The Repair Shop (2017–…): Season 8, Episode 1 - Episode #8.1 - full transcript

Welcome to The Repair Shop,

where precious
but faded treasures...

There's an awful lot
of work to do here.

Things are definitely going to have
to get worse before they get better.

..are restored
to their former glory.

Look at that!

Furniture restorer Jay Blades...

Bringing history back to life

is what makes The Repair Shop
so special.

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

It's solid as a rock.



It's actually quite miraculous,
to be honest.

..come together to work
their magic...

Look at that! It's tailor-made.

Just got to keep
calm and carry on.

OK, here we go.

It's going to look great.

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

This is how it was,

so this is how it will be again.

..preserving
irreplaceable heirlooms.

Some object can have so much
emotional attachment to the family.

That's what pushes me
to want to get it right.

The team will restore the items...

Oh!



..the memories...

So that's the link between you
and your grandad. And now my son.

..and unlock the
stories that they hold.

I'm just blown away!

I'm flying!

In The Repair Shop today,

old gold...

Without a doubt,
this is probably up there

in the top five of worst-condition
rings I've had to repair.

..meets a fiery fix.

Right.

Brenton goes the extra mile...

I've counted how many
brass nails are missing

and there's about 80 or 90.

..handcrafting bespoke studs
for his antique assignment.

It's not a two-minute job
doing this,

so patience is definitely the key.

And more rigorous authenticity.

To think these were actually
made back in the '50s? Yes.

She's a very special dolly -
bright-eyed and bushy-tailed again.

There we go. It's just perfect.

But first, a right royal
restoration...

..courtesy of Elizabeth.

She's travelled
from Gloucestershire,

hoping the elite skills of painting
conservator Lucia Scalisi

can restore an heirloom
back to crowning glory.

Hello. Hello.
How are you doing?

Not bad. Nice to meet you.

Hello. Hi. I'm Jay.

Hello. I'm Liz.
Hi, Liz. I'm Lucia.

So this beautiful painting
must be yours. Tell us about him.

It's Charles II, we think. Right.

My memories of it are it living
in my grandparents' dining room

and it was right there sort of
looming over you as you ate!

OK! But I love him.
I think he's wonderful.

So when my grandfather passed away,

no-one else wanted
Charlie, and I did,

so I said, "I'll have him!"

So... You call him Charlie, then!

Yeah, Charlie-boy.

So I took him straight away,
straight to the flat and up he went.

And then we had our son
a few years later.

We decided we're going
to move house. Yeah.

We took him down, packed him away
and he never went back up again.

What's your son's name? He's Dylan.

He got really into history,
specifically the monarchy.

OK. He can tell you every monarch
and his favourite monarch

is Charles II because
he's the "Merry Monarch". Ah!

And I said, "I've got something
to show you," and pulled him out

and he just lost it.

He was, like, "What?!

"That's amazing!
We've got Charles II!

"This is so cool.
Can we hang him up?"

And I said, "We can't hang him up.

"He's in such a state,
we need to get him sorted first."

So hence we're here.

Lucia, have you seen Charlie-boy
before? I have, yeah.

I've seen lots of paintings of him
and I think it is Charles II

and it's great, but he's definitely
been through the mill.

He's got lots of splashed soup
and stuff down here or whatever.

And as for the frame -
that's quite interesting, too.

There's a massive tear.
There is. Right down the middle.

When he came to me, he had that.

So if Lucia is able to restore it,

Dylan will just be blown away,
hopefully. I hope so.

I can't thank you
enough for bringing this in.

Thanks, Liz, it's really great.

Thanks, Liz, bye! Bye. Bye.

Leaving the painting
behind with Lucia is a relief

because he's finally getting
the attention he deserves.

I look at Charlie-boy
and I see my grandparents.

The reason I wanted him repaired
was for Dylan, really,

so it's going to
be really nice to see him

in all his Merry Monarch glory.

All of the texture on there,

would that tell you
that is quite an old painting,

or an early painting,
as you would say?

Yeah, I think
it's an early painting.

I think the distortion
in the canvas,

that's indicative
of something that's earlier.

More modern canvases
are very straight. OK.

I don't think it's 17th century,
which is when he was around. OK.

But it could be 18th century.

Wow.

What you've got to do, then, is
sort out the tear, clean it. Yeah.

And then touch up wherever
you've got to do. Yeah.

I think it's going to be a
real treat. Yeah, I think so.

I can't wait. All right,
I'll leave you to it. Thanks. OK.

Ooh!

I'm just facing-up the edges of
the tear with a synthetic adhesive

and bits to secure the broken edges
of the paint along the tear,

so it's putting this acid-free
tissue on because there are tiny

fractures all along those edges

and I don't want to lose
any of the original paint.

So I just work closely
across the surface and keep adding

these where I see
that they're needed.

OK, so the job now is to
actually do the patch repair

to hold that all together,

and that is a nylon gossamer patch

and it has a
heat seal adhesive on it.

That's good, I'm pleased with that.

