The Repair Shop (2017–…): Season 7, Episode 8 - Episode #7.8 - 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.

It's made it all worthwhile.

BIRDSONG

In The Repair Shop today...

All these bits of veneer

need to be cut by hand.

Will is challenged by the delicate

art of marquetry.

I have to move these pieces
between heartbeats.

It's so fragile, you can cause
a lot of damage.

While Steve's on the scrounge...

Nothing here.
Not that you can have, no! No. OK.

..repurposing wheels into wings.

Good. All I need to do now
is glue it on somehow.

But first, Suzanne Knipe from
The Wirral has lent some glitz

and glamour to The Repair Shop.

This is like a chandelier
puzzle, isn't it?

Well, hopefully the owner
will have a much better idea

than we have and will give
us some clues!

She's hoping bright spark
Mark Stuckey can shine some light

on this dilapidated vintage beauty.

Hello. Hello. How are you doing?
Fine, thank you.

Nice to see you.
Thank you.

Now, this looks really special
and it's a bit of a puzzle for Mark.

Where does this come from?

It's come from a house
that my Mum used to work in.

OK. What's your mum's name?
Pat. Pat.

So what did your mum do
at this house then?

She was a cleaner. Right.
So, did you ever go to this house?

Yeah, regularly in the summer
holidays. My sister and me used

to go up to the house
and while Mum was cleaning,

we'd polish the silver.

LAUGHTER

So, yeah! It was very extravagant.

There was, like, chandeliers
in most rooms... Yeah, yeah.

..which felt like
it was out of this world.

So how did your mum get
this from the house, then?

Mrs Smith, she said my mum
could have it.

To my embarrassment, my mum had the
chandelier and a four-poster bed

in a council house. OK!

A bit embarrassing
when friends come round.

Maybe shut the door of Mum's room

so you don't actually see a
four-poster bed and a chandelier!

Yeah, because you don't see
that every day in a council estate!

No. So, what memories do you have of
the chandelier being in the house?

Well, it's seen quite a few
events in its life.

Mum and Dad celebrated
their 25th wedding anniversary

below it because Mum had had
an operation.

So, she was in bed, so we all
had to dive in and celebrate. Aw!

Wow! I got ready for my wedding
underneath it. Wow!

Mum fell through the loft...

Hold on a minute. Really? Hold on.
That's a curveball there.

Her leg just missed the chandelier.

OK. So, yeah, definitely seen
some action.

So, how come it's down now?
Why is it here?

Unfortunately, Mum and Dad
passed away.

So, when we sold their house,

I took it down because I know Mum
would want me to have it.

At the moment, it's a little bit of
a bag of bits.

Yes. Is that because it came down in
a rather sort of, like,

the Trotters when they try
to knock down the chandelier...

HE MIMICS CRASHING

It's been sitting in the spare
bedroom in mine... OK. ..and it is

quite awkward when it's all put
together. Yeah.

It wobbles. And I don't know whether
the electrics are legal.

Up to spec? Yeah.
That's an easy bit.

Yeah. Yeah. I don't know whether
you're wondering what that is.

Yes. That was then I was trying to
think, well, I'll do something

with it myself. Right.

Would this originally have had all
these little cups on them?

I think so. I think my mum decided
she didn't like the look of them...

She threw them away.
..threw them away.

INCREDULOUS LAUGHTER

Sorry, Mum! God!

So, at the end,
when this is all reassembled,

what would you like it to look like?

I'll be happy just to have it
working and be able to put

it up because it's a shame.

Why do you want to get it done
now, then?

It's been ten years since my Mum
passed away in November. Yeah.

TEARFULLY:
So I thought it would be nice.

A tribute to her. Yeah.

OK?

Yeah.

We'll do her proud.

WHISPERING: Thank you.

Thank you for bringing this in.

And, Mark, you've got enough to go
on, haven't you,

to put a puzzle back together?
I've got plenty to go on. Yes.

Look forward to seeing it.

You take care. Take care, now.
Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

To have the chandelier in my home

and lit up, it'll be a really

emotional time for me because Mum
and Dad did light up our lives.

So, it'd be nice to switch it on.

