The Repair Shop (2017–…): Season 8, Episode 3 - Episode #8.3 - 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... So 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!

In The Repair Shop today...

The moment of truth.

..trouble for Kirsten.

Oh, this is so scary!

It could really do with another pair
of hands.

Will... Solid as a rock.

..and Dom join forces...

I've got to be very, very careful.

..on a favourite from their past.

I am at just over 200 degrees now.
And another collaboration...

I do hope he still fits
those dungarees

after Amanda's spent all that time
making them!

..of the cuddly kind.

You're going in!

SHE LAUGHS

Oh, George, we'll be in
such trouble.

First, father and son Herbert
and Josh have travelled to the barn

hoping horologist Steve Fletcher
can fix a very precious possession.

Nice to meet you.

Hi. Hello. I'm Jay.

Herbert. Herbert. And this is my
son... Joshua. ..Joshua.

So this is a very interesting clock.

Tell us about it.

So this is a present
from my grandfather.

OK.

So my grandfather, he used to live
in New York, where I used to live,

and he had to move to California.

And as a farewell present,
he gave me this clock.

Wow.

I was nine or ten years old,

I was like, "Yeah, OK, thanks,
Grandad," took the clock

and then said bye to him.

Yeah.

And a year later, my grandfather
passed away.

Oh! So it's a real memory
of my grandfather.

So did you have a good relationship
with your grandfather?

Yeah, we were really, really close.

So my father passed away
when I was four, so my grandfather

kind of became like my father. Wow.

Yeah, he didn't treat me any
different from a hearing person.

He treated me exactly the same.

He had a lot of care and love for me
and he'd always play around with me.

We had great fun,
and he loved me a lot. Brilliant.

But my mum wasn't happy
with my schooling in New York,

so my mum sent me to go
to school in London.

So my mum lived in New York
and I went to school in London.

So I did that, back-and-forth,
until I was 16.

Wow!

And often going between New York
and London, I'd be getting ships

across the Atlantic. Oh, right! OK.

And my grandfather knew about that
and knew that I loved ships,

so that's why he gave me this. Ah!

Where did you keep this clock?

On a shelf in my bedroom. Yeah,
I'd look at it every day to check

the time, what time I needed
to wake up.

And I'd remember my grandfather
every time I looked at the time. Ah!

For years, I just had it
on a mantelpiece and I thought,

I must repair this.

And I tried to repair it and I could
never do it.

So I took everything apart,
as you can see,

and I lost that mechanism
for the inside of the clock.

Now, I remember when I was younger,
I used to clean it rigorously

and you can see on the silver
it's really dull now.

Before, it used
to be a mirror, like.

I actually can't remember
when I had it as a working clock.

I think that's over 30 years

it hasn't been working as a working
clock. Wow.

What will it mean to you if I can
repair it and get it working again?

Yes! My grandad will be really,

really happy to restore this back to
life. Yeah. Yeah.

I can't thank you enough
for bringing this in and telling

us these stories.

I'll try and repair it for you.

Great. Good luck.

THEY LAUGH

Good luck. Thank you.

Thank you, Steve.

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

Yes, so me and my grandfather
were really close.

He was so good to me.

I can't forget him.

I really loved my grandfather
very much.

So I want to treasure that memory
and that clock represents that.

That's a beautiful relationship,
Herbert's had with his

grandfather, isn't it?

Yeah, it was special, wasn't it?

And I think it's quite special.
the relationship between Herbert

and Josh as well. Yeah, yeah.

So what are you going to do to this?

I'm going to put a quartz
movement in. OK.

You don't have to worry
about winding it up then. Right.

The main thing is I've got
to polish all this up.

And I think that's going
to be the big thing is getting

all that shone up.

I'll get the main wooden boat over
to...

Yeah, Will, Will can definitely get
on that. Yeah.

But then, if you're taking
all the sails apart... Yep.

..the wires, you're going to know
where to put those, yeah?

Well, I'm not a rigging expert
but I'll give it a good go.

THEY LAUGH

OK. Well, once you've got that part,
then take it over to Will.

OK, all right, no problem.

I think what I'm going to do first
is start de-rigging it.

These just actually pull
out quite nicely.

Great. Just got to take the other

bits and pieces off and then I can
get the main hull

over to Will and he can
refinish that.

Next, a pottery puzzle.

That is a bit of a jigsaw, innit,
eh? Cor, just a bit!

