The Repair Shop (2017–…): Season 8, Episode 14 - Episode #8.14 - 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...

Solid as a rock.



It's actually quite miraculous,
to be honest!

..come together to work
their magic...

Look at that! Tailor-made.

Just got to keep calm and carry on.

OK, here we go.

It's going to look great.

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

This is how it was,

so this is how it will be again.

..preserving irreplaceable
heirlooms.

Some objects can have so much
emotional attachment to the family,

and that's what pushes me
to want to get it right.

The team will restore the items...

Oh!



..the memories...

That's the link between you,
your grandad... And now my son.

..and unlock the stories
that they hold.

I'm just blown away!

I'm flying!

Mwah!

In The Repair Shop today...

It puts tonnes of pressure
onto the metal,

like a pasta maker.

..Steve cooks up a storm

repairing an extraordinary
Victorian invention...

If it works, it'll just be amazing.

I am really excited.

..a close shave for
master hatter Jayesh...

When you apply onto the surface,
it expands,

and that goes into
the weave of the fabric.

..and a steep learning curve
for Tim...

So this is the uppy-downy bit.

..tackling a very unusual bicycle.

It's got no chain or pedals,

so it's a completely new
experience for me.

But the barn's first arrivals

are Christine Langton
and her daughter Kate

from North Wales.

They have a firm family favourite
in desperate need of TLC

from expert upholsterer
Sonnaz Nooranvary.

Hello. Hello.
Hi, come in. Hi.

JAY: How are you doing?
Good, thank you.

Now, this is a design classic.

I know we both love this.
This is the egg chair.

Is it an original Arne Jacobsen
egg chair? Yes. Yes, it is.

Wow. Amazing.

Bought in 1965,
the year we got married.

Oh, and your husband?
Is he still with us?

No, he died ten years ago. Aw! Yes.

What was his name? Maurice. Maurice.

We saw this shop in Fallowfield,
went in, and there was this chair,

and he obviously knew what it was.
I didn't.

And that was it.

We had to buy it.

You know, we were looking
for furniture that was '60s,

not what our parents had bought.
Yeah.

And I just fell in love
with this, as well.

But he'd be absolutely thrilled that
it was going to be repaired.

What was he like as a dad?

Amazing. He was so clever.

You know, if you were doing
your homework,

you could ask him anything
and he'd know the answer.

Aww. And, you know... Yeah.

Whose idea was it to bring it in
and get it repaired now?

It was me.
It reminds us all of Dad. Yeah.

And it's been ten years this year,

and I just thought, "What
are we going to do with it?"

And it would have had a cushion,

and you don't have the cushion,
do you?

No, we don't.
No. It did have a cushion...

It was, like, flat on the top...
Yeah.

..and just padded underneath. Yeah.

So have you thought about fabrics,
colours?

Well, we thought a mid grey.

Not as dark as this.
So kind of in between. Yeah.

For both of us, I think it's
a real honour,

having something like this in. Yeah.
Well, thank you.

And it'd be nice to honour your
father's memory, as well,

and your husband. Yes. Yes.

Thank you very much.
No, thank you!

It's my pleasure. Even just to see
one in the flesh is a delight.

Well, you take care. Yes.
We'll be in contact.

Thank you very much.
See you. Thank you. Bye. No problem.

See you soon. Bye-bye. Bye, bye.

The chair, to me, you know,

just reminds me of my dad
and his love of design,

and just when I look at it,
I can see him sitting in it.

It's just a wonderful memory
of my husband.

It's made me very sad
over the last few years.

We've covered it with a throw,

but the egg chair doesn't want
to have a throw over it.

It wants to be there
in all its glory.

NARRATOR: Legendary Danish designer
Arne Jacobsen created the egg chair

in 1958 to grace the lobby of
Copenhagen's SAS Royal Hotel.

Universally admired for
its soft, curved shape,

it remains an icon of
Scandinavian design.

I've always wanted to do
a chair like this, and

now that I'm here and
looking at it and even touching it,

I feel really excited to be able
to bring it back to life.

I feel like part of the design
and part of its beauty

is the fact that
the fabric is all in one.

And that's what's going to make it
much more challenging to upholster,

to make sure I get that absolutely
perfectly pinned in place

and sewn in tight to that curve.

So I'm going to strip the fabric
off, take all of this foam off,

cos it's completely disintegrated,

and then it's ready to reupholster.

It's like the Sahara Desert
is coming out of the chair.

Next, a remarkable
Victorian invention

that sparked an era
of scientific discovery,

for the attention of mechanical
expert Steve Fletcher

and wood restorer Will Kirk.

WILL: What is it? I've never seen
a clock like that before, Steve.

It's definitely not a clock,
but it's very exciting.

Nick Wimshurst, from Wiltshire,

hopes to see his family heirloom
back in action.

Hello. Hello.

So, tell me, what is this?

This is the Wimshurst machine.

It was made by my
great-great-grandfather,

James Wimshurst.
Dates to about 1885.

So, yeah, quite an old machine.
What is it?

It's an electrostatic influence
machine,

which creates high-voltage
electricity.