Four-poster bed, chandelier
in a council estate.

Now, that's regal, innit? Pff! Yeah,
that would've looked marvellous.

Yes. So you've got to check all of
the wiring and try to put

all this back together again?
Yeah, basically, I've got to check

the wiring to see that it's going
to be safe.

So, you're confident you know how
to put all of this stuff

back together again? You're three
quarters of it already assembled.

25%, you can work
the rest of it out.

There's bits everywhere.
That's all right.

That's just...
that's the blingy bits.

OK, you sound confident.
I'll see you later.

All right. Thanks very much.

MACHINERY WHIRS

It's a fiddly little item
because knowing how to turn

it over without actually incurring
any more damage,

it's going to need
very careful handling.

It's well tried and trusted, back
from the early 1900s, how lights

work, but just because the process
of how it's put together is simple,

there's loads of wires,
they have to work safely.

And I've got to ensure that,
when it's fitted to the ceiling,

that it will stay there
and give many years of pleasure.

And I'm just, literally,
just disconnecting everything there.

There we go. That's that one.

I always find it amazing
that some inert object

like this can have so much emotional
attachment and history

to the family. On its own,

it means nothing. Together, it's a
fantastic story and that's what

pushes me to want to get it right.

As Mark settles down to work
on the chandelier,

outside, the next visitor also
brings a once-beautiful item

in need of expert help.

Stuart Rutter from Suffolk
has a treasured piece that's

going to see the fine woodwork
skills of Will Kirk

put to the ultimate test.

Hi, I'm Jay. Stuart. Pleased to meet
you, Jay. I'm Will.

Pleased to meet you, Will.

What is THAT?

LAUGHTER

You won't be able to guess what's

wrong with it,

it's a tad unfortunate.
It's a lovely little table.

It was my grandmother's.

So, where did your grandmother
get this from, then?

My grandmother worked in service,
and when she left, the people

that owned the house gave
it to her as a leaving present.

And it stayed in the family
ever since.

When my father died, it came down to
me. This is a nice leaving present,

though, isn't it?
It's beautiful, isn't it?

Well, not in this state.
Let's be honest. No.

So, what's the earliest memories
you have of this?

Because you said it belonged
to your grandmother.

It must have been a prize possession
because this has got mother of pearl

on there. Yeah, yeah.
That's proper special.

It was. It was always on display.
When the light came through

and hit this, it would just,
you know, the pearlescence.

Oh, it was just stunning. Beautiful,
first thing in the morning.

So, yeah, it's always been there.

Christmases, the christenings,
weddings, funerals, you know,

the good and the bad. So, it does
mean so much through the lineage

of the family. And my son Andrew...

Yeah. ..absolutely loves this
little table. Yeah.

That was his Lego table
when he was at Mum and Dad's.

Yeah. Yeah. Andrew's 28 now.

I said that I'd repair it for him,
try and get it repaired,

but I just couldn't do it.
It was like a piece of puff pastry.

It just flew everywhere.
And I thought, no,

I'm going to do more damage.

So, how long has this been
damaged for?

It was damaged about seven years
ago. Right.

Dad, bless him, decided to cook
something on a gas hob

and then put the saucepan on top.

And hence the damage
that you can see. Wow!

But you said, as a dad, you're
going to repair it for your son

and then you haven't been able to.
No.

Feel a bit bad? Yeah. Jay!

THEY TALK OVER ONE ANOTHER

You do. I mean, you make a promise.
I would as well.

You make a promise to your kid.
Yeah, exactly.

I had a heart attack two years ago,
and that kind of crystallises

your mind a little bit to...

You know, the more important things
of life and if anything can be done

with it, then it would be handed
straight to Andrew.

And I can see him appreciate
the news that while I'm still here,

rather than, you know,
when I'm dead and gone. Yeah.

So you're OK now, then?
Yeah, thankfully!

Without stating the obvious,

what would you like me to do
to the table?

Anything you can do to improve
on its appearance

would be, you know,
gratefully received.

Well, you made a promise to your son

and I'll do the best I can to make
sure you can pass that on.

Fabulous. Thank you.