THEY LAUGH

Emma Grundlingh
from Surrey is hoping the delicate

touch of ceramics expert
Kirsten Ramsay can piece together

a much-loved memory
of her childhood.

Hello. Hello, how are you doing?
Hi. I'm Jay.

Hi, Jay, nice to meet you, I'm Emma.
Emma? Yes.

I'm Kirsten. Hi, Kirsten,
nice to meet you. You, too.

So this is definitely yours.
It is, yes.

It's definitely broken. Yes.

SHE LAUGHS

What is this, then?

This is Bunny Cottage.

It's basically a night-light... Ah!

..with a little house full of
bunnies.

And when did you get this, then?

Well, it was a gift from my dad
when I was born.

I think he fell in love with it,

and, yeah, he really wanted
to bring it home for me.

And yeah, it's been in our house
ever since.

My mum, every night
before we went up to bed,

she would take me to Bunny
Cottage and the light

would be on, always, and she would
tell me stories of the bunnies,

and just, you know, make believe
all the adventures that the bunnies

would get up to in the garden.

And so she would just sort of tie it
in, really, with what we did.

Your mum sounds like a perfect mum,
giving you those stories

and everything that the bunnies was
up to.

She was just an incredible mum,
just full of adventure and...

And stories as well. ..and stories
and, yes, just a real spirit.

One of those people that lights
up a room and ready for a laugh.

So, yeah. Perfect.

How did it get broken?

Well, my parents were moving house
and it got

broken by the removal company. Oh!
It was in a box,

and then my dad said, "I'd like
to bring it up for the children."

And when he opened the box,
it was... Well, it was in pieces.

Oh, no!

It was like this in the box?

Yeah.
So how did your dad feel?

My dad, he's 93 now and he's lived
through a lot... Right.

..life through the war. Yeah.

And when Bunny's Cottage
was broken, it was the second time

I've seen him cry.

And my mum, also, I mean,
she was really, really upset,

also very tearful. Mm.

So it was really upsetting.

Yeah, very.

So that's obviously the top bit.
Yes.

So where does all these bits go?
They go on the bottom?

How does it look? I always thought
it's a mushroom. Ah!

I thought it was like a giant
mushroom. Oh, yeah! Yeah. And then

the light will be shining in, so
there's a light bulb inside it?

And then the light would come out of
the windows and the little door

at the bottom. Oh, it's got a door?

It's got a door,
and it's got two floors. Has it?

Yes. Now, that's very modern.
Oh! OK.

THEY LAUGH

The dad is on the ground floor
reading his paper

and then you've got
the little bedroom.

This looks like a bit of tape
on here. Have you had it...?

Yes, that was my... Oh, you have?

I did attempt, I had some
superglue... Yeah.

..and I tried to glue a couple

of the pieces and I used the
Sellotape to try

and hold them in place
while the glue dried.

OK. I'm impressed that you even
tried.

Well, I wanted to surprise...
I thought, I'll surprise

my mum and dad and see if I can get
it repaired.

So now here I am. Yes.

Do they know that you're here?

Yes. Well, they do. Sadly,
I lost my mum in April.

Oh!

Oh.

SOFTLY: Yeah.

So it seems this is not
only for Dad,

this will be for Mum as well?

Well, I started off this journey,
actually, I wanted to do

it for my dad and...

Yeah. ..yeah.

And then now, want to do it for Mum?

For Mum, for both of them, really.

I would be so grateful if you can
get it back together.

Well, in capable hands now,

and I can't wait to see it lit up,
OK?

OK. Thank you. Thank you!

Thank you so much, you too.
Lovely to meet you.

Bye-bye. Bye.

Bunny's Cottage to me is just my
childhood, and I had such a happy

childhood, and all the memories
that are associated

with it. It was a gift from my dad
and it meant the world to him

that my mum was the storyteller.

It's just a really important
piece for our family,

and I do it with love for both
of them.

I just love that bond that Emma's
got with her mum,

telling her stories every night,

and different ones. I don't
want you to feel sad

for me, but I never had a story
read to me... No!

..ever. Really?

Yeah. But did you read stories
to your children?

Yeah.

It's just a nice way to sort
of calm down, isn't it?

Yes. Especially...well, I needed
calming down.

SHE LAUGHS

As a kid, I was, like, "Woo!" -
all over the place.

But one of the things I don't
understand about this...

Yeah. ..how do you work out the
structure to hold that top bit?

I just don't really know
is the honest answer. OK.