So they're now secure
so I can turn the painting over

and start working on the front.

Next into The Repair Shop,
Michelle Hammond from Norfolk.

She's hoping goldsmith Richard
Talman can bring the sparkle back

to a symbol of enduring love.

Hi. Hi. How are you doing?
Good, thank you.

Good morning, Michelle. Richard.
Nice to meet you.

So I know we've got a bit of
jewellery. We do. Let's have a look.

There we go.
It's an engagement ring.

It belonged to my grandma.

OK, so tell us about
your grandmother, please.

So my grandma passed
away in April this year.

She was 99 years of age. 99!

99. A proper legend, then!
A proper legend.

So when we had
to clear out her house,

we were rummaging through her things
and we found her engagement ring

hidden away in a little teapot.

Hold on, in a teapot?! Yes.

Her little treasure chest,
I guess. OK.

She and my grandad got
engaged after the war. OK.

They got married in 1946.

She was actually engaged
to someone else.

Hold on... Yeah, so she
was engaged to someone else...

OK, go on.

..and she was meant to meet her
current fiance at a local pub.

OK. So she went to the pub,
but she bumped into my grandad

and, obviously, fell in love.

A bit of a whirlwind. Broke off
the engagement with the other guy.

Love at first sight.
Yeah. And the rest is history.

Aw, that is special.
That's love, isn't it? Yeah.

And they stayed together until my
grandfather passed away in 1991.

But, yeah, they adored
each other. Bless 'em.

So without this, none of us
would be here. That's true.

This is like the start
of the puzzle for us.

And I'd like to think that when
it's mended, it's like them

going full circle
and reuniting back together.

And that's true love, as well.
You can meet someone...

Love at first sight, everybody
wishes for something like that.

So, yeah, that's why I'm here.

Tell us about the relationship
between you and your gran.

Oh, she was - or is -
everything to me.

And...she was just so special
and so much fun.

She had a great sense of humour
and I miss her terribly.

Take we take a look? Please do.

Ah, yes, certainly
has seen better days, poor thing.

The way it looks so thin
at the back is an indication

of just a lifetime's worth of wear,
probably against a wedding ring.

So only the side of the ring,

just either side of the head
where the stones are,

there's two very sharp bits.

Yeah. They would have been
the original shoulders that comes

from the side of the band
up to the head,

and it's just peeled back
like tinfoil.

I can't wait to get started.

I can see how important it
will be for you and the family

to get it mended. Oh, it will be.

Thank you for bringing it in and
telling us that wonderful story.

Thank you, Michelle. Take care.
Thank you! Bye! Bye-bye.

The ring, for me, it's
the start of our timeline.

It just holds all our history
from the day that they got engaged,

to the day they married,
all the way through.

I really would like to get it
mended for my gran

because she was just wonderful.

She was just so special.

It's totally not uncommon to see
this sort of wear, but this one,

without a doubt, this is probably
up there in the top five

of worst-condition rings
I've had to repair.

So I just really need to think
about the best way I'm going to do

it with trying to preserve as much
of the original ring as possible.

It's going to definitely need

a new back portion of the shank.

The shank is the part that goes
around the finger,

so the entire back portion is going
to need to be replaced.

So the very first thing
I'm going to need to do is give

it a really good clean to
find out just how much

parts of it is going
to be able to be saved.

Also on a deep-cleaning
mission - Lucia.

With the surface of the King Charles
portrait stabilised,

she can begin to reveal
its true colours.

This moment, never lose
the excitement of it.

This is, for me, the thrill.

So I'm going to go
in with my aqueous solution

and see what's on the surface.

So quite a lot of dirt, really.

Quite a lot of dirt,
but it's the varnish

that's causing the discoloration.

So now I'm using
my hydrocarbon solvent

and this should start
picking up the varnish.

Oh, look at that!

Fabulous!

You can see the brush strokes.

It's really nice to see the pink
edges and this beautiful shading.

So that gives me an idea
of the thickness of the dirt

and the varnish layers to be
anticipated everywhere else,

but I can't take it for granted.

I'm starting to realise that
it's actually a much better

painting than I thought.

The quality of the paintwork
is a lot less naive.

He's wearing a suit of armour
and it's quite a difficult thing

to make look like it's true metal.

This artist has done
a wonderful job.

We're at the stage for
filling along the actual tear.

If I was to paint directly
onto the canvas, the paint

would just sink in and it will be
a matt line and I wouldn't be able

to build up a body of colour,

so this seals the surface
and it gives a ground

for the paint to sit on.

Now I'm just putting
a watercolour base coat

so I can start the retouching.

I just build up these things
slowly - I'm not looking to get,

you know, one brush stroke
completes everything.

You kind of have to model it in.

I've done some research
and I've discovered

that this painting is probably based

on a miniature by a gentleman called

Sir Robert Peake - a renowned
engraver and printmaker -

and he was really best buddies
with Charles II.

The miniature may well
have been the first image.

Engravings were made
and then artists copied them

and turned them into paintings.