Some people refer to it
as a lightning machine

because it effectively
creates a lightning bolt,

um, which is quite exciting.

Did he invent this machine?

He did. He did. So... Wow.

..it's been in our family
for 135 years,

and I've never, ever seen it work.

Why did your great-great-grandfather
make this?

I don't know exactly why he made it.

He was a son of a shipbuilder,

and he was really into his science
and his scientific experiments,

and he created this
electrostatic machine.

And the theory is that it would
build up high voltage,

and another, smaller one
which was made was actually used

for helping generate X-rays.

And so X-rays, I think,
were created in 1895.

So this helped with kind of
radiography and...

Sounds amazing. It is.

So, do you know how this is
supposed to work?

Um, I know a little bit.

I'm not a scientist or an engineer,
but I can...

I've done my research
on how it all works. OK.

So these plates rotate in
separate directions.

So you spin this wheel... Yeah.

..and there's a rubber pulley
that kind of turns the wheels.

It's to do with splitting
negative and positive charges,

and then these poles here
kind of go into...

I believe they go into there.

And this goes on here.

And then this is where
it creates the lightning. Ah!

But that's how it should look.
WILL CHUCKLES

That looks even better, doesn't it?

That's really scary.

It does look like that
sort of science fiction,

Frankenstein's monster,
electrodes zapping and...

..thunderbolt. Oh, exactly.
It's that era, isn't it,

of kind of science experiments?
Yeah.

Why have you decided to
have this fixed now?

Because it's our heritage
and it's of significant interest,

and to sit there under blankets
and paperwork...

It just needs to come alive.

So we've discussed potentially
loaning it to a museum,

just cos I think it would be
fantastic for kids to actually

turn the wheel and...and see it
spark up.

Not just kids! No!

LAUGHTER

But for big kids. Yeah, absolutely!

Thank you so much for
bringing this in.

I'm really, really excited,

but terrified as well,

but it's going to be really exciting
to get this going.

Yeah, it's a one-of-a-kind,

and thanks...thanks for bringing it
down. Thank you very much.

I look forward to seeing
what you can do.

OK, thank you very much.
Thank you. Bye-bye. Cheers.

Getting the Wimshurst machine
repaired now,

it's just so important to kind of

preserve the legacy
of James Wimshurst.

It's so significant as
a scientific instrument,

but also, it will inspire others,

and I'm just really excited
to actually get it working,

to create a lightning bolt!

It's going to be fascinating to see.

I've had a quick look at this and...

..I just love it so much.

Just the most wonderful,
wonderful piece of...

..machinery. The mechanics of this
look pretty simple,

but I'm still not 100% clear
on how this works.

I wish I'd have taken more notice of
my physics teacher at school!

The way I think this is
supposed to work

is that there are 12 discs,
and when the glass discs spin,

the brushes make contact on all
of the lead strips on the discs.

As they pass each other,
it builds up a charge

and generates that
static electricity.

And I'm hoping that,
when everything's connected

as it should do,
I hope that it'll work.

Right. I'm going to get stuck in
now to taking this apart.

Oh, I've got to be really, really
careful with these bits.

This is glass.

So if I broke that,
it'd be a nightmare.

Just going to... Just absolutely
covered in dust.

I can see here, these brushes
haven't completely disintegrated.

I'm hoping that I can just

straighten out all of these
bits of wire there

and make some good brushes
out of them,

so these should work, still.

I'm going to carry on taking it
apart, bit by bit.

The one thing I'm really, really
frightened of

is I don't want to break or crack
any of the glass discs,

so I've got to work out the best way
of removing all of them.

I hope that I'll learn
as I go along.

On Sonnaz's workbench, the egg chair
is now stripped right back,

and she's ready to chart
some brand-new territory -

reupholstering
its tricky curved frame.

I've now prepped my one-inch foam,

which is going to go over the top
and all on the inside in one piece,

and that's the key bit.
It's only going in in one piece.

No joins.

When I applied
for my apprenticeship,

the job advertisement spoke about

sculpting foam
and designing shapes...

..and that's what attracted me
to the job.

So this is kind of...

..takes me back to when I was 17

and dreaming of what it might
be like to be an upholsterer.

I think it might be best

if I start to glue this section
down here first.

Just got to take one baby step
at a time.

I'm pleasantly surprised at
how well that's gone on.

I'm going to trim the foam
down, right up to that edge.

Even as I'm marking this out,

I'm starting to feel the weight
of the responsibility of

making sure that this chair looks

as good as if it had
come out of the factory.

I've marked out my line and now
there's nothing left to do,

apart from just take the plunge
and start cutting this foam.

It's lovely to be able to start
seeing the shape of the chair.

I'm going to chamfer the inside edge
of this foam now

and it will create this beautiful
soft curve,

which is what I'm looking for.

Now that I've got my
lovely, lovely, gentle curves

all glued down and perfect,

I can now move on to the
really exciting bit,

and that is getting the fabric on.

And I've got this really lovely
wool fabric.

It's really going to be able to
be manipulated into those curves

and sit and hug the inside
of that perfectly.

I'm pulling it out and
towards myself,

and what I'm looking for

is a lovely, smooth tension

across that top edge there.