I mean, the weight of this,
I haven't actually felt the weight.

It's quite heavy,

so I'm going to have to look at
a way of using quite a strong

adhesive, which, this is
an earthenware,

I would normally use a fairly
soft adhesive. Right, OK.

I'm going to take it to my bench

and have a little bit of time
just to try and think

about the best way
of working on this. OK, right.

No problem.

I think I've got the geography
of this piece now.

I've laid out all of the shards.

I've got about 45 broken sections,

plus a whole load of crumbs.

I've got all the break edges
to clean,

and also to try and remove the glue

that Emma has used.

So I'm going to try
with some acetone.

You really need to get every single
bit of old adhesive off,

because if you don't, you're not
going to get a really nice join,

and actually, the whole thing
will be misaligned.

And I need this to go together
beautifully so that it takes

the weight of the roof.

Yeah, I'm going to be here
for some time.

Having de-rigged the nautical
timepiece,

Steve's preparing to pressgang
shipmate Will into service.

All right? Hey, Steve.

I've got this ship.

It is a clock, and Herbert,
the owner, he wants

the sails really shiny,

so I wondered whether you can do
the same for the body

of the ship. I can do that.

And this is the ship's wheel,
which is the outer part of the clock

that goes into the hole there.
Oh! Wonderful. Leave it with me

and I'm sure we can get this thing
shipshape for Herbert.

HE CHUCKLES

I'm sure you can.

I'm just making a start on cleaning
up all the metal ornaments

of the boat, and they're all made
of steel and they've all been plated

with something and it's not chrome,
but I'm not sure what it is.

I've just got to be very,
very careful when I polish

it up that I don't clean
that plating off.

Just rub it off and see
whether that comes

up with a nice shine.

That's excellent, that really has
worked well. You can still see

where the rust has been, but I'm not
going to get rid of that,

that's right inside the plating,

but it's certainly improved
it hugely.

That means now I can crack
on with all of the rest

of the pieces of metal
that have been plated.

It's going to look great.

I'm quite pleased that Herbert
hadn't got the electric mechanism

because a lot of those old electric
mechanisms, they're not very safe.

So having a battery mechanism put
in is quite a good option.

Now I've got to fix the hands
onto the mechanism.

Now, the hands

have different centre fixings,
so I've got to make up some

little brass washers to actually
attach it to the new movement.

WHIRRING

Good. That's the hour hand, I just
need to do the minute hand

and the seconds hand and then it'll
all be ready to fit into the case.

Next, another boyhood treasure
in need of revival.

Mike Stevens from Cardigan Bay
is hoping dynamic duo

Dominic Chinea and Will Kirk

can salvage a relic of his youth.

Hiya. Hi, guys. I'm Mike.

Mike. Hi, I'm Dom.

I'm Will. Hi, Will. What's that?
THEY LAUGH

Two pieces of wood?

No, it's a skateboard.

This is, or was, a skateboard.

That is the smallest skateboard
I've ever seen,

and it's really flat as well.

They usually have sort of bits
on either end

so you can do the tricks and stuff.

That looks like a flat piece
of wood from there.

Yeah, modern skateboards do.

This is a very early skateboard
I bought from Newquay in Cornwall

in 1967 when I was 15 and a half.
In '67?

It cost me £4, ten shillings... Oh,
God. ..£4.50 in today's money.

HE LAUGHS

Please tell me you've got the rest

of the trucks and the wheels in
there.

Yes, I have. OK. This truck has took
a heck of a battering...

Oh, no, it's broken.

..and the plate is snapped in half,
but that would go something

like that and that would fit
on something like that.

There you go,
it's looking better already.

THEY LAUGH

So you say you bought it in Newquay,
are you from Newquay?

No, I was born in Liverpool. I
probably was one of the first people

in Liverpool to actually
have a skateboard. Wow!

My friends and I, we would take
it down the local park and we'd be

skateboarding down the lovely
tarmac paths

in the park and we'd get stopped
by the park police

who'd ask who we were and what was
this thing?

I haven't seen a skateboard
like this before,

and I like skateboarding.

You don't want to see my tricks.
THEY LAUGH

And that looks very dangerous.
In those days, this was

the skateboard, that was the only
one, end of.

Yeah, there was no choice.
Those wheels look odd.

What are they made of? Stone?

Yeah. They're not made of stone,
are they?

They're made of granite. Granite?
They're made of granite.

