And there's a sticker here that says
Isle of Capri. OK.

And the reason I was in Capri
was because, when I was about

two and a half months old, my sister
Alison was two and a half years old,

we all moved to live in Istanbul,
in Turkey, with my dad's profession.

And this is in 1963.

And we lived there for a few years
and it was at the end of the time

that he was working there that he
drove home in a Hillman Minx car...

Hold on. From Istanbul, back to the
UK? From Istanbul back to the UK.

So, it took about two months,
I think.

I sat in the back of the car
the whole time

and he drove it through Greece,

into Italy, Switzerland, Austria,

Germany, Belgium, Ostend, home.

And it's whilst we were doing
all these pit stops

that this was bought in Capri.

And it's been in my bedroom in every
house I've lived in

ever since I
was probably about eight.

It's a link to that part of our
life.

Istanbul has become a very,
very important chapter

in my family's history.

When you was in Istanbul,
you was quite young. Oh, yeah.

So, why is it so important to you,
Istanbul?

I think because it's
so important to my dad.

About seven years ago, Alison and I
booked up a trip to retrace steps

as a celebration of my dad's
80th birthday.

And I've never seen my dad so happy.

Your father had some fond
memories of Turkey.

Did your mum feel the same way?
I'm sure she did.

I think she would have felt quite
fortunate and blessed

that she was able to live this life.

But sadly, these are conversations
I wish I'd had before she died.

When did your mum pass,

if you don't mind me asking?
My mum died in 1981.

1981. And how old were you? 18.

She was 46.

So, I would love to be able
to talk to her about it

but that's a long-distance
phone call I can't make.

But I have this, and this is just
incredibly special to me.

The tune that this plays, the fact
that it was always in a bedroom,

is a link to my childhood,
to my family life when she was alive

and my sister and I were children.

So, the musical mechanism. Yeah?
Still working?

No. I think I just wound it up a lot

and I possibly
simply overwhelmed it.

You loved it too much?
I used to wind it up a lot.

Yeah. So, how did it look?
How do you remember it?

It was beautiful. The inlay work was
really much brighter,

richer, shiny, smooth.

So, I can see that this table
means a lot to you.

Definitely a very,
very precious item.

Well, it's come to the right place
and we are going to look after it.

OK? Thank you.

Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

To hear that tune play again
would be just amazing.

I'm so excited at the prospect
that that might happen.

It's very, very special to me -
I love it.

I absolutely love it.

Jenny's got some brilliant
memories of taking

her father to Istanbul again.
Absolutely. But this little table,

it's all about the relationship
between her and her mum.

It encapsulates her childhood,
really. Yeah.

The main issue is, it's not playing.
Exactly.

So, what are you going to do?

Well, it's been well-loved.

I can see that the mechanism
is gummed up with oil.

All the debris has been trapped
into that mechanism.

And so there's, what,
40 years' worth?

I'm a bit fearful, but I'm a
glass-half-full sort of restorer.

All right. Well, as soon as you've
done your bit,

then we're able to give this
over to Will.

And he can do his stuff.
That's happy days.

Let's go. All right!

You can see the mechanism.

But I'm going to have to take it
out so I can actually see

what the difficulties are.

Out it comes.

So, see if we can get it going.

Well, you can see here the governor.

It's like a windbreak.

The vanes of the governor
control the rate of rotation

and the speed of the music.

There's a lot of slack
in the governor and stuff,

so it's a poor thing.

There's three broken teeth.

So, there's 18 teeth on here,

so a significant proportion
of the music is actually missing.

It's like a pianist playing a song

but tucking three
of his fingers underneath,

you're not getting all the notes.

Any one of these problems,
in isolation, could be fixed.

But when you combine all of them,
the problems become too much.

I think it's had its day,
this one, to be honest.

And so you have to consider
the alternatives, which,

in this case, is a donor mechanism.

So, I'm going to try and listen
to the tune and look at the clues

on the table and see if we can
identify it

and find a donor mechanism.

I think that's the best
route for Jenny.

The next item to arrive
hails from a significant era

in British history.