I found an actual engraving
of this painting

and I can look at that
and see the details.

For me, particularly, I love these
rivets that are in the armour

and they're all there in
the actual engraving, as well.

I just find that really charming.

So it all adds up to
the history of the object.

It's really all pointing to the
painting being a period piece

from the 1660s.

Even when I say it, it's thrilling.

It's just so exciting because
it's so unusual, so rare.

It's just phenomenal.

It's absolutely phenomenal.

I'm absolutely thrilled
to bits that we're dealing

with a little boy,
seven-year-old Dylan.

This is like a secret
that's been waiting to pop out

and it's chosen to
come out in his childhood.

I mean, it's a
lifetime surprise, really.

It's thrilling.

It's actually quite
miraculous, to be honest.

Next, another
item steeped in history.

Mahboba Abdullah
and her daughter Nadia

are hoping silversmith
Brenton West

can restore a well-travelled trunk
that holds cherished memories.

Hello.

Hello.

I am Jay. And you are?
Mahboba. Mahboba.

Nadia. Nadia.

And I'm Brenton.

Hello. Hello. Nice to meet you.

So this beautiful chest is
yours, yeah?

Yes, it is indeed.

Can you tell us about it? Yes.

So I was born in Zanzibar,
on the east coast of Africa.

What was it like growing up there?

Oh, growing up, it was fantastic.

We lived by the sea and we
just played marvellously.

Me and Brenton were trying
to guess where this is from.

That doesn't look African to me.

No, it doesn't, no.
So where is this from?

Oman. Oman. Oman, yes.

So the Sultan of Oman
also ruled Zanzibar.

People from Oman would trade
these chests and then there

would be silk or whatever inside.

They'd bring it to Zanzibar
and then they sell it to Zanzibar.

These sort of chests were scattered
around our houses.

We'd hide inside,
play hide and seek. Yeah, yeah.

Our chores were to clean it,
these brasses

and then you'd get pocket money.

It sounds like an
absolutely amazing place.

How come you
ended up here in the UK?

Zanzibar, I left there in 1964
when there was a revolution.

We had, like, 24 hours to leave.
Whoa! That was it, yeah.

So you never got any of your stuff?
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

We left with nothing. Wow.

The British said that
whoever managed to escape,

we could all come to the UK.

How old were you when you had
to leave Zanzibar? I was 12. Wow.

Yes. And you couldn't go back.
How did that feel?

For children, it was just
exciting to come to UK. OK.

But for parents or the elderly,
you could see on their faces

that they were just distraught

because they've
left everything behind,

they don't know where they're going,
what's in front of us.

They had no idea.

And it's just really sad, I don't
have childhood photos of my mum. No.

My mum has no photos of her parents.

I don't have anything
of her childhood.

That's why this is, you know,
so important. Wow.

Then you bought this in... In Oman.

Oman. Oman, yes, in Muscat.

In 1970, Oman opened up

and people started...

People who are in Zanzibar,

they had their ancestors
originated from Oman. Right.

So they went back to Oman
because that was like home. Yeah.

So I happened to be
in Oman in early '70s,

wandered around and you can see

the souks, which is the market.
The market.

The market! Yes. OK.

And this is where you saw this
chest? I saw this chest.

I said, "Oh, my God, this just
brings me back to my childhood."

And, yeah, I shipped it back to UK.

So do you remember this,
then, Nadia?

For my whole life this has
been in our house. Yeah.

And I never got paid anything
for polishing it.

I'm surprised you did!
I did. I remember it.

Yeah. So any sort of heirloom
that we have in our family

starts with this box, really.
It does.

That's really nice.

That's powerful. Yeah, that is.

Yes, it is the only thing that old

and it has my history

that she will be able to pass
it on because, for me,

I don't have anything else. Yeah.

Yeah, it's difficult when you leave
in a hurry and you don't have...

You don't have anything from
there. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Nadia, are you OK?
Yeah. Oh, that's fine!

It is just a box, isn't it?

But it is - you're right,
it is all we have

and it is the closest thing
to a perfect mix

of our heritage that we have.

Oh, absolutely, yeah,
and that is the thing.

Yeah, yeah, it is.

Yeah. And for me I think it
would be really nice to pass

it on to my children,
pass it on to the grandchildren

and so that they can understand
the story, the culture.

The culture, yeah.
Yeah, everything.

We'll get the whole team
on this, don't worry about it.

It would just be...
It will be nice. It would be lovely.

So was it bright?

It was bright.

The wood was darker. Really dark.
It was very dark, the wood.

We'll be grateful
whatever you can do, really.

Thank you, guys, for the history
around the chest.

Thank you very much.
Thank you for having us.

You take care now. Bye-bye.
Thank you. Bye-bye.

The chest is every memory
my mum ever had from home.

The chest is Zanzibar
and your childhood.

I'm confident that
they will do something to it,

that it will bring it back to life.

And it will be just brilliant, yeah.

There's an awful
lot of work to do here.