The modern skateboards now
that you guys probably ride,

they've got urethane wheels.

Yeah, my longboard's got, like, big,
old, fat...soft wheels, yeah.

Great grip, they have,
an amazing grip.

So I've got to ask, what happened
to cause the damage? Yeah!

HE LAUGHS

Nowadays, with
the skateboard you can do a lot

of tricks and jumps and things.

This wouldn't take it.

The truck broke and the deck
snapped in half,

and it's been in this condition
for over 40 years.

Why did you keep hold of it?

When I see it, it just reminds me

of the history of where I've
come from,

all my family and friends in
Liverpool and all the fun we used

to have with the guys.

It's a big part of my history,
this little board is.

So you haven't been on this for
40 years... Gosh, no.

..but do you have any other
skateboards?

Oh, about half a dozen, and my
daughters have all got them as well.

Lovely. People say, "Isn't it time a
guy your age maybe packed this in?"

No!

THEY LAUGH

I've seen Dominic skateboard
recently. Never too old, come on.

Why, just because you get
older, do you do need to stop

having fun?

HE LAUGHS

I want to keep it as a
wall hanging, a memento,

so as I walk past in my dotage,
I can remember, "I used

"to ride that board one day."

Thank you for bringing it
down, in pieces.

I think Dom and I are going
to have... Fun. ..fun...

THEY LAUGH
..getting it fixed up for you.

We'll let you know when you can
come pick it up.

I look forward to that.
Thank you, guys.

Lovely to meet you. Bye-bye.
See you later.

Well, it's a bit scary,
leaving my beautiful old skateboard

with Dom and Will because it's been
in my possession

for such a long time, but at the
same time exciting to find out

they're both avid skateboarders.

I'm pretty sure they will do
a cracking job on it

because they've got a bit
of a vested interest in skateboards.

This is pretty cool, isn't it?
It's amazing. It really is, yeah.

This is going to be a tricky
one, fixing that. At least Mike

has done the disassembly part
for us.

THEY LAUGH

You've got the wooden bits,

I'll deal with these bits.

Why have we never skated together,
Dom?

Different type of skateboard.

Mine is much slower, much more
gentle than what you've got.

My knees just can't cope any more.

Well, I'll get glueing and I'll
leave you to fix that bit of metal.

Thank you. Yes.
All right, buddy. All right.

I don't know...

SHE LAUGHS

This is made up of one, two, three,
four, five pieces of wood,

they've been glued together and then
shaped into the skateboard shape.

This really needs to be cleaned
out and re-glued.

The first thing I want to do
with this - patch

that damaged area there.

Lovely!

We've got oak there and I think
that's definitely a mahogany.

So now I know what I'm working with,

I'm going to head to the band saw,

cut out that damaged piece of wood

there, then I can glue in a new
patch of mahogany.

I've got a couple of pieces
of mahogany here,

I'm going to glue both
ends in place.

Once they've dried, then I can start
shaping them in to match the rest

of the surface of the skateboard.

Well, the glue's dried and now
I'm left with two nice, straight,

clean bits of wood.

All I'm going to do is glue those
together, then I can sand

back the rest of the board.

Also readying for reassembly,
Kirsten, having cleaned and prepped

all 45 fragments of Bunny's Cottage.

I've made the decision to

turn the cottage on its roof.

I'm going to get gravity
to assist me and I'm going to build

up the walls, and then I've got

the base that I'm going to put

on as the last piece.

Normally, I work from the base
and build up, but this time

I'm actually working from the top
and building down.

Yeah.

Really difficult, this, because
you've got the curved shape as well.

So I'm looking for some window.

Will, where you at, mate?

Come on...!
Yeah, let's do this, man.

All right.

We've got an audience, yeah?

THEY LAUGH

So pressure. Let's see what you got,
man.

OK, cool, well done!

What you got, what you got?

Oh! Ho-ho!

CHEERING

The final piece to go on now

is the floor of the cottage.

This is really the point
where I find out how well

it all locks together.

It's a little bit like the keystone,
I put that in and hopefully

this will regain its original
strength.

Right, the moment of truth.
Bunnies, look away.

I've got the window here,

so that's quite a nice point

for me to reference.

This is so fiddly.

Oh, this is so scary!

I could really do with another pair
of hands, but everyone else has gone

to lunch, so here I am.

THEY CLAP AND CHEER

Oh!

Come back to Earth.

Right, that is all back together
now,

it's structurally sound.