One of the biggest challenges
with this chair is that

absolutely everything is visible.

There is nowhere to hide at all.

And I've got to be absolutely sure

that when I'm fixing something down,

it's...it's spot-on.

I've now got to the stage

where I've pinned all of the
outside fabric on.

I'm going to turn that edge in

and then slip-stitch it closed,

because it's actually an
invisible stitch that won't be seen.

My stitches have
to be absolutely tiny.

Slip-stitching is...

..one of my absolute
favourite places to be.

The stars have aligned

and I'm in the right place
at the right time,

doing the right thing.

I find it so therapeutic.

Next into the barn is
Ross Brown, from Dorset,

with a piece of naval history
that's all at sea.

Hello. How are you doing?

I'm very well.

What have you got in the bag?

I've got a sailor's cap.

Oh. Jayesh, do you mind joining
us? We've got a cap over here.

If anyone can turn this cap's luck
around,

it's master hatter Jayesh Vaghela.

Tell us about the cap.
Is it yours? Was you in the Navy?

No, my grandad was.
He was a stoker.

And what's a stoker do?

So he'd be down in the bottom
of the ship... Wow.

..putting the coal into the
furnaces.

So he was a proper grafter, then?
Oh, yeah.

Because you've got keep that going
all the time. Yeah, yeah.

He served throughout
the Second World War,

and there was a troop ship
from Durban that was

taking civilians and Italian
prisoners of war back to the UK,

and they were torpedoed off
the coast of Sierra Leone.

I think about a third of the ship's
complement died.

Grandad managed to
get into a lifeboat

and was taken under tow by
the U-boat that sunk them,

which I understand was fairly
unusual. Yeah, that is unusual.

Then the Americans came over,

and despite the fact that the U-boat
was displaying the Red Cross,

it bombed them. No way!
So... Yeah.

And they were subsequently picked up
by the Free French Navy.

And that was my grandad's story,
so... That's a journey, isn't it?

Wasn't it just? What was
your grandfather's name? It's Alf.

Alf Rabbit. What kind of grandad
was he? Because...

Oh, he was brilliant. I mean,
obviously, you know, as a small boy,

I was in absolute awe of him.

And I think he must have been
a bit of a Jack-the-lad,

cos he used to wear his hat
on the back of his head. Yeah.

But apart from his medals, it was
the only thing that he kept

which was kind of a memento of his
service in the Second World War.

When I used to go round
and stay with my grandparents,

I always used to wear the cap
when I was playing,

whenever I was playing.
And he gave it to me

when I was quite young, probably,
maybe six or seven. Right.

It was a real honour,
and I had it ever since.

Sadly, I didn't look after it
as well as I might,

because I put it in a cupboard...
Yeah.

..and I put a number of things
inside it,

one of which was a green felt tip
without the top on.

And it came out looking like that.
Yeah. And I...

I'll be honest, I was distraught
when that happened. Yeah.

Cos obviously, it means
such a lot to me.

Why is it white on there, then?

Is that you doing a little bit
of repairing?

That was my own very bad attempt

to try and camouflage what I'd done,

so my parents wouldn't ever see it.

So how long has it been like that?
How long has it had the stain?

I was probably about ten,
so nearly 50 years.

May I have a look at it...?
Yes, of course.

You can see the actual green
on the cap

not only has bled into the lining,

it has also come out onto
the outer surface.

Yeah, it's going to be a...

..a great challenge.

Obviously, you want the felt tip
marker gone. If you can.

And then...? I'd like it to be
kind of round again. OK.

You can see, obviously,
there's signs of wear,

when my grandfather was wearing it.
Yeah.

And I can't afford to
lose the lining,

cos you can see, obviously,
he's written his name in there.

Oh, yeah, it's right there.
Yes. Yeah.

So, whatever happens,
the lining's got to stay,

cos that makes the cap his.

This cap must really mean
a lot to you. It does.

I mean, it meant a lot to
my grandad.

He obviously kept it. Yeah.

It means a lot to me cos it's
kind of a link back to him. Yeah.

You know, hopefully I can
pass it on to my grandson

and he can keep it for
future generations.

Ross, thank you for bringing this
in. I'm sure Jayesh can't wait

to get started on this one, can you?
Indeed.

Lovely. Thank you very much indeed.

It's a pleasure. You take care now.
Pleasure. See you soon.

I've always felt bad, the fact that
I damaged my grandfather's cap.

The hat itself means
a huge amount to me,

and to pass that down through
subsequent generations,

so other people can understand

what he and countless others went
through during the Second World War.

This will be my first experience
in working on such a cap.

Quite an honour, I must say,
especially knowing the history.

The main aim is to...

..keep the cap as is, reshape it,

and take care of the marking.

If I attempt to clean the cap
in its entirety,

what will happen is that the ink

will start to bleed into
the outer fabric,

so I will have to detach
the top part of the cap

so I can access the lining.

With every hat, the starting point
is always steaming,

mainly because it refreshes
the fabric.

And if there is any slight,
loose deposit on the cap

then that only helps.

What I'm going to use
is the polishing pad,

which is made of velvet,
and velvet has a nap.