This has got years of tarnish
and verdigris on it.

That's a lot of polishing, isn't it?
There's a lot of polishing to do.

You got your hands full with the
brass. There's loads of wood.

I tell you what, Will - if you
don't mind - come and join us.

Hey, guys.
What do you think of that?

That is lovely! It is, isn't it?
Lovely, isn't it?

What are you going
to do with this, Brenton?

I'm going to wire wool it.

I've actually worked on a trunk
like this before. Oh, have you?

And I used steel wool
to clean it all back. Yeah.

What you'll find is you might do a
lot of the work for me, Brenton! OK!

Because when you're cleaning these
studs, it's actually going to start

cleaning the wood around
them by default.

So I think once you start scrubbing
that you start seeing

that lovely dark wood coming back
through there.

Then maybe finish with,
like, a wax or an oil.

Oil or something
like that would be lovely.

You're going to polish it all up
and then, once you're done,

hand it over to Will.
Yeah. Is that all right? Amazing.

Happy days. I wish you good luck
with that, Brenton!

Wow!

I can see some nice shine
coming through

and hopefully it will clean
the wood up, as well, for Will.

So the whole of this
box has to be done like this.

Then I go down to a finer one
to get a good polish

and it's going to look fabulous.

Over on his bench, goldsmith Richard
is working his own metal magic.

So now I've taken both
of the sharp pieces of metal off

that were on the shoulders,
I can see a little bit

more about the condition
of the yellow gold beneath it.

Now, unfortunately, it really
is very thin and it's not

about just repairing this
as a quick fix.

I'm keen to try and keep as much
of the original parts as possible,

so I'm actually going to remove
all of the gold from this,

add a little bit more fresh,
18-carat yellow gold to it,

melt it up and remake the band,

so it's actually going to
have all of the original metal

of Michelle's gran's ring in it,
thus preserving its integrity.

With the new 18-carat gold
I'm using here,

this has been purchased
from the suppliers as recycled gold.

There's very little gold that
is actually re-mined now

because there's
enough of it in circulation,

so when people sell their old scrap
gold, it goes to refiners,

gets melted down.

It's re-alloyed to
the correct carat of gold

and it's put back in
the system to make new rings.

So the gold just has to
be melted to 1,000 degrees there,

probably just over,
in order to make it melt together.

It's formed up into a little bead.

So when gold melts,
afterwards it turns black,

which is the oxidisation
of the metals.

So I need to remove that
before I start hammering it.

To do that, I place it into a small
amount of sulphuric acid salt

and that removes
all the oxidisation

and turns it back into
a yellow piece of metal.

So I'm just taking the piece
of metal using two pairs of pliers.

I'm just going to bend it up slowly

and that now is taking
the shape of the ring.

All I now need to do
is solder this together

and hammer it around to make
it a perfect ring shape.

Just shaping the ring
around this steel mandrel.

We're using a hide mallet
as opposed to a metal hammer,

so that no dents come out
on the actual piece of jewellery.

This enables me to form it
without leaving any marks.

Now it's a perfect round shape.

It might seem a little bit pointless
that I've just made a perfect circle

and then cutting it open again,
but by doing it this way,

it's going to make sure that the
ring is as round as possible

when I introduce it to the head
of the ring because I really want

to avoid as much hammering
as possible

once this delicate part
is joined to it.

So when you're lining it up
to actually make the solder join,

it's absolutely critical

that it is in a perfect position.

If it's just even a fraction
of a millimetre out,

it would have to be redone again.

We work to the tolerances

of about a tenth of a millimetre.

Right, that solder's flowed
through pretty perfectly.

I'm happy with that.

Now it's just time to solder
the other side,

do the identical process,

and then it'll be a matter
of just cleaning it up,

ready for the shoulders to go on.

It's been the assignment of
a lifetime for conservator Lucia -

working on a royal portrait
over 300 years old -

and the frame is revealing
just as many secrets

as the historical painting.

It's called an auricular design.

Auricular means "of the ear"

but, basically, it's organic.

It's organic leaves,
acanthus leaves.

It's got the royalty motif
of the fleur-de-lis

and the gold layer is quite thick,
which is one of the indicators

that it's period, very specifically
of the period of Charles II,

and to get something
like this these days is,

I think, quite exceptional.

This is pure yellow ochre - a
palette essential for a conservator.

That's not a bad colour.

Yellow ochre is a great pigment.

You can mimic gold with it!

That's the intention here, anyway.

I'm really pleased that I've gone
the extra mile with this frame.

Once the picture is in the frame,

it will set it off
absolutely beautifully.

That's it. It's all done.

This is the moment of truth.

Charles II is going into
his beautiful frame.

Wow.

I'm absolutely thrilled.
It looks fantastic.

I really can't wait
for Dylan to see this.

I wish I was seven and seeing
something like this

for the first time,
it's really fantastic.

This is what it's all
about in The Repair Shop.

To be able to do something
as wonderful as this

and give it back
to the family is just great.

And for me to be able to clean it -
what a privilege.