Owner Vanessa,
from Suffolk, hopes toy restorers

Julie Tatchell
and Amanda Middleditch...

Hello! Hello. Hi!

..can give it a fitting restoration.

How are you?
I'm very well, thank you.

Who have we got in here?

This is Jill.

Oh!

Oh, look at her, she's sweet.

She's beautiful, isn't she?

This is my mum's Land Army doll.

Right.

She joined the Land Army in 1939

as an 18, 19-year-old.

Wow. Wow.

The Land Army was there to support
the farms

because all the men went to war.
Yeah.

So, they were kind of keeping
the country going

while the men were way? Yes.
Fantastic.

We think she made this doll
within the first couple of years

because this is the Land Army hat,

but she joined the Timber Corps
in '42.

So, she was felling trees,
taking the bark off...

Quite heavy work. Heavy work, yes.

It must have been a real
culture shock for her.

She obviously wanted to do her bit.
Yeah.

But, yeah, I think she was proud
to what she did,

and all the other women.

What was your mother's name?
Zoe.

She always used to tell me
about lumberjacks

and that she was a lumberjill.

And that's why we've called
her Jill.

The hat, we think
my grandmother made.

Right. Because she owned
a hat shop in Leeds.

And also, we always thought
that the knitted jumper

was made from her old uniform.

Oh, wow.
I'm itching to get my hands on her.

Can I have a look at her? Of course.

There you are. Let's have a look.

She's very sweet, isn't she?
Yeah, she is.

I'm a little bit worried
about her wobbly head.

You can see the wartime
hairstyle, can't you?

She's very sweet.

So, what would you like us to do?

Well, I think the jumper,
I'd like something done.

She's obviously showing
signs of her age.

There is some damage here that's
probably been caused by moths,

which isn't uncommon.

As children, we were never allowed
to take the clothes off.

Oh, it'll be an honour, then.

We'll be the first people
to have looked.

And I'd like to know
a little bit what you find

underneath the clothes. OK.

So, there are questions you've still
got that are unanswered? Yeah.

Ooh, it's a mystery, isn't it?
I like a mystery.

I think of her not just as a doll,

but a symbol of what so many women

did during the Second World War.

We'll get her fit for duty again.
Absolutely. Yes.

We'll let you know when she's ready.

Ooh! Can't wait!

Thank you so much
for bringing her to us. Thank you.

We'll see you again soon.
Thank you. Bye.

I'd like to see my mum's doll
repaired, not just for me,

but for her.

But also for future generations,

because I've never I've never
seen another doll like it.

During the Second World War,
more than 200,000 women signed up

to the Land Army and Timber Corps.

Their hard graft in Britain's
fields and forests

was essential in keeping the country
functioning and fed.

Sprucing up the home-made
doll version

could be equally tough work.

We've definitely never worked
on one of these before. No.

The actual uniform
is a really good replica

of what they did actually wear.
Yeah.

Until we've removed
all these clothes,

we don't actually know fully what
work we've got to do.

No.

It's interesting already! Is it?

I think...

..she's been stitched
into her shoes.

Looks like it may actually
have been glued as well.

I don't think I've ever had to take
on such a well-attached shoe!

No wonder Vanessa was told
never to undress her.

This is it.

Come on, then.

There we go. Yay!

I think this is proof
that this doll was a memento.

She was never meant to be
played with.

If you'd like to go and put the
kettle on,

because I think it could take
quite a while

to get the rest of this... Do you
want me to cook dinner as well?

I'll let you know!

On his workbench,

Steve's made somewhat more progress
with the musical table.

I've done a little bit of homework

and there's a label on the bottom,
Isle of Capri,

and this is the title of the tune.

So I'm pretty lucky here because
I've found a donor mechanism

in this cigarette dispenser.

And this mechanism plays the same
tune as Jenny's mechanism.

But although it's working at the
moment, I do have to service it,

because we need this to last
a long time and work properly.

So, I've just got to get going and
dismantle it and see what I find.

But before Steve can begin
future-proofing

the replacement vintage mechanism,

the table itself needs an expert
pair of hands.

Hey, Steve.