And when you rub it against
the surface,

it lifts off the deposit.

Result.

It is gradually working.

On the other side of the barn,

Steve is removing the last of the
12 giant glass discs

from the Victorian lightning
machine's case.

That is such a relief to
get them all out.

But he's discovered
some significant damage.

There are a couple of the discs
that are broken

and there are a couple that
have some cracks in, as well.

It's a real shame, but if
Nick wants this working,

I'll have to replace them.

Now I've got everything
stripped out,

I'm going to take the case
over to Will,

so that he can get it all polished
up, ready for the reassembly.

There we go.

That is the case for the
lighting machine.

What would you like me to do
with this?

Yeah, just a wax polish would be
great, thank you.

Yeah, a bit of TLC.
Yeah, that'd be marvellous.

Leave it with me.

These brushes are
really very important

to build up the static electricity.

These are really quite tangled,
some of these.

It's important that they
touch all of the lead strips

in the correct places.

And I've got to just make sure
that their shape's right,

because I don't want them rubbing
against the lead strips

and actually scraping them off.

Steve's next job

is to make replacement
lead strips for the discs,

which, when spun, will create
the static charge.

It's just such good fun.

It's like I'm playing here.

I take a strip of thick
roofing lead.

I put it through the rolling mills,

which is like a pasta maker,

but it puts tonnes of pressure onto
the metal and makes it thinner.

I can then make the
embossed pattern on it,

and then cut it out
to the right shape

and just stick these lead pads
onto the glass discs

the way the old ones were.

Going to just tap it with a brush,

and it makes the impression

exactly the same as the originals.

That's worked absolutely
beautifully.

I just need to make 80 of these now!

Hello, Steve.

Lightning fast.

I've just given it a quick clean,
wax and a buff.

Thank you very much.
See you in a bit. Cheers.

I've got all the discs now
back, cut beautifully,

and I just need to match
the old disc

by painting it with shellac.

Shellac is an insulator,
so it'll stop any static

from transferring across
the surface of the glass.

So they should look pretty good,
actually.

They should look like the old ones.

And I'm using one of the
old, broken discs

to actually help me set out where
I'm going to put the lead strips.

I'm just putting
a small amount of shellac

onto the surface of the lead strip.

When I lay it onto the other
shellac-coated surface,

it'll then adhere to it.

I'm pretty sure this is the way
that this was made originally.

Once I've got them all on
and fitted into the machine

and these discs are spinning,

the brushes will brush across
the surface of the lead,

and that will generate
static electricity.

That's gone on nicely.

I'm just going to
smooth down the edges,

so that the brushes won't
actually catch on them.

That's great. Good.

Only another 79 to do.

It's taken Sonnaz hours
of meticulous hand-sewing

to upholster the egg chair,
but she's finally cracked it.

All that remains is to
replace the missing seat pad.

There's not a straight line
on this chair.

Everything's got a curve to it,
and even down to the cushion,

there's this exquisite
attention to detail

to how it should look
when it's in the chair.

So I'm using quite a thick,

heavy-ounce wadding for this,

and that's because I want it
to look comfortable and inviting

and plumptious.

I'm now going to slip-stitch
the fabric together,

and it's the same stitch

that I've used all around
the edge of the chair.

And then that's the chair finished
for Christine and Kate.

Decades spent basking in the comfort
of this '60s design classic

had left it in such a sorry state
that it was hidden under a blanket.

Now, Christine and her daughter Kate
are back to collect the chair

that reminds them both of their
late husband and father.

It was the first item of furniture
Maurice and I bought,

and it's just a piece that he loved,
and he's no longer with us,

and it's a good reminder of him.

Getting the chair back,
it'll be like seeing an old friend,

and it'll be lovely to see it,
you know, restored

and to go on for many more years.

Hi. Hello. JAY: Hello.

How are you doing? Come in.

You all right? Yes. Fine, thank you.

How are you feeling? Bit nervous.
Yeah? Bit nervous?

Shouldn't be nervous! You didn't
have to do any work, did you?

I'm nervous!

LAUGHTER

But are you ready to be reunited

with Maurice's chair?
Yes. Yes. Yeah?

SHE GASPS

Oh, my goodness! Oh!

Wow. Oh!

It's so beautiful!
That's incredible.

What an expert you are.

Oh, that is so good!

Oh, Kate! I know!

LAUGHTER

Oh, Maurice would be absolutely
thrilled. Yeah.

Oh, I'm pleased. And it's a colour
he would have liked, as well.

Oh, good! I'm glad you said that.
Yes, he would. Yes.

Are you all right, dear?

Do you want a tissue?

I know, I feel like crying, too.

It is just wonderful.

What are you thinking of, Kate?

SHE SNIFFLES

Just reminds me of Dad.
Yes, it does!

I can see him sitting there. Yeah.

Nobody else really sat in it.

Nobody else sat in it?

I mean, people did
from time to time,

but it was definitely Dad's chair.

Do you want to try it?
Do you want to...? Oh, yes, please!

Oh!

LAUGHTER

You see, there's always
a child in you,

isn't there? Yeah. Always. Always!

Do you have a place for this at
home now? Yes, we do.