I'll see you soon, but not too soon.

Thanks very much.

Take care. Bye-bye.
Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

That's very dry.

The table is as always seen as that
link between the generations.

It saddens me to see the condition
it's in at the moment.

But, you know, you make a promise
to one of your children.

You want to fulfil that promise.

So, to be able to get it repaired
and then hand it on to him

would be a wonderful legacy for me.

So, what do you reckon to this?
I am slightly nervous.

You got to do loads on this,
really, ain't ya? Yeah. Yes.

So, I should be able to stick down
the bits that are lifting up. Right.

Work out what's missing, replace
that. Mother of pearl are missing.

Got loads of little triangles
round the outside.

OK, I can get you some of that. And
I know you can handle all of this,

but THAT is the biggest problem
because there's no reference.

Tricky. Yeah? I'll get the mother of
pearl ordered. I'll start thinking

about what to put in the middle.
All right. Lovely. Cheers, Jay.

This is marquetry

and this is really thin layers

of veneer that's been inlaid
into the surface to create

a beautiful pattern.

On all these little corners here,

they all look very similar
to each other.

Hopefully, I can use these patterns
here and I can recreate

what's missing there.

The first thing I need to do is get
this loose veneer stuck back down.

I'm using some fish glue here.

I tend to use fish glue
for anything quite decorative

because it's thinner than most of
the wood glues that I use.

I can really get into all those
nooks and crannies.

The one thing about fish glue is
that smells really bad.

It smells fishy, as you'd expect,
from fish glue!

Across the barn, Mark's
been methodically sorting

through the shambolic chandelier.

Want to make sure that all the
appropriate pairs of bolts are

present and there's nothing missing.

He's completely deconstructed it,
but needs some assistance

re-establishing its splendour.

Mark. Hello, Brenton!

Jay said you wanted a hand with
Suzanne's chandelier.

Yeah. Basically,
we've got a few little minor issues,

and if I can give you that.
Thank you very much.

Cosmetically, it used
to have like a cup at the bottom.

Oh, bobeche. If you say so. OK.

What we need is some way to have it
sort of blinged up a bit. OK.

I do bling. These are becoming
a little bit loose

in their fittings. OK.
Some are so loose,

in fact, they've already
fallen out. OK.

So they want re-adhering to.
Yeah, in some way. OK.

I look forward to seeing this
dynamic change. I'll get on with it.

Thanks so much. Thanks, Mark.
See you soon.

I'd got these bobeches to
put on the arms of the chandelier.

As a bit more bling, this big pile
of cut glass which will cover

the bobeches and make it
look really nice

and shiny and chandeliery.

These, luckily, fit on here.

And when this is silver plated, it's
going to look absolutely lovely.

What I've got to do is I've got to
drill some holes

so that Mark can wire them on here.

These are copper, and I just
need to make them silver

so that they look
like the rest of the chandelier.

I'm using the electroplating
technique with some silver salts.

So, I need to have a connection
on here to make a circuit.

And then I just brush this on here,

and you'll see immediately

that starts to go silver.

So, this is a little bit
of alchemy, sort of water into wine

or copper into silver!

We really do need to put
an earth on.

And to do that, it's got to have to
go through the original shaft.

It's obviously a restricted size.

When you're working on a chandelier,

unlike normal electronic devices,

which are hidden,
here, all your work is visual.

So you have to take a bit
more thought on how you're going

to lay out the wires to make sure
they look neat and tidy.

Fun part's going to be that I've got
to get that cable

through this moulded glass.

One down, five to go.

While Mark continues to test
his electrical wizardry, the next

item requires the nifty mechanical
know-how of Steve Fletcher.

Serena Isaac is hoping he can
resurrect a well-travelled item

that's been entertaining
children for over 50 years.

Hello. Hi.
Right. What have you brought in?

So, I have a runway toy.

This here belongs to my mum.

Does your mum remember
when this was given to her?

Yes, she was about four or five.

It was a Christmas present from
her two uncles. Right.

And she was living in Iraq.

In Iraq? Yeah, OK.

And it was bought from a toyshop
in Baghdad.

Yes. So it was one of the few
things that she brought

with her when she moved
over to London.