Got a little something
for you here.

What's that? A musical table.

That top has seen
some serious damage.

Yeah, but there's potential,
look at it.

There's a lot of potential.
And I should probably get started -

I've got a lot of work to get
through. I think you have!

Cheers, then. Bye now. Cheers.

This lovely musical table.

Unfortunately, it's in a bit
of a sorry state.

Before I can replace
any of that missing piece of wood,

I going to work some glue into
the surface and stick

any lifting bits of wood back down.

It looks like a real mess
at the moment but, I assure you,

once this is dried and cleaned back,

it's going to do just the job.

Right, now, we're all apart now.

And all the components,
they all have their place

and they've got to combine to get

the nice, beautiful music
that we want.

So, I keep going with the cleaning
process to get the congealed oil

and the debris out.

What I'm doing now I'm is replacing
the dampers on the comb.

Their function is to give
a clear sound.

This is a bit of a fiddly process

and you have to be...
have rather a steady hand.

And sometimes I have

and sometimes I haven't.

So let's just hope today I have.

There's that one.

That one went rather well.

Here's another one.

I'm just going to leave that
fixative to set

a little while before I trim
them to length.

Lovely.

All those bits of veneer
that were pinging up off the surface

are now consolidated and flat.

I'm going to clean up the surface
with this cabinet scraper.

If I use an electric sander, there's
too much power

and there's a high chance I can go
through the veneer,

into the wood beneath.

As I'm scraping...

..off bits of the old varnish
and fish glue that I've used,

you can actually see the lovely
veneer coming through beneath.

So, once this is all cleaned back
and it's polished,

it's going to really freshen it up

and you'll see all that lovely
original detail.

I can trim these dampers
to length now.

And so, if they're too long,
the damper will drag

against the cylinder and the tooth
will constantly be damped

and you won't get a ring,

you'll just get a sort of a plink.

If they're too short,
they won't work at all

and you get a degraded sound.

There. Let's have a look.

Well, they look all right.

But the ultimate test is actually
when it's on the machine.

Now that I have scraped the surface,
sanded it,

I can now see exactly
what's missing.

The top of this flower here

and that flower there
and that flower there.

I'm going to trace around one of
the flowers now,

transfer that on to a piece
of veneer,

cut that out, and I can replace
all three of those.

Now that I've traced the outline of
the flower on to the veneer,

I'm going to use this really sharp
scalpel blade to carefully

cut out the new piece.

Right, that fits like a glove.

I'm going to stick this down with
some superglue

and a very small clamp,
and that'll do the job.

Lovely.

If all is as it should be,

then that little governor should
just twist into life.

There's a nice even
sort of "bzzt" noise,

which tells me the governor's
working nicely.

So, we're nearly there,

just a few more adjustments
and it should be spot on.

Arriving next with an heirloom
that has clocked up

some significant mileage is Alan,
from Barnsley.

Restoring this one will require the
leather expertise of Suzie Fletcher

and the talents of
specialist seamstress Sara Dennis.

Hello. Good morning.

So, what have you brought
for us today?

I've brought some clothes that
belonged to my father.

OK.

When he was young,

my father was a long-distance
lorry driver. Right.

He drove for the family firm.

He did a lot of long journeys
into the wilds of Scotland,

to Invergordon, Inverness.

And the wagon that he drove
had no heating at all. Really?

Yeah. So, in winter,
it was incredibly cold. Yeah.

So what he did is, he bought a host
of flying gear, the pilot's jacket,

the boots and the gloves.

We've no idea what happened
to the to the jacket and the boots,

but the gloves survived.

It must have been so cold in winter,
with your hands out.

I can't believe that he didn't
have heating in the vehicle!

There were times when, on long
distance, he slept in the wagon,

he used to sleep across the two
seats or whatever.

I never saw these until I
was about 18

and I was going to polytechnic
on a scooter.

The hands were always cold

and it wasn't until me father
brought these down

and that's the
first time I'd ever seen them.

I ride motorbikes as well.

Both of us have ridden motorbikes!

We're both biker chicks, actually!