And then, when we put this
in the room,

it will be as if Maurice
has joined us, you know? Aw! Yeah.

He'd have loved this.
He really would. Mm-hm.

And we just are so grateful
to what you've done for us.

It was a real, real pleasure
for me to work on. Was it?

I absolutely loved it.

We're going to get this
shipped up to you

and then it'll be back at home
in no time. Is that all right?

Lovely. Thank you. Perfect.
Looking forward to that.

Thank you. Thank you so much.
No worries. You both take care now.

OK? Thank you. Bye. Bye-bye.
Take care, won't you? Bye-bye.

They're happy.

Well done, you.

For me, it just...
It's just all the memories of Dad.

It's just incredible.

It really is the best present ever.

It's perfect.

Maurice would have loved it.

The barn's next visitor
is John Marshall, from Sutton,

with a real rusting rarity.

Oh, my goodness!
I can't wait to find out about this.

His wish is for metal expert
Dominic Chinea

and cycle restorer Tim Gunn
to give it back its va-va-voom.

How are you doing?
I'm great, thanks.

What an amazing thing.
This is absolutely brilliant.

I've never seen anything like it!

No. It's not a normal bike.

No, it's not. No pedals.

It's actually called a
posterior-powered

Bucking Bronco bicycle.

Brilliant. Isn't it wonderful?

How does it work?
You put your feet on the foot rest,

you put your bottom on the seat,

you push down with your bottom
and you hold on.

And then, as you go down,
you come up,

feet on the foot rest...
And then, woo...

And you go up and down,
bobbing up and down.

That's just incredible.

How do you get hold of
something like this?

Well, it came from two wonderful
friends of mine,

Jon Gresham and Pat Gresham.

Jon had been a fire-eater
in the music halls,

in variety theatres, in the '50s.

He was a sideshow performer

and had headless ladies
and things like that... What? No!

..at fairground resorts.
Oh, I see.

Dreamland at Margate,
Scarborough, Porthcawl...

In the '70s, Jon started
collecting amusement

coin-operated fruit machines,
things like that,

and he had a museum
called Penny Arcadia.

Jon's ambition was to have
a museum of sideshows as well.

A girl in a goldfish bowl and...
Oh, I see. ..a living half-lady.

Wow! Sadly, he never achieved
that ambition.

Jon died 26 years ago. Oh.

Pat was left with the museum.

A year or so later,
I was having a meal with Pat

when she came up with the idea of,

why don't we try and restore
some of Jon's sideshows? Yeah.

And we went down to look
in the barn.

This was in the corner.

As I wheeled it out,

I heard a rattle
like a bag of spanners.

Yeah. And I thought,
"This isn't going to go."

There's a reason why it's been
parked in that barn for so long.

Yeah. Goodness knows
when it was last used. Yeah.

Hawtin's firm made machines
right through to 1939.

This must have been made
at some time then,

because they switched
over to making armaments

for the RAF... For the military,
yeah. ..in 1939.

So has this become a labour of love
of yours, then,

sort of restoring all of these?
You're absolutely right.

It is a labour of love, yes.

Pat, sadly, she died about
two years ago.

I want to preserve these things
for Jon and Pat,

keep their archive going. Yeah.
And this is part of that.

Well, this would have had
quite a bright colour scheme,

I imagine. Yes, yes, yes. Yeah.

So those covers would be sort of
Art Deco, you know,

very gaudily painted wheels on it,

and I'd love to see it like that.

It's... Whatever can be done.

And above all, what on Earth
is underneath those covers?

I suspect there's some sort
of spoking arrangement in there,

but it looks like a bit of a tomb
of horrors in there at the moment!

There's not exactly any
suspension, is there?

Would you like people
to ride on it again?

I would love people to be able
to have a go on this. Brilliant.

We do take them out to festivals.
That's part of it, you know,

we want to expose them.
We want people to see them.

We want people to go in
and experience them.

Brilliant. That's really,
really important.

Well, I absolutely admire
what you're doing,

saving all of these old things and
still putting them back to good use.

I think it's a really, really
good thing you're doing.

Well, thank you and good luck. But I
can't think of anybody else who

might be able to do anything with
it. Yeah, I'm looking forward to

having a...having a crack at it.

Thank you so much for bringing
this in. Thank you very much.

Lovely to meet you. All right.
See you soon. Thank you. Bye-bye.

Oh, Tim, this is just brilliant,
isn't it?

I don't know where I'm going
to start with that one!

Hey, you'll be fine.

Restoring Jon and Pat's
Bucking Bronco bicycle

means the world to me.

This is going to be an important
part of their archive,

and important for people to see

what their grandparents
did for entertainment,

and to have a go at riding it
will be great!

Come on, then, Tim.

Come on, I can't wait to see what
you do with this thing.

So, where are you going to start?

The idea is to get it all apart,
strip it down as far as we can,

work out if there's any bits
that need replacing,

and then see where we go from there.

I get the good job, the paint job.

You get to do the really funky paint
job. Yeah! I can't wait! So I'm

looking forward to seeing what that
looks like when it's done.

Trust me, it's going to be good.
And then put it all back together.