When did she move to London?
In 1995.

We're Assyrians.

So, after the Iraq-Iran war,
Assyrians kind of migrated

all over the world and that's
when they decided to pack up

and bring whatever they
had with them.

And this is one of the things
that she decided to bring over.

That must have been quite
distressing for your mum, to leave

Iraq and leave a life that she had
and to start a complete new life.

I think it was. It's difficult
for anyone to pack up and leave

a place where they have so many
memories attached to it.

So this was a small fragment
of her childhood that she brought

back with her. Exactly.

Did she play with this lots?

I think she did. She must have
because her and her brother

ended up breaking...the plane's
ability to move around the circuit.

Yeah. But for now, we can blame it
on me because I further

contributed to the damage caused.

Right. OK.

So, you played with this as a child?
Only once.

Only once! And that was the first
and last time.

And I ended up breaking
this little mechanism here and also

broke the rear wing.

I've never seen anything
like this before in my life.

So this is going to be
quite exciting.

It would mean a great deal
to my mum to see it fixed

and to have all those memories
come back.

Is she excited about seeing it,
hopefully, working again?

She has such a strong
attachment to it.

It reminds her of a very
pleasant time.

It reminds her of a very different
Iraq to what we know now. Yes.

And she's going to be so excited

to come and collect it
once it's done.

All right. OK. So she's going to
come in as well? She is.

Right. Well, I hope I can get it
working then, because I don't know

what might be missing in the
mechanism. OK.

So, thank you very much for
bringing it in.

Thank you so, so much.
You're very welcome. Bye now. Bye.

It's so important to my mum. It's
such a sentimental toy, it's got

so many memories attached to it.

She's very excited at the prospect
of it being fixed and to see

it in full working order, something
that she hasn't seen working

for 50-odd years.

This is a fascinating toy
from the '60s.

The whole thing has been bent.

And I think the airplane
goes along this track

and then stops there.

And then you pull this lever,

I think, and then these two bars...

..takes the plane over the top
and then it goes

round and then stops there.

I think that's how it works.

I think the best thing to do now
is just to straighten this out.

I'm just going to have to gently
manipulate it.

The last thing I want to do is to
damage any of the paintwork.

If it were to crack,

that would be awful because the
paint is in quite good condition.

I don't think I'm going to get
all the little dents out of it,

but I'll get the majority out
and then I can set to and get

the runway mechanism working.

As Steve prepares for takeoff,

Will's work on the ornate

marquetry table is well underway.

Everything has been sanded
back, glued down.

And now I'm going to place
this pattern on the outside.

The good thing is I know
what's missing

because it's a repeat pattern of

all of these other areas here.

I'm going to start off by tracing
out one of those areas now.

Then I can start cutting out
the shapes.

Well, that's my tracing done.

What I need to do now is recreate

that pattern in wood.

Traditionally, this would have been
made by glueing thin sheets

of wood and veneer together
in different colours,

then you'll put your pattern
on the top,

you'll then cut that shape out.

And once you have, you're left
with lots of tiny pieces.

You can then piece those together
like a jigsaw puzzle.

And then you're left with a nice
two-tone pattern.

And that's what I'm about to do now.

The Egyptians were using inlaid wood
veneers 3,000 years ago to decorate

thrones chests and other furniture,
but it wasn't until the mid-1500s,

with the invention of the fretsaw
enabling more precise cutting

of delicate veneers,

that marquetry developed into a
sophisticated art form.

It's quite fine work.

So I really need to take my time
and not rush.

MACHINE WHIRS

Right, so that should now fall apart

into lots of lovely, small
puzzle pieces.

I'm just going to use this
scalpel blade here just to help

ease them apart.

Just see if they fit.

I almost have to move these pieces
between heartbeats

because it's so fragile,
any slight move and you can cause

a lot of damage.

Let's see how it looks
on the table now.

It's a really good match.

I'm going to get that stuck down.
I'm going to replace all the other

components there and then I move
on to the middle part.

All these really small, minute bits

of veneer need to be cut by hand.

Ultrafine work, but it's going
to be worth it.