It's so important to have good
gloves when you're riding a bike.

Nothing worse than having freezing
cold hands. No, no, no.

So, tell me a little bit
about your dad.

Well, me dad sadly
passed away last year

under very difficult circumstances.

I'm sorry.

He was a very quiet man,

but he was a very loving man
and a very friendly man as well.

And, yeah, we miss him sorely.

I bet you do. Yeah.

He didn't leave a great deal
of things for us

because he never had a
lot of things.

And so it's really important
to sort of...

..keep these... Yes, yes. ..and get
them back to maybe a condition

where I can see what they were like
when he had them. Yeah, yeah.

So, it must be nice when you put
them on, it's sort of like

a piece of your dad with you.

It's like holding his hands again,
I suppose.

It's nice. It's a nice feeling.
Yeah. Yeah, to put them back on.

And what would you like us
to do with them?

So, with the leather part,

there's a lot of scuffing, some of
the stitching's come undone.

The inner gloves,

I haven't a clue what you can do
with these!

The lining's all knobbly, it's torn.

The insides of both gloves
are really dirty.

So, whatever you can do to make them
better than they are now.

Look better than they are now.
Yeah. Looking forward to it.

Thank you very much.
Thank you. Take care, bye-bye.

To have the gloves repaired
would really be another link back

to me father again.

These are the things that I really,
really am proud to have.

So, it would be really, really nice

to be able to use them again
on the motorcycle.

I think you have the lion's share
of the work here. I think so.

What are you going to do?

I'm a bit worried about that bit,
because it's lost all its shape.

Yeah. Because that's like a panel
that goes in. Exactly.

So, I'll make something up there,
after I've mended the hole.

The left one is much worse
than the right one.

I think it's gear changing.
What's it like on your bit?

Yeah, it's worn the leather out.

That marries up completely,
doesn't it?

And they were never exactly smooth,
those gear changes.

No. Double declutch, probably, eh?
Now you're talking my language!

Yeah. So, that's me.
So, what are you up to?

So, I need to clean them up,

stitch those splits and maybe
reinforce that leather.

But I'll get on and do
what I have to do

and leave you to the hard job!

Thanks a lot!

Suzie's got the leather part
of these gloves.

I have these linings.

Before I even start any repairing,
I'll give them a good old clean.

Because they're synthetic,
I don't have to worry too much

about the silk being damaged
or anything like that.

So, I'm just going to pop them
in some hot, soapy water and see

how dirty they really are.

Oh, yes.

They're dirty.

So, I'm going to give those
a few cleans,

until I get the water clearer,

and then I can get on to sourcing
the fabric

to mend all these holes.

On the bear ladies' workbench,
Julie's managed to remove

the threadbare uniform from Jill,
the Land Army doll.

I'll do her head and body

and you can have all the outer bits.

In order to reattach Jill's wobbly
head the way it was in the 1940s,

Amanda must perform some
major surgery.

I have to take her apart
because she's a bit of a mystery.

I've not seen anything like it
but I think, because she is

so home-made, I think, you know,

we're going to find some
surprises in here.

So, here we go. Let's pull this.

Oh, my.

So, inside here, we've got,
I think it's cotton wool.

We can see now quite clearly
this little wire skeleton.

So, just imagine a little
stickman inside here of wire

and they've wrapped cotton wool
around

and then bound it with thread

and then covered it with cotton.

That era,
it was a make-do-and-mend era,

you know, they just had to do
what they could.

But it's great to know exactly how
this was put together now,

so I know how I'm
going to address the problems.

So, yeah, I've just got to keep
calm and carry on.

I've made a start now on the repairs
to Jill's clothing.

It's going to be a bit
of a time-consuming job.

I'm going to repair by doing
the traditional darning techniques.

Lots of holes to darn.

I'm just going to get on with it.

I've really opened her up now.

I've got the elastic that joined
her head on at the top here.

If we don't replace it with nice,
fresh elastic,

her head's still going to be wobbly
when she goes home with Vanessa.

So the aim of this is to be able
to feed the new elastic

through this cardboard tube
that's inside her.