When this painting arrived at
the barn, its true age and status

was obscured by decades of dirt,

but under the learned touch
of Lucia, it's been revealed

as a royal portrait
of historical significance

and it was all thanks to this little
boy, Dylan, and his love of history

that mum Liz was persuaded
to visit The Repair Shop.

Today's really important
to us and the family.

You excited? Yes.

Yeah. It's actually really cool.

Like, I can't put it in words.

Hello. Hello. Hello!

You must be Dylan. Yes, I am.

I understand that you're a bit of
a history buff and you recognised

this gentleman
that was in the painting.

It's Charles II of England.

So, underneath this blanket,
what are you guys hoping to see?

I'm hoping for it to be like it
was when it was first painted,

all nice and neat.

That's ambitious, isn't it?!

ALL LAUGH

Do you want to see it? Yes, please.

I'm very nervous myself.

Ho-ho! Oh, my God!

Wow!

That is so amazing!

That's amazing!

Lucia, this is amazing,
thank you so much.

Oh, bless you.

My glasses are steaming up!

I didn't think I'd get like this!

It's beautiful,
absolutely beautiful.

I'm going to get Lucia
to explain to you a bit

while you catch your breath. Yeah!

This is just the beginning
for you guys.

So do you know
the dates of Charles II?

He was king in 1660.

He died in 1685.

So this painting, there is
nothing about this painting

that isn't of the period,

so I actually think
it's a very early painting.

What, as in 1660s to 1680s?
Yeah, yeah.

Oh, my goodness! What?!

The palette of the artist
and everything

is really in keeping with that.

That's a shock, though,
that it's that old.

A nice shock, I hope!
Yeah, oh, a wonderful shock!

That's amazing.
To think how OLD that is!

A good 400 years.

It's quite scary,
the responsibility, mind!

It's been a treat for us all.

To have something this old in here
is really special

and it's all thanks to you.

I'm really chuffed that you brought
it along, Dylan.

You've got an eye,
you've got an eye.

Well done, me!

Finding out that Charlie-boy was
nearly 400 years old

is absolutely mad.

I mean, it's just outstanding.

What Lucia has done to
the painting, it's so amazing.

The painting is going
to stay in the family.

Eventually, it'll be his.

I think I'm almost the luckiest
person on the planet

to have a painting that's that old.

As King Charles makes his way back
to Gloucestershire,

a new arrival is
hoping for the royal treatment.

Lorraine Thomas from Conway,
North Wales,

is hoping toy restorers Julie
Tatchell and Amanda Middleditch

can revive a very special
childhood companion.

Hello. Hello.
Welcome to the barn.

Thank you. It's nice to meet you.

And who have you brought
for us today?

So today I have brought along
a cuddly toy

and his name is Donkey. Oh, look!

Hello, Donkey!
You'd never have guessed!

ALL LAUGH

Oh, look at him!
We just called him Donkey.

That's all he was ever known as.

He's lovely. My little Donkey, yeah.

Can you tell us
a little bit about him?

So Donkey belonged to Mark,
who was my twin brother. Right.

And when we were born, we were both
given a cuddly toy.

So Mark was given Donkey
and he was cherished by Mark -

he absolutely adored him - and
Donkey went everywhere with him.

He was a bit like a comfort toy,
I think.

We lost our mum when we were seven.
Oh, no!

So I think, Donkey... Yeah, he
helped him through, you know,

through those tough times.

And Mark helped you,
by the sounds of it.

So were you quite close?
Yeah, we were very close.

Obviously, we were twins,
but we were very close.

He was quite protective of me.
That's lovely.

So we were always together.

We were like one, really.

But sadly, I lost Mark... Oh!

..in a road accident when
we were 21,

so Donkey became mine.

How did you cope?

I think you just have to...
You just sort of learn

to live with it, really.

I don't think it's anything
you particularly get over.

No.

And I suppose Donkey is my
connection with, you know,

certainly with Mark. Yeah.

And that's why I'd like him
to be preserved. Definitely.

Can I have a look at him?
Of course you can, yeah.

Hello, Donkey!

It's just general loving and wear,
isn't it? Yes, yeah.

I mean, he's all there,
apart from his eyes.

He's got a wire frame in him

and obviously that over time
has got a little bit buckled,

but that's not a problem.

Do you want to have a look, Amanda?
I would love to have a look at him.

Thank you. Do you know who made him,
the company?

I think it's a company from
Ironbridge. That's right. Yeah.

Absolutely. Merrythought. Yeah.

And they made this donkey
in different sizes and guises.

It looks like somebody has
already done a little something.

I think Mark actually did that,
if I remember rightly.

He did that himself.

I would love that to stay.
To stay just like that? Yeah.

If it could.
That's absolutely fine.

I would love him to have eyes! Yeah.

And I think his legs, as well,
so that he's not wonky -

a wonky Donkey!

A wonky Donkey!

He's still smiling, though. Yeah.

Absolutely, he is, yeah.