Over on Mark's bench, there's light
at the end of his tunnel.

This is the bit where it starts
becoming a whole chandelier again.

This is, I'm sure, how Suzanne
would have remembered it.

It's fun to see it slowly come
together.

When I've got these arms in,
I'll be able to test it out.

The chandelier was the prized
possession of Suzanne's late mother,

Pat, and happy family memories
were made beneath it.

But the lights went out,
and Suzanne and her daughter Grace

have returned, hoping Mark has
got its sparkle back.

Feeling quite nervous and excited
at the same time

to collect the chandelier.

And I've been thinking a lot
about my mum lately,

and we've been talking a lot about
her, haven't we? Yeah.

She meant a lot to me, my nan.

She was like one of my best friends.

Definitely lit up a room when
she came in, didn't she? Oh, yeah.

How you doing, Suzanne, you all
right? Fine, thank you.

This is Grace, my daughter. Hi.

How are you doing? I'm all right.
Welcome to the barn. Thank you.

We've loved having
the chandelier here and,

hopefully, we've done Mum proud.

Yeah. You want to see it?
Yes, please.

Yes, please.

Really excited. Oh, my God.

So are we.

Oh, God.

SOBBING

Wow.

That's so good.

It's really nice.

Yeah.

Thank you, Mark.

It's a pleasure.

Mum would be... She'd be thrilled.

Yes, that'd be straight back on the
ceiling, that would.

It's funny cos when I was working
on it, I wasn't thinking, Suzanne,

I've got to get this right for
Suzanne. I was thinking, Pat. Yes.

I've got to get it right, got to get
it right. Oh, yeah.

No, that's absolutely fantastic.
Isn't it? Yeah.

I'll be proud to put that up in my
house, really proud.

That's what I like to hear.

Do you want to see it lit up?

Oh, God, yeah.

Are you ready? BOTH: Yeah.

Wow! Oh!

It's fantastic. It looks so good.

Fantastic. It's amazing.

Thank you so much. Thank you, Mark.

It's been a real pleasure. Grace,
you're quite emotional about it.

Well, I mean, I take after my mum.

Mum would be really,
really thrilled, wouldn't she?

Yes, she would. It's just amazing.
Yeah. I'm so happy to see it.

Yeah.

Suzanne, what we're going to do is
get this wrapped up

really, really safely for you and
delivered back to your house.

Is that all right? That's great.

Thank you very much.
Safe journey home.

Take care now.
And you. Bye-bye. Bye.

Well done.

As soon as he uncovered
the chandelier, all the emotion

come pushing forward and how happy
my mum would have been to see it.

Seeing something of hers again,
the way it was, it was just awesome.

So cool.

Felt like Mum was
in the room with us.

So, every time I turn that light on,
when it's in my bedroom,

my mum's going to always be
with me.

Back inside
and Steve's in his element...

Amazing.

..tinkering away
with the launching mechanism

of that grounded 1960s aeroplane.

You've got to work 'em, ain't ya?

I have. I've just bent
this building back and actually,

putting the airplane on it... OK.

RATTLING

Look at that!

LAUGHTER

You fixed it! Now it's going
to go off. Yay.

I like this.
It's great, isn't it?

It's a brilliant toy. Yeah, yeah.

Serena's never seen this working,
so I can't wait to see her face

and her mum is just going to
be so excited, I'm sure.

Yeah. If it brings as much joy to
Serena as it has to me just now,

she's going to be over the moon.
Absolutely.

Keep going, Steve, nice one.

I'm just going to make a start
on repairing this airplane now.

It's got a clockwork mechanism

in here and I need to know why
it's not working.

So, I need to take it apart,
get inside.

And to do that, I need to just drill
out these two little rivet eyelets

that are in the wings here.

I'm not running the drill very fast,
cos I don't want the old rivets to

get really hot because it will just
melt the plastic as well.

So, I see actually here we've got
some springs, some helical springs,

that actually go
round to the propellers.

This one propeller here, the actual
helical spring has twisted

up as if someone's turned
the propeller round and round.

So I'll need to do something
about that.

I can see actually that there's a
break in the main spring.