Brilliant. And then, hopefully,
have a ride of it.

That all-important first ride.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to
being thrown off of it!

Good luck with it. Let me know
when you're ready for paint.

Yeah, OK. Cool. I will do.
All right. Cheers.

I'm really, really looking forward
to getting it apart

to see what's inside that rear
wheel.

The fact it's got those
covered discs on it

is probably hiding
a multitude of problems.

I think the first thing
we need to do

is just start with the handlebars.

This hasn't been apart
since pre-war.

Let's see if it moves.

No, that's not moving at all.

You just have to go very, very
carefully with it.

Otherwise, if you just go a bit
like a bull in a china shop,

you're just going to
start breaking things.

Thank God, they're off!

I think the next bit is
the front wheel.

Let's see whether that comes out.

Hopefully, it'll be a bit easier.

In his attempt to get the
naval cap shipshape again,

Jayesh's first task
is to tackle the previous repairs.

I'm going to use a scalpel to gently
scrape off this correction fluid.

What I'm going to do is
start from the very edge

and see how the scalpel reacts.

I'm having to do quite
repeated scrapes,

and it's gradually coming away
from the fabric.

I will have to carry on patiently.

I do have three other spots
to work on.

Good thing is, it's working.

So I've separated the top layer of
the lining from the cap.

Now what I'm going to do
is tackle the marker leak

in both the lining
and the top part of the cap.

The reason I'm using shaving foam
is purely accidental.

One day, whilst I was shaving,
my daughter came along

and she did something similar,

and shaving foam was
next thing to hand.

To my surprise,
it worked tremendously.

Who knew, you know, this
will help me professionally?

Literally, when you apply onto
the surface, it expands,

and that goes into
the weave of the fabric,

and that really helps

lift out the marking,

without having to be robust.

And the reason I am using
running water,

it is taking the marker away
from the fabric,

rather than immersing it into water

and let it run onto the
cleaner part of the fabric.

That has worked tremendously,
so what I'm going to do now is

move on to a much bigger mark.

There we are.

Now, with this piece,
it really shows why I have avoided

immersing this in a tub of water.

You can see, it's literally
coming away.

Looking at the markings,
where they are, I'm very happy.

In fact, it has come up really well.

The very thing I was concerned about

was this handwritten pencil name
by Ross's grandfather

was still there.

So, to secure all
three layers together,

what I'm going to do is place
the top of the cap

to the main body and then
stitch it all together.

I'm going to use the clips,

just to have the pieces in place.

Cos, thing is with hand-stitching,

it can slightly come away
from the alignment.

There we are.

I'm actually picking out
the needle markings

where the original stitching is,

so I'm picking out the holes
from there.

Hand-stitching can be
very therapeutic.

It's literally like meditation.

You have to just enjoy
the whole process.

In the outdoor workshop,

the Bucking Bronco bicycle
is finally apart.

While Dom plans its
paint restoration,

Tim's assessing the worrisome
back wheel.

So, as I suspected,

it's a conventional bicycle wheel

that's suffered pretty much
a catastrophic failure.

It needs new spokes, new rim,

and then we'll rebuild the wheel
with the original hub.

There's also the front wheel,
as well, I've got to do.

I think it's a little bit better
than this,

so we might be able to salvage it,

but that's going to need new spokes,
as well.

So, yeah, still a lot of work to do.

This bike was made
to be at a fairground.

Its sole purpose is to draw
attention

and be bright and bold
and colourful and fun.

Things like this, they would have
been painted quite regularly,

you know, every year,
freshen up the rides,

draw that attraction,
so things would have been repainted.

I'm trying to sort of scrape through
all of those layers

to see what this bike would have
looked like when it was new.

Frame has been yellow,
then white, then pink, then red.

Now I'm confident I've got
my base palette of colours

that are original to the bike,

I can confidently send all these
parts off to be sandblasted,

and they'll just be stripped
right back to bare metal,

remove all of the rust
and flaky bits of paint,

then the real work can begin.

He's weathered a storm,

but Steve is almost ready to
see if lightning will strike

inside this unique
Victorian invention.

Just got to get
the last disc in now,

and it's getting harder and harder
to get these into place.

And I'm just hoping that
things don't fall and break.

Oh...

Oh!

I am so relieved.

Oh! Great.

I feel a lot more confident
now I've got them all into place,

and I can start finishing it.

These brushes will hopefully
rub on the lead strips,

create a spark.

This has been an amazing project.

I've loved working on this machine
because of its importance.

I'm just going to now
pop the electrodes in place.

If it works, it'll just be amazing.

Absolutely amazing.
I am really excited.

This ground-breaking Victorian
invention was dreamt up

by James Wimshurst back in 1885,

and well over 100 years later,

his great-great-grandson Nick

is hoping to be enthralled
by its display.

I've never seen this machine work,

and it's been in our family
for such a long time.

The idea of creating a lightning
spark is just really exciting,

and I'm intrigued to see
what Steve's done

in terms of being able to actually,
potentially get it working again.

Steve, have you got this working?

You'll have to wait and see!

I'm really excited. I bet you are.
I'm really excited!