I'm now going to fill all
the cracks where I've joined

the pieces together.
That's an awful lot of cracks

I've got to fill.

I'm going to start
off with some titanium white.

It's good for making my fill

more opaque.

And what I don't want in something
like this, which has a light

within it, is for the light
to come through the cracks,

that's just going to look awful.

So now I've got that,

I can work round here,

filling all the areas and on the
inside, too.

Here. In here? Go on, then.

With all the components now
shipshape, Steve's ready to hoist

the mainsail on the precious
nautical clock.

When I was in the Fire Service,
it was always important

when you tied a knot that it
was easy to tie and easy to untie

and was fit for the purpose.

But there's no untying that one.

It's fit for the purpose, though.

I'm just going to pop the movement
in now.

Pop the back plate on.

And...oh, wow.

That has come up so well, I am so,

so pleased with this. Herbert
is going to love it, he'll be able

to see his face reflected in it.

I can't wait for him to see it.

This clock was presented to Herbert
by his doting grandfather

a year before he died.

Today, he's returned with his son,
Josh, to be reunited

with his treasured timepiece.

So I'm half excited and half quite

nervous about it,
I'm not sure what to expect.

I don't know what my reaction
will be.

I feel like I'm being reunited
in a way with my grandad.

I'm really looking forward
to getting it back.

Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello.

How are you both?

Good, thank you. Good.
Well. How are you?

Me? I'm very excited.

Very. OK.

I'm excited, but I'm a bit nervous
about this as well, so mixed

emotions at the moment.

OK!

It's like embracing my grandad
when I get this back.

Wow. All right? Let him see it.

HE CHUCKLES

It's so beautiful.

HE CHUCKLES

Wow!

I've put a new

battery mechanism into the clock.

Magic! That's amazing.

Will...

..he's polished and lacquered
the wood.

Oh, right.

It's beautiful.

Thank you so much.

HE CHUCKLES

Josh, have you ever seen
your dad this excited?

Well, I got married last
year, I don't think

he was as excited even then...
Of course not!

..so I haven't seen him as excited
as this.

THEY LAUGH

Is that true?

I'm not saying anything.

Does it reconnect you with
your memories of your grandfather?

Yeah, definitely.

Yeah? That's good.

It has made me think about my
grandfather a lot more than I ever

have done before, so it's definitely
reconnected me with my grandfather.

So now it's fully restored,

what are you going to do
with it?

I want the world to see it,
I want to show everybody!

HE LAUGHS

Perfect.

Thank you, Steve, for practising
your sign language as well.

I'm amazed at your sign language.
And happy sailing.

Bye-bye, then.

See you.

Ooh! Wow!

It's hard to describe, it's hard
to put it into words.

It really hit me,

I just feel a bit overwhelmed
by it all.

I could see my grandfather's
face a bit more, his sense

of humour, his personality,
those things have started to come

back to me.

And it's kind of reconnecting,
and I feel like that bond is kind

of restored in some sort of way.

It's beautiful!

As restored items are carefully
carried home, other projects

are just arriving.

Harry Peers from Oxfordshire
has brought along his mum, Mikki,

and a lifelong friend to see bear
repair pair, Amanda and Julie.

Hello! Hello. I'm Julie.

This is Amanda.

Hello. I'm Harry
and this is my mum, Mikki.

Lovely to meet you. And who's this?

This is George. Hi, George!

Why have you brought him to us
today?

He's just looking a bit
distressed now, a bit old. OK.

He could do with a little bit
of fixing up, really.

So how long have you had George?

I've had him about 26 years now.
My nan had him before that.

Right. My mum was a social worker...
Uh-huh.

..and she was looking
for a comfort toy... Yes.

..for children that may have to come
into the care system

and to help them settle.

So she bought George.

However, she made a mistake
of showing Harry that...

HE LAUGHS
..and he fell in love with George.

So, for my second birthday,
she had bought a replacement bear

and she had given me... Given you
that one, oh, that's wonderful.

We understand the importance
of teddy bears, don't we?

Absolutely!

Yeah, I don't know what I would have

done without him. We grew up
together.

He was there watching me
in my childhood and through my

teens and stuff. And then a few

years ago, I decided it was the
right time for me to transition.

So I'm female-to-male transgender.
OK.

So he's been there through all of
that with me and watched me change

and been there to support me.

He was there for my first hormone
injection, because I'm quite scared

of needles, so I needed him
there for that.