Lovely. I'm looking forward to this.

Absolutely.

Thank you so much
for bringing him to us

and we will take great care of him.

Thank you.
Thank you, both, so much.

Safe journey. Bye now.
Bye-bye. Bye!

Donkey is so special to me because
it is actually my connection

with my twin brother, Mark.

We were so close and I think,

you know, just the thought of
how wonderful he would feel

if he knew that I've actually still
got Donkey and that, you know,

Donkey's going to be repaired.

This is a tribute to Mark -
and to my mum, as well.

Um, quite a bit of work to do on
him to get him stable,

but I think until we've lined
and repaired all of him

and got his frame straight
and all stuffed...

I propose I take his head off

and I'll pass those
to you to work on. Yeah.

And I'll get to work on his body.
How about that? Yeah.

There you go!
Thank you very much.

This kapok's just turned to dust,
hasn't it? Yeah.

We're not going to be able to
re-use it.

Not surprising, really, though,
is it? Oh, gosh, no.

He's had a lot of loving.

Oh! I've found his skeleton.

Ooh.

BOTH LAUGH

It's no wonder he was wonky,
really, is it?

We'll be able to re-use it.

I just think we need to
straighten it out a little!

Yeah, I think a little bit of
straightening would be good for him.

Yeah. Oh, it'll be fine,
Donkey, do not worry.

Isn't there a saying
that being as crooked as the hi...

Hind leg of a donkey?

Horse? Hind leg of a horse?
Oh, it's a horse, is it?

It might even be a dog.

I'll just be quiet, then!

There's his other... Back legs.

BOTH LAUGH

Well, there you go!

He definitely is a wonky Donkey.

It's been a labour of love
for Brenton,

who's been painstakingly restoring
the lustre on the ordinate trunk.

My fingers
are absolutely killing me!

I've been polishing this box for two
days now and it's looking lovely.

However, there's a
bunch of missing nails.

I've counted how many
brass nails are missing

and there's about 80 or 90

and I'm going to make those with

my doming block and a doming punch.

And this punch fits into

this little recess here

and if you put a flat piece of
metal in it and hit it...

That looks good.

I'm just going to see if it matches

the other ones.

Bingo!

So I've now got
about 80 or 90 to make.

I'm just soldering the nails
into the domed brass bit.

As soon as the solder flows,

that's attached.

I let that cool down

and we've got one done.

This is a massive job -

there's so many nails to put in -

Yet, if you look at the chest,
it doesn't look like there's

that many missing,

so there must be hundreds

and hundreds of these nails

in here because
I'm only making 80 or 90

and it's just to fill
a few that are missing,

so the poor person who made it must

have spent days making nails

and banging them in there.

It's not a two-minute job,
doing this,

so patience is definitely the key.

I keep noticing ones
that I haven't seen before,

and I'm worrying that I might not
have made enough.

I think I'm going to be here for
quite a while sorting this one out.

Brenton, this looks amazing.
Thank you!

Nice and shiny. It looks lovely.
It's getting there, isn't it?

It is indeed.
Is it over to me now? Yes, please.

Could you give me a hand
to my bench? Of course I will.

BOTH: Bend the knees!

BOTH LAUGH

Brenton has done
an amazing job on this.

It's lovely and shiny.

When I get some oil into this wood,

it's going to really
bring out the colour and the grain.

It's going to look lovely.

This is already looking wonderful.

I'm going to keep on building up
the layers and the coats of oil

until it can't drink any more.

Absorbed in his own endeavours -
Richard, hard at work

on the engagement ring.

So I got the small piece
of white gold that I've cut

off two identical lengths.

These are exactly the same length
as the cut-out

that's now in the side of the ring.

And these are the two pieces that
are going to make the shoulders.

They were the parts that had worn
very thin and were performing...

..making a very spiky edge
on the ring when we started.

The purpose of these shoulders is
so that when the part of the band

goes round to the head of the ring,
it doesn't stop abruptly -

it sort of flows into the top -
and it's also structural.

So they're quite a vital,
vital part.

So now I just need to solder
these pieces in and start to file

it up. It's a delicate task.

You forget to breathe sometimes.

Lovely.

Happy with that.

So now that the shoulders are
soldered in, it's just now a matter

of sandpapering, filing it all up,

just so it smooths off all the edges

and then finally a polish
before it's ready

to be reunited with Michelle.

When this ring arrived at the barn,
it was twisted and worn

after decades on the finger of its
owner, Michelle's grandmother,

who received it from her devoted
fiance 74 years ago.

I'm feeling a little bit
nervous, actually,

about collecting
my gran's ring today.

Excited at the same time.

But since dropping off
the engagement ring, I think

it gives you time to really reflect
upon how precious family is

and how wonderful my gran was.

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

I'm very good, actually.
Hi, Michelle. Welcome back. Hi.

So, to us, this ring means
love at first sight.

But what does it mean
to you and your family?

It means...everything.

No pressure!

No, it does. It means...
It means so much.