If I do this the first time,
I shall be absolutely amazed.

Good start.

The old elastic is now going
to be snipped away.

So, there's the old, poorly piece
of elastic.

Yeah, you can see now that it
wouldn't have lasted much longer.

There's absolutely no elasticity
here at all.

So, I'm going to have to feed
the new piece up through the tube.

There you go.

So, now - ta-dah! -

the elastic is in there,
good and firm, and now

all I need to do is get everything
back where it should be.

I feel like I've been darning
this little jumper forever.

It was so important to keep
this original jumper.

It's not something that we would
have been able to replace.

It's definitely a one-of-a-kind
and I think, for that reason,

I was able to persevere with
all this darning.

Just as knotty a problem is the
doll's bedraggled hair,

which Amanda must fix up '40s style
before she reattaches the head.

Having been a hairdresser
in my past life,

I feel I want to give her a
good head massage.

"Nice weekend?"

"Doing anything on Saturday night?"

I've actually really been looking
forward to doing this bit.

Poor Julie over there, darning away,
and I'm having a lovely time.

In his corner of the barn, Steve's
finished his top-to-toe service

of the musical mechanism
for the Italian table.

Steve. Ooh! How's that?

You bought another one!

Very nice. Yeah?

OK, I'll put the mechanism in and
it'll be ready to give back.

Perfect. Excellent, thank you.
No worries.

It's quite exciting.
This is the big moment

and, hopefully, Jenny's
going to love this.

I'm just going to put
this fitting to the test.

Let's see. Well, it's starting now.
Let's see.

GENTLE CHIMES

There, it stops.

CHIMES RESUME

It starts and it stops.

Yeah, look at that, it works.

Let's hope Jenny likes it.

When it arrived at the barn,
the table's intricate woodwork

had faded and cracked,

and after years of use,

its music could no longer
be enjoyed.

Jenny's returned,
hoping to hear the tune

that means so much to her.

I have not heard that music play

probably about three decades or so.

I used to wind it up and listen
to the tune

after my mum died, when I was 18.

Very excited to see it again.

It's an old friend that I'm looking
forward to being reunited with.

Hello! Hello, Jenny, how you doing?
Good, thank you.

Hello, all. Hello, Steve. Hello.

How are you? I'm very well,
thank you. Very excited!

So, have you missed
it since it's been here?

I have. It's really been weird
to have this place where it belongs

has just got nothing right now.

Do you want to see it?
Are you ready?

My table.

It's so smooth and shiny!

Honestly, Will, I think you're
responsible for this

and what an amazing job you've done.

Can I lift it up?

Course you can. It's yours.

CHIMES

Happy tears!

It's OK.

CHIMES STOP

That's so beautiful.

Thank you. You're more than welcome.

It's this young man here!
Can't thank you enough.

I absolutely can't thank you enough.
Pleasure.

I wasn't certain that I'd ever
hear that tune again.

The name of the tune is Isle Of
Capri, that's what it's called.

Really? Yeah.

The original mechanism, the one that
the table started life with,

it wasn't really possible
to resurrect it. OK.

So, what you've got
is your original mechanism, to keep

the spirit of the table together,

but the donor mechanism plays
exactly the same song.

What I love is that the donor
is going to have years and years

and years of life in it, yes? Yes.

As long as we don't overwind it.

No, it's been fully serviced,

so it'll give you good service
for many years. Thank you.

Pleasure. Thank you from me and
thank you from my mum.

Thank you.

And to Will, thank you.
Bye now. Take care now.

Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

It was everything I wanted it to be.

In fact, it was more than
I wanted it to be.

Music does that, doesn't it?

It takes you straight back
to a time,

and that's what it's done today.
So, I'm so happy.

I wasn't sure I'd ever hear
it again.

And now I can hear it from many,
many, many years to come.

On her workbench, Suzie's
got her hands full

with the worn-out driving gloves.

The first thing I need to start
doing is cleaning this leather

and seeing how good a condition
the surface is,

because as I remove that grime,

it might actually
remove the surface leather.

So, I'm going to start with a very,
very mild leather detergent

and just see what we've got.