Hello, Nick. Hello, Steve.
How are you? Yeah, good, thank you.

Hi, Nick. Nice to see you. And you,
Will. Very nice to see you, too.

How've you been?
Very good, thank you. Very good.

Very excited about today.

Have you got high expectations
today?

I...I don't know what to expect.

It's kind of... Yeah, it's
one of those things. I...

I've just never seen it working.

So, I mean, it's such a rare thing.
Yeah.

It's amazing. I mean, I...

I have enjoyed this so much.
Have you? Yeah.

Right, would you like to see
it, then? I would love to see it.

Wow.

Wow!

Oh, it's unbelievable.

It's sparkling, isn't it?

Wow!

That is...unreal.

The wood looks unbelievable,
doesn't it?

The whole thing is quite something,
isn't it?

Really impressive piece.

Am I allowed to have a go? Yup.

If you turn it clockwise...
Clockwise.

MACHINE WHIRS

Keep going, that's it.

CRACKLING

Wow!

Steve, you're a genius!

That is unbelievable.

Thank you so much.

It had such contributions to
Victorian science,

and now, to see it working,

I am genuinely blown away.

I'm going to have another go,
if that's all right.

MACHINE WHIRS AND CRACKLES

Wow!

Wow.

What does it make you feel,
when you wind that handle

that your great-great-grandfather
wound and got the spark?

It's just...

..genuinely kind of mind-blowing
in some respects... Yeah.

..to kind of know that
he created this

and we've somehow managed
to keep it in the family!

So, yeah, it does mean a lot to us.

Thank you, both of you,
for just working on it.

You're very welcome. Pleasure.

Thank you so much.
Thank you for all your help.

Genuinely. And thank you.
Big thank you. No worries.

Thank you very much.

Bye-bye, now. Bye. Cheers. Bye-bye.

I think my great-great-grandad
would be really proud,

just to see it working and
creating that lightning bolt,

and listening to that crackle,
seeing that spark.

This means a significant amount
to our family.

Hopefully, it will inspire future...

..future budding scientists,

or the future Steves of this world
to, um...

..yeah, to go out and actually
create really cool things.

Outside, the Bucking Bronco
bicycle parts

are back from the sandblasters.

All the yellow paint's gone,
which is brilliant.

The next stage is to have a little
bit of a trial assembly,

just to make sure everything
fits and flows nicely.

This is quite a nervous moment.

I mean, you prep all these
bits and pieces

and you hope that it's all going to
go back together again.

So this is the main arm that...

It's basically the...

..the uppy-downy bit.

And then we've got the two legs

that basically go round
on the cranks.

This isn't really
a conventional bicycle.

It's got no chain or pedals,

so it's a completely new
experience for me.

Basically, all I want to do is

make sure that the whole thing is
in line and in track,

cos the last thing we want it to do
is to go down the road

and it to start veering off
to one side.

Now, I can see that
it's all in track,

everything's all working OK,

and I'm quite pleased with the way
it's operating.

All I've got to do now is just
fettle a few bits

and then it's ready for painting.

These wheel discs are a real unique
feature of this bike, and amazingly,

I've actually been able to find an
original reference picture of it

when it was new,
and these discs on the wheels

had this crazy swirly pattern,

which is just brilliant.

And with this picture and the
information that I was able to find

from scraping back the
old layers of paint,

I'm able to tell that these
would have been

yellow with red and green swirls,

which tie in with the rest of the
paint that's on the actual frame.

So it's going to look brilliant.
I honestly can't wait.

These wheel discs are going to be
such a prominent part of the bike

and its paint job that I need to
make sure I get this part correct.

I'm painting this by hand,
with a brush,

which is quite traditional.

It's how these fairground
rides and amusements

would have been painted,
back in the day.

It's all about getting it
nice and even and smooth,

and nice and consistent.

Just got the other three to do,
exactly the same as that,

and then all the bike parts
are ready to get back to Tim.

I hope he's got his
sunglasses ready!

Tim! Oh, Dom!
Welcome to the fairground!

Oh, my God!

That is utterly amazing!

Do you like the colours?
I love the colour scheme.

It's just brilliant.

You've absolutely nailed it.
Thank you very much!

Hopefully, it'll all
go back together.

Well, that is over to you now,
I think.

I can't wait for that first ride!

Yeah, I know. Yeah, me too.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, that's just fantastic.

I love it.

It's just a case now of just
bolting things back on again,

and then the giant jigsaw puzzle's
just going to come together.

On Jayesh's bench, the naval cap
is almost back in one piece.

An expert steam and
turn of the block

should see it looking
shipshape again.

Yeah, that's done it.

Ross really wanted this outer band

to be kept in its
original condition.

With his grandfather using the cap,

that has his journey
literally embedded in the band.

And, for me, to hold on to that
is equally important.

And once I've done this, the cap
is ready to go back to Ross.

After an unfortunate incident
left it badly stained,

the cap belonging to Second
World War naval seaman Alf Rabbit

was hidden away.

Ross has returned to see if

the precious gift from
his late grandfather

is now fit to honour his memory.

I've had it since I was about
seven years old.

That's 52 years.