To have it back...
Yeah. ..and mended

and whatever's under there.

I can't wait. You can't wait.
I can't wait to see it. Yeah.

It means everything. Ready?

Yeah.

Can I have a look?
Of course you can.

That is beautiful.

Can I pick it up?

Wow!

SHE SOBS

I'm sorry. Wow!

Can I try it on?

Oh, wow.

My God, that is so beautiful.

Every Christmas when she used to
come and stay with us,

when we give her a Christmas
present... Right. ..from whoever

it was, she'd always pick
it up and kiss it.

So you might think it's a bit
strange,

but I'm just going to do that now.
No, it's not strange.

She would just go...mwah.

Mwah...it's what she'd do.

So that's for you, Gran.

She would love this.

I'm sure she's somewhere.

I'm sure she's smiling. Yeah.

Well, thank you. Thank you so much.

Take care. Bye. Bye-bye.
Thanks, Michelle.

Bye.

Oh, bless her. That was special,
eh? It was. Loved that.

Well done, you. Cheers.

Having those two ends meet again
is like my gran and my grandad

meeting again. I just can't wait
to just show everyone and continue

to tell their love story,
because they'd adored each other.

And it will bring back all
these wonderful memories

of my gran and my grandad,
and that...

..brings me so much joy.

There's a long road ahead for Julie
and Amanda, who need to get

the little toy donkey back
to fine fettle again.

They've taken him completely
apart and now they can begin

to rebuild him.

I've got the job of working
on Donkey's body.

I've turned it inside out
at the moment

because the first thing I
need to do

is make sure it's stable, and I'm
going to use felt to line it.

I'm going to lay this on here,
like this.

I'm going to tack it into place, cut
it out, and then I'll do the other

side and then it'll be ready
to do the repairs.

I've just finished lining Donkey's
head and mane with felt,

and I turned it through,
so I'm just going to put some

stuffing into the tip of his muzzle
to create a firm base for me

to begin the darns.

What I'm going to use
is this silk crepeline,

which is a very fine gauze,

because this supporting meshing
is a really good way of helping us

contain those stitches and give us
something else to stitch into.

We want Donkey to last quite
a bit longer.

Finished lining Donkey,
and I'm really happy with the way

it's come out.
He feels much stronger.

Next part of the process
will be to do the actual repairs.

So I'm putting the first layer
of stitches down from left to right.

The fabric is weaved two ways.

I always remember the weft
goes "weft" to right

and the weave goes up and down.

So once I've got those stitches
in that way...

..I can turn him round and then go

under my first stitch
and over the next.

Under, over, under, over.

Turn it round
and come back the other way.

It starts to form a lattice pattern.

My grandma taught me how to do it.
It's quite an old-fashioned method

of sewing, and I think
it was more traditionally used

for mending socks and jumpers
and things like that.

But it suits these old toys.
So, basically...

..I've created...a patch,
without putting a patch in.

I'm really pleased.
It's coming along really nicely.

Just a little bit of
finishing up and then I can move

on to the next one.

I'm pleased with the mesh, so
I'm going to just add his nostrils.

I'm starting under his chin.

I'm going to come up and I'm going
to make a narrow loop...

..go back in where I started.

Up to the top of his
original stitch again

and catch this black thread
around...

..and then that gives us a sense
of the opening of a nostril.

And then exactly the same
on this side.

I rather like the way that,
following the exact markings

from where his original threads
were, he's got kind of a slightly

twisted, wonky nose.

That's how Mark would have seen them
the first time that he

set eyes on Donkey.

I like that about
hand-finished toys.

Gives them their expression.

I've just got a couple of darns
to do on the back of his ears,

then he'll be ready to go
back to Amanda.

With Donkey's outer fabric
strengthened, Amanda's now focusing

on his nearly-60-year-old
bent interior framework.

So I nearly got it straight enough.

It doesn't have to be perfect,
as long as it supports his legs.

Because it was important to Lorraine
to keep the stitching here,

we've gone about this repair
in a slightly different way,

so we opened up his tummy.

So I've reclosed that now.

So I'm going to have to do all
the work now through his neck.

With a little bit of wiggling,
we'll get one down each leg.

That's perfect.

You can see, even without stuffing,
those legs are actually

now supporting themselves.

So my next job is to pack
the stuffing around that wire.

I'm stuffing him with kapok,
which is what he had originally.

Needs to get it in there
quite firm.

He's strong enough now to be able
to take that.

In effect, this wire that
we're putting in is kind of

like his skeleton or his bones.

And I'm putting the sort of fat
and muscles all around.

So I'm going to continue
with the stuffing.

But you can see already this leg
is able to take its weight

and he's not going to collapse.

All good.

The ornate wooden and brass chest
has been absolutely transformed

by hours of patient work by Brendan,
but it's Will who's responsible

for its final finishing touches.

It looks lovely. So much colour
and depth in that wood.

I'm going to put some handles
on the side.

Brendan has given me these really
nice handles, nice and shiny.