While Suzie concentrates on the
outside of the gloves,

Sara is tasked with fixing

their even more tattered and torn
inner linings.

I want my repairs to be really tough
and I want them to last a long time,

so I've opted for some silk jersey,

which I'm going to use to repair
the black rayon.

It will go under the hole and I will
then repair it on top.

It won't be invisible but
it will look

a lot, lot better than it is now.

So, I've manoeuvred the silk
underneath and then I'm going

to tack this patch on to the glove.

And I do that because the glove
fabric is slippery

and my silk is slippery.

And I just want to keep that
silk in place.

I'm using a bright green.

I'm doing that so that,
when I've finished,

I can see really well where my
stitching is,

because I don't want to have to
unpick black against black.

Now I've got these gloves cleaned
of all those years

of build-up of grease and grime,

I've given them a going-over with
some saddle soap,

just to get that suppleness
back into the leather.

I'm very impressed with how
they've cut the patterns.

They've put in little gussets
of leather

so it eliminates a seam that sits
right on your sensitive skin,

at the base of your fingers.

And I've never seen this in any
of the gloves

that I've ever either worn
or worked on.

But it does mean,
in this thumb area,

I've got quite an awkward

combination of seams to
join together.

This is quite a challenging repair.

I've used quite a lightweight
thread, but it can't be too

lightweight because, if it is,
then it will cut the leather

like a piece of wire going
through cheese.

So, you've got to weigh up all
these different elements

before you start sewing
something like this.

So, I've done one glove already.

I've replaced the hole, basically,
with some silk,

and I've done it nice and loosely
so that, when Alan's riding,

he shouldn't be able to feel
the patch.

That's looking a lot better,
I think.

So, I now I'm on to glove number
two, the left hand,

which is proving to be really tricky

because I've got to go
around that thumb joint piece

with the silk.

The danger is, if I get rumples of
silk in here, you'll feel it.

So I've got to get it as flat
as I can.

But the rayon slips one way
and the silk slips the other way.

So it's a dance.
It's a sewing dance, really.

Wish me luck.

Finally got that stitching done
and I'm very happy with it.

It looks strong.

What I want to do now is to
concentrate on these little scuffs

of leather that are sticking up.

It's very similar to when you graze
your skin and you get

those little bumps of skin.

My approach here is to try and glue
this down and burnish it flat

so you'll see no evidence of ever
having any damage there.

This leather is so, so fine.

It's almost tissue-thin.

I have a lot of these areas
to attend to and, once that's done,

I can go ahead and do the final
conditioning

and I think they're going to look
really, really smart.

Smartening up nicely,
though still in pieces,

is the Land Army doll, thanks to the
persistence of Julie and Amanda.

All around Jill's hairline,

they were little ringlet curls,
like this,

which I was able to gently
take off,

and now I'm remaking them into
little barrel curls

and then I'll be able to stick
them all back on.

WHISPERS: I'm done! No! Yes!

Finally. Congratulations. Thank you.

As we're not going to put her head
back on

until all her clothes are in place,
could I have her body?

Yeah, of course. Yeah.

Thank you. You're welcome.

The one-off doll,
made by a Land Army volunteer

to commemorate her part in the war
effort, had fallen into disrepair.

Zoe's daughter Vanessa
has returned to the barn,

hoping her mum's doll will be fit
for active service.

I'm feeling very excited
to be back here today.

I can't wait to see my mum's
Land Army doll.

I've been thinking a lot
about my mum.

I'm so proud of her.

Hello. Hi! Lovely to see you again.
How are you?

I'm very well, thank you.
Excited to be back.

We've had such a lot of fun working
on Jill for you.

It's been an adventure, actually,
hasn't it? A complete adventure.

She's amazing.

Well, I feel very excited.

Can't wait to show you what
we've done.

Oh!

Oh, she's lovely.

Oh, she is absolutely gorgeous.

Oh, my mum would have been so proud.

I just wish she was here today.

She would have been 100 this year.
Oh, wow.

What a birthday present.

Can I touch her?

Of course you can.

Oh, she's lovely.

The hair.