I'm just really, really anxious to
see what Jayesh has managed to do.

I just can't wait to see it
and have it back.

Ross, hi, how's it going?
Yeah, good.

Hi, Jayesh. Hello.
How are you?

Very well, thank you.
And yourself? Yeah.

Yeah, kind of nervous.

It's my grandad's cap,
I really treasure it,

and I'm just hoping
it comes out better and happier

than when I brought it here.

So, what are you hoping that
Jayesh has been able to do?

That green ink stain, that would be
great to have got rid of that.

But, you know, it was just battered,

and hopefully now it will be
in a state that I can...

..I can actually have it on display
and show it off.

I bet you can't wait for that.
Not really, no.

LAUGHTER

Go on, Jayesh. Yeah?
Over to you. OK.

No way!

Oh, that's fantastic.

That's absolutely amazing.

That is just incredible.

I can't believe what you've done.

I mean, the inside of the hat

was just full of green ink,

and you've managed to
get it all out,

and you've managed to keep
my grandad's name in there,

which means a huge amount to me.

But I think, importantly,
it's still your grandad's cap.

Yeah, I mean,
there's everything here.

There's wear marks on
the inside of the band. Yeah.

That's where my grandad wore it.
It was...

It looks like he's just taken it
off, doesn't it?

Does, doesn't it? Yeah.

You've absolutely nailed it.
Thank you.

This is better than I expected.

But it's what I hoped for.
And, yeah, it's...

Can't stop smiling.
Oh, bless you.

Just perfect.

That's going to last for
a few more years yet.

Jayesh, thank you so much.

I'm so grateful.

Dom, nice to have met you.
No problem. Lovely to meet you.

I'm glad you like it.
Like it? I love it. Yeah!

It's great to see you.
Thank you so much.

Take care. Bye-bye. Thank you.

Getting the cap fixed and seeing it
today was just incredible.

It really was amazing.

I can't believe what Jayesh
has managed to do with it.

You know, his hat was him,
wasn't it?

It's such a personal item.

I feel that I've got a piece of
my grandfather back again today,

and I'm so grateful.

In the outdoor workshop,
the Bucking Bronco bicycle

is almost ready for
its own voyage home.

OK, so that's the rear wheel
completely done.

The wheel discs are on.

I'm really pleased with the way
that that's come out now.

So it's just a case of seeing if it
fits in the frame.

So it's a little bit of a squeeze.

HE EXHALES

Oh, that's just been such a project!

But all the mechanism's working,
it looks so cool.

I'm over the moon with it.

The paintwork's just bonkers.

The bike's bonkers.

We're on the homeward stretch now.

I've just got to fit
the front wheel

and then it's ready to test-ride,

and I'm so looking forward
to having a go on it!

It's going to be so cool!

The days of entertaining crowds
in the 1930s

were well behind this
amusement park attraction

when it was rescued from retirement.

John's returned to see if his
old friend's comedy bike

can take centre stage again
in future sideshows.

Trying to preserve
Jon and Pat Gresham's heritage

is very important
and very dear to me,

and I really can't wait to go in

and see what has been able
to be achieved

in restoring this machine.

Hello. Hello.
How are you doing?

I'm great.

You a bit excited?
Incredibly excited.

I can't imagine what's under that.

You wanted this to be usable.

You don't want it to be
a museum piece.

If it's possible for someone
to ride it,

that's beyond my wildest dreams.

It's such a wonderful object.

It needs to be seen and
someone needs to have a go on it.

You ready to see it?

I'm ready, yeah.

Tim, do the honours. Right.

Oh, good heavens.

This is just incredible. Yeah?

The colours, Art Deco-ish.

Everything goes, doesn't it?

Dom did the paintwork. Incredible.

Just right for the period. Yeah.

It just looks so right.

The covers...
That was completely rotten.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, imagine how
that's going to look, that pattern,

when the wheels go round.

It's going to be just amazing!

You've excelled yourself in this.

It's just... Thank you.

I know that Pat and Jon

would be absolutely astonished.

Is it what you expected?

It's... No. No?

It's not what I expected at all.

It's far, far better.

Thank you, thank you.

You've brought it back to life.

What are you going to do
with it now?

It's going to be on display,

and it won't just be able
to be admired

and looked at in a glass cabinet.

People will be able to
have a go on it. Yeah.

So, talking about people riding it,
do you want to see it in action?

Well, now, that would be the
icing on the cake, wouldn't it?

I know Tim can't wait to have a go,

and I'm sure Dom would like to
have a go as well.

Let's go outside. Let's go.

You get the door and
I'll bring the bike out.

Helmet on.

Break a leg!

He's doing it, he's doing it! Come
on. He's going, yeah he's going!

Nice one. Wow!

I'm completely overwhelmed.

It shouts colour.
It shouts excitement.

It shouts fun.

Wow! That's amazing. Look at it!

And to see Dom and Tim
having a go and riding it,

it's incredible.

This is brilliant!
It's nuts, isn't it?

I can't wait to put it
in our displays

and let people have a go on it.

Join us next time...

Go on, Jay!

..for more incredible
transformations...

Oh, my God!

..in The Repair Shop.