That will complement the work that
he's done on the side of the box

and also sort of fits in with
the style of the box, as well.

That looks really nice, nice and
shiny, matches the rest of the box.

That's one down, one more to go.

Then it's ready
for Mahboba and Nadia.

For Mahboba,

this chest symbolises a family
history spanning three countries,

and it is a tie to the homeland
she left behind over 50 years ago.

I've been thinking about the chest.

I've been thinking where it came,
what story I could be telling

my grandchildren, my children.

I have been thinking about it.

Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello.

How are you both? Really excited.
Excited, yes. Yeah?

Very excited.

Well, I feel super excited.

This thing is travelled from
Oman and to England. Yeah.

It's a bit like me.

So here we are.

Yes. Here it is.

You ready? I'll take a deep breath.

Oh! Ah!

Oh, it looks lovely.

Oh! Oh, my goodness.

Oh!

Oh, thank you so much. Oh!

This is like my history
to my children and grandchildren.

It's like we've gone back in time.
It is, isn't it?

This is how it looked
when I was younger.

You can't even see
that anything was missing.

THEY CHUCKLE

It's lovely to make it look nice.

And Will's done the woodwork
and done a beautiful job

on that for us, as well.
It's beautiful.

Yeah. It is like opening
a history book, isn't it?

It is. For us, it is, yeah. Yeah.

And that was the driving
force behind the team.

What you wanted this box to actually
represent for your family. Yes.

It's just beautiful.
Thank you. Thank you.

You're more than welcome.
You take care now.

Thank you. Thank you.
OK. No problem. All right.

Thank you so much.

It looks proud, I think. Yeah, it
is. It will be our family treasure.

We will put all of our
memories in there.

It looks so amazing.
More than I expected.

It's just wonderful.

Yeah, I will treasure this moment
for the rest of my life, I think.

After some loving care and skilful
attention from the bear ladies,

Donkey's standing proud
on all four hooves again.

What do you think?
I think he looks fabulous.

I bet you can't wait
to get your hands on him.

Bring him here. There you go.

There's just one important
final detail.

And, as always, the ladies have gone
that extra mile for authenticity.

Right, you come and stand here.

We've got these perfect,
perfect original eyes in here.

To think these
were actually made

for the Merrythought company

for these donkeys back in...

..'50s? Yes.

These were actually given
to us from their archives.

We've been itching, haven't we...
Yes. ..to use them,

because they are so rare
and so unique, and to be able

to put the original type of eye
into the toy that it was meant for -

just perfect. There we go.

Already that's
bringing his character back.

Just got the other one to do.

This beloved toy served as a boyhood
comfort for its little owner, Mark,

and later provided
a connection between him

and his twin sister, Lorraine.

I'm feeling so excited today
to be here to collect Donkey.

I think since Donkey's been away
from me, it certainly

has made me think about Mark,
because he was so attached to Donkey

and the fact that we were
always together.

So it just...

Yeah, it just makes it so special.

Hello, welcome back. Hello, hi.
How are you?

I'm fine, thank you.

How are you doing, Lorraine? Are
you all right? Lovely to meet you.

Likewise. Have you been
missing Donkey, then?

I have missed Donkey.

It's been quite strange not
having him in the house. Right.

So excited to see him.

I think we should reunite them.
Are you ready? I'm ready.

Ah! Oh, that's wonderful.

Thank you.

Oh, it's wonderful.

That's amazing.

Gosh, it's amazing.

Hello, Donkey!

Oh, gosh!

Oh, that's wonderful.

That's really wonderful.
Thank you so much.

Look at you! You can see me now,
with those lovely big eyes!

SHE LAUGHS

Oh, that's wonderful.

That's absolutely wonderful.

Oh, gosh, Mark would be absolutely
thrilled. I know he would.

Definitely. And it's lovely
he can stand up.

Yeah. I love that.

But I love the eyes.

The eyes are very special.

We are so, so lucky that we were
given some eyes from their archives.

Oh, that's amazing. So those are...
Did you hear that, Donkey?

..the exact eyes that he would
have had when he was made.

When he was made. Oh, look at that.

Oh, that's lovely.
Oh, that's so special.

We've left the stitches
on the back that you asked us to.

Yes.

We were very aware
when we were working on him

that we had to preserve
those memories for you. Yeah.

But he had to look like Donkey.

Yes. Yeah.

And he certainly does.

I'm looking forward to
taking him home.

Thank you for bringing him in.

Oh, thank you. Thank you. Bye-bye.
You take care now.

Bye-bye, Lorraine. OK, thank you,
all. Bye. Bye. Bye, now. Bye.

As soon as I saw Donkey,
I immediately started thinking

about Mark, which was lovely,
absolutely wonderful.

It's lovely to see him with his head
held high and those beautiful eyes.

He looks amazing.

I know Mark would be
absolutely thrilled.

It's wonderful,
what these ladies have done.

Join us next time for more
miraculous resurrections...

TOY: How should I wear my hair?

Oh, thank goodness.

..in The Repair Shop.