Wow.

My mum had long hair
when she joined the Land Army,

'40s style, absolutely,

and you've captured that really,
really well. Thank you.

It's been like an exploration trying
to get into the mind-set

of your mum and making it,

because it's not like anything
we've seen before.

And the care and attention that's
gone into making her.

Her body is handmade and,
where her waist pulls in,

she had tape, so she was made
to look more womanly.

And the reason that you were told
never to undress her

was that she was completely stitched
into her clothes. Everything?

Everything was stitched in place,
except her jumper.

That's incredible. So, you've
learned a lot? Oh, yeah.

Oh, that's lovely.

And I think she's a really fitting
tribute to that era. Absolutely.

I can't tell you how grateful I am
to both of you for sorting this out.

You're welcome. Because I think she
would have been lost.

Holding this doll, I think about
what they did during the war.

They did it so we could have
peace and freedom. Yeah.

So, yes, it means an awful lot.

Thank you very much, both of you.

You're welcome,
it's been a pleasure.

Bye-bye. Bye!

Seeing my mum's Land Army doll,

it all brought me back to the times
that it was just Mum and I

and they were special,
special moments.

I didn't realise that she must
have made the doll.

That's even more pride in my mum,
because she actually made the doll.

Also ready to be reunited with their
owner are the driving gloves,

now restored, outside and in.

Look what I've got!

Hey, look at that.

That is incredible,
how did you manage to do that?

With a lot of patience and a lot
of stitches.

But I think they're sound.

This is the glove that had
the most damage.

Will you please see if they fit?
Shall we try it?

I think you should.

Fingers crossed.

There we go. How's that?

What's it feel like?

Cool. Yeah?

SHE MAKES REVVING NOISES
Plenty room? Yeah.

There's lots of flexibility in that
leather now.

Yeah, it's nice, actually. Feels a
lot better than it did before.

I just need to finish
conditioning this

and they'll be ready to hand back.

Passed down from a lorry-driving
father to his motorcyclist son,

decades on, the gloves had
worn right through.

Alan's back to reclaim his precious
hand-me-downs from his late dad.

Since dropping the gloves off,

my father's been in my mind.

Today, I'm hoping that the
outer gloves will have been cleaned

of the grime that was built into
them and hopefully something

to the inner gloves as well, because
they were really falling apart.

So, if they've managed to do
anything with those,

I'll be excited.

Hello again. Hello, Suzie.

Hiya, Jay. How you doing, Alan?
I'm good.

Intrigued.

It'll be nice to see
what you've done.

Are you ready to see them?
I certainly am. OK!

Here we go.

Here we go.

Wow.

Oh, they're almost like new again.

And soft. Beautiful.

Don't mind if I take them out?

Please do.

JAY CHUCKLES

WHISPERS: Wow.

Oh, they're good.

And they're snug.

Beautiful. Yeah.

I think that smile says it all.

Sara has done the most
amazing job with the lining.

She definitely had the lion's share
of the work, but for me,

they cleaned up beautifully.

They are so well-made.

I definitely covet a pair of those.

THEY LAUGH

When you put those on, do you feel
any connection to your dad?

I've always felt a connection,
every time I've put them on.

But even more so now they're back
to the condition

that they were when he had them.

It's... Yeah, it's sort of just me
and me dad again, I suppose. Yeah.

I think he'd be chuffed.
He'll be smiling somewhere.

Is there any chance you're
going to use these gloves

for old times' sake?
They will get used again, yes.

Definitely.

That's what I like to hear.
Yeah. Music to my ears.

Beautiful. Thank you very much.

Alan, thank you so much
for bringing them in.

Take care. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

Well done.

Such nice gloves.

If my dad was alive,

he would have really appreciated
the fact that the gloves

that he just used as a workwear item

had been kept for 40-odd years
by meself

and then that we'd taken
the time to do something with them.

So, I'm absolutely chuffed.

Really, really am.

Join us next time, as more magical
craftsmanship...

Really is very well made.

..leads to remarkable
transformations...

That is absolutely...
My God, that's amazing.

..in The Repair Shop.