I'm just going to see if I can
actually take the main spring out

without taking the whole
mechanism apart.

The end of the main spring,
broken into so many bits.

Whenever I had any mechanical toys
as a child, and if they broke,

I would take it straight apart.

I sometimes got them back together
and got them working,

but a lot of times I didn't.

The spring that drives the propeller
is all tangled up.

There's no way that I can buy
a spring like this.

Fortunately, guitar string is
just the right thickness.

So I'm going to make another spring
now by putting it in my lathe.

Basically wrapping
it round a small rod of metal.

When I'm doing this, I've got to
make sure that I keep the same

amount of tension on the whole
time, otherwise the spring

would be uneven.

Right, that should do.

Good.

Right, got the two propellers
working.

I've just got to make a new
tailplane there.

This is broken off and missing.

I'm going to find a piece of
plastic the right colour

of this plane to actually
make the new tailplane.

What are you looking for, Steve?

Just looking for a piece of plastic,
like that. Yeah.

Have you found anything like this?
No. No?

Nothing here?
Not that you can have, no. No? OK.

I've actually managed
to find a wheel,

and I think it's going to be
the right colour underneath,

so it just means that I can
cut a little piece of this out,

make a new tailplane,

go and put this back,
no-one will ever know.

Good. All I need to do now is just
try and glue it on somehow,

or fix it on somehow.

On the neighbouring workbench,

Will's meticulous marquetry
has reached a critical juncture.

I'm now thinking about this
centrepiece here.

I've done a bit of research...

Actually, I've done A LOT
of research,

and this is the closest image
to what would have been there.

And this is what
I'm going to use as a template

to replace what was missing.

I can also see there are
tiny bits of mother of pearl,

so I know what the material is
that needs to be replaced.

I'm going to start
getting that design onto paper.

I'm going to cut those little bits
of tracing paper out,

stick them onto
the sheet of mother of pearl,

then I can cut them out.

I really like working with
mother of pearl.

It's formed on the inside of a shell

belonging to a freshwater mussel
or an oyster.

It's so thin, it's almost thinner
than an eggshell.

And trying to cut that with a blade
is incredibly tricky.

This table has been so much work.

But I do really enjoy anything
that comes into the barn

looking like it's unsalvageable,
it's going to go into the skip,

lots of work involved
getting it back together.

That's the last piece in.
The centre is now finished.

This has been such a labour of love,
but I think it's really paid off.

I'm going to seal this in now
with a coat of polish,

then I can get it
over to Andy and Stuart.

Once a cornerstone
of family gatherings,

this ornately-crafted table
had fallen victim

to accidents and old age.

Owner Stuart is hoping
it can be passed on

to a fourth generation -
his son, Andrew.

The table takes me back
to my grandparents,

you know, the memories
of those times 50 years ago.

There's a lot in that little bit
of wood, you know,

that means an awful lot to me, and I
know it means a lot to you as well.

So it's going to be back to life.
Brought back to life. You're right.

Yeah. Very exciting.

Christmas. Yeah,
it's that Christmas Day moment.

Hello, how are we doing?
Hello there. Hello.

Hello, Jay. Will.

This is my son, Andy.
Hi, Andy.

So, if I remember rightly,
Stuart, you said, as a dad,

you're going to repair it for
your son. Yes. Yeah. Trying to.

No, you did...
You done the dadly thing. Come on.

Yeah. Yeah, you're right.

Andy, you said
you remember seeing it

in a bit of a, um...condition
that it was in before.

The middle was...
It had to be covered, really. Yeah.

Cos it went straight
through a couple of layers.

I'm really nervous.

This is the first thing I've
actually been really nervous about.

Really? Yeah. Yeah.

He did say he'd get it back
to pristine condition, though.

Did I say that?!

THEY LAUGH

I think you did, Will.

I think we should have a look.
Yes, please. Yes.

Right...

Wow. Good grief.

Wow!

That's amazing.

That is absolutely incredible.

Thank you.

It's just stunning.

Taking you back a bit?
Yeah, just takes me back 50 years.

No, that is just absolutely amazing.

This literally took my breath away.
That's nice.

It transports you back to that time

with people around you
that you love.

How did you do the middle section?

JAY LAUGHS

Cos that was completely gone.
Yeah.

I had very little to go by,

apart from a sort of slight outline
of a shape.

And I hope it's what was originally
there, what you remember.

It is back to how I remember
it as a child.

Absolutely phenomenal.

Well done!

THEY LAUGH

Brilliant.
I'm so impressed.

It's just stunning.
Thank you so, so much.

Andy, now that you're
the custodian of the table,

where's it going to go?

It should be on display, really.

It'll have pictures on,
all the grandparents.

It'll be a picture table.

Hang on, you said he's going to have
it, but Dad hasn't given it to him.

You've got to hand it over to him
cos now it's repaired

that would be fitting -
you've got to do the honours.

I daren't touch it.

Here you go, it's yours. Look after.
Love it. I know you will.

Thank you very much.

Make sure it gets back in one piece!

It will.
Yeah, absolutely.

Thank you, both.
Thanks. No problem.

Take care now. Bye-bye.

Well done, man.

I just cannot believe how wonderful
it looks now.

Just stunning, absolutely stunning.

It just took me back 50 years.

You just see the faces and
hear the laughter

and the fun associated with that
little table all those years ago.

It's got life again.

And it will live on for the future.

Many years to come.
Yeah, hopefully.

Four generations now with the family
and going on - it's tremendous.

VOICEOVER: Steve's at the end
of a long haul

repairing the vintage toy runway
and plane.

I'm just going to pop the
new main spring in

and I'm just going to feed it in
and wind it up

and hopefully get the clockwork
mechanism working.

LOUD WHIRRING

There we go.

Ha-ha.

Amazing.

Good. I'm really, really pleased
with that.

I just need to pop the rivets in,
clean it all up,

and yeah, it's done - fantastic.

So pleased.

This delightful toy was the prized
childhood possession

of Serena's mother, May, and one of
the few things she brought

with her when she left
her life in Iraq.

This one was my special toy.

I'm looking forward to see
it again working.

I feel very excited, yes.

It would make me so happy to see my
mum reunited with something

that holds such a sentimental value.

Hello.

Hello. Hi.

Hello.
Hello.

Hello.

How are you guys doing?

Good!

Excited to see my toy.

Hopefully, running again.

So, this toy reminds you of
a good time back in Iraq.

A beautiful time, yes.

I remember my childhood.

My dad, my mum, my uncles.

A secure time when I used to play
with my brother.

It's just very special for me.

Special memories, yeah?

You're looking right down.
It's like, "Come on, come on!"

Steve, we have to let her see it.

OK, yeah. I'll let you have a look.

THEY LAUGH

There we are.

Oh, it's flat!

Oh, my gosh!

Wow.

How's that?

The wing that I broke...

Wow!

Can we?
Oh, yes, please do.

Do you remember?
Yes...

Oh, wow.
I remember, I do...

There's a little lever. That's it.

Whooo!
Oh, my God.

I remember this bit.

When was the last time you saw that?

Oh...

50 years ago.
Hm. Yeah.

I can see now why my uncle
fought over who got to play with it.

There's definitely a sense
of thrill. Yes.

How does it feel to see it
working again? Happy.

It really takes me to my childhood.

You've done such a wonderful
job, Steve.

Thank you very much.
Such a wonderful job.

You...
I'll have a go.

Are you trusting me? I trust you.
I think I'm old enough now.

Isn't that fun?

It's so fun.
It is fun.

Oh, that's wonderful.
Bless her.

Thanks, Mum.

Thank you for bringing in.

I hope that it's going to carry
on being so special for you.

Thanks. You did an amazing job.

You're very welcome.

Thank you.
Thank you.

Bye!
Bye-bye now.

To see it now in its full glory

is really special because I get,

I really do get, that kind of
glimpse into my mum's childhood.

It reminds me when I was sitting

with my mum, mum and dad and uncles.

Thanks to Steve for bringing

all these old memories again.

Join us next time for more

picture-perfect restorations...

OK, biggest smile you can do.

Right...

CAMERA CLICKS

..in The Repair Shop.