And he flew to Florida with me
in 2018 to go and have surgery

on my chest.

It's a lot of big changes
and big, scary changes,

so it's been great to have him there
just to help me out, really.

Yeah.

Harry was never particularly
comfortable as a girl.

The change has been incredible.

He's gone from being quite shy
and anxious

to being confident, happy.

And George is a nice link
to have between my childhood

and my adulthood.

He knows who I am and it
doesn't really matter.

It's that link, isn't it?
It's lovely.

Let's have a little look at him.

If you could pop him on the table
for me.

Hello!

So you are one important bear.
Oh, my!

A bare behind!

I think maybe a new pair
of dungarees?

He's still got his mouth tucked
in there, but it definitely could do

with a nice, new stitched nose,
a little bit of a pamper

and a clean up and make sure there's
no other sort of damage.

So when George is done, what's
the next part of his story?

I've got a few more surgeries
to come... OK.

..so I'm going to need him
there for that,

and I think he's never going
to really retire because he's always

going to be there for me
in times that I need him.

Bit of a responsibility.
We have, haven't we?

You've given us a very special bear
to look after.

We'll let you know when it's ready.
Thank you. Thank you,

we'll see you soon. Pleased to meet
you both. Bye-bye! Bye.

Definitely been a constant
throughout my whole life,

and it's difficult to leave him
behind, so there is a little bit

of anxiety there, but I trust that
the bear ladies are going to look

after him very well.

I think Harry is quite an amazing
young man, very brave.

You've got some more important work
to do, young bear, so we've got

to get this right.

Stuffing has definitely
gone very lumpy.

It's not nice for a bear
to be lumpy,

they need to be nice and cuddly.

And there is some sort of transfer
of colour from his dungarees here.

So while his stuffing's out,
a nice clean.

We'll give him the
full five-star treatment.

A nice spruce-up and a
bit of rhinoplasty. Definitely.

So if you want to take George...
Yep.

..I will make him some new clothes.

Lovely. Does that sound good?

Perfect. There you go.

Hello, George. I think I really just
need to start by opening George up

and getting out his old stuffing.

It's George's time now
for his surgery.

And I can see that George is stuffed
with a polyester filling.

I recognise the shape and the feel
from my own children,

who are a similar age to Harry.

All of them had teddy bears.

I think it's quite clear
here from his stuffing

that it was definitely lumpy.

It's really just a combination
of being compacted by love

and squeezing and hugs,
probably from being washed.

We can definitely do better
than this.

So we don't need to be seeing that
any more.

While Will's working his magic
on the 1960s wooden skateboard deck,

Dom's turned his attention
to its fractured metal wheel fixing.

Right, this part of the truck
is broken in half.

I've got the tricky job now
of sticking this back together.

First thing I need to establish
is what on Earth this is made of.

And most importantly, the melting
temperature of what it's made of.

Whether it's steel or aluminium
is quite easy to tell because steel

sparks when you grind it,
aluminium doesn't do that.

So to show that, I'll just do
a little grind there.

GRINDER WHIRS

As you can see, there's no sparks.
That tells me this is not made

of steel, which isn't great,
because now I've got

to be very, very careful

when I'm applying heat
to this cos there's a very high

chance that it's going to melt.

This clever little rod is specially
designed to melt

at a very low temperature,

370 degrees, thereabouts, to weld
tricky things like this.

The problem I've got is this may
also melt at 370 degrees!

So I'm just going to have to go
very carefully and see what happens.

48, 50. OK, so far, so good.

I'm just being very careful.

80, so it's creeping up.

OK, so I am at just over 200
degrees now.

No, I'm going to stop, I think.

So I'm at 300 degrees,
just over 300. It needs 80-odd

more degrees and I'm getting
signs all over it,

you can see these little cracks
that are appearing all over it,

it's just getting too hot.
Which sucks.

I'm so close, but it's just not
quite worked.

The metal is starting to sort of
give up and become molten,

so I'm much better off stopping now,
thinking of another option.

Time for a coffee.

Dom may have hit a bump in the road,
but Will's having a smoother ride

with the deck repair.

There we have it, solid as a rock.

The glue is dried, the board
is nice and flat.

So now I'm going to sand this back
and prepare this for

a good coat of polish.

Well, that's the first coat of
polish on.

I'm going to leave that to dry.
Once it has,

I can turn that over and polish
the other side.

For Dom, it's plan B on fusing

the fractured wheel fixing back
together.

I'm going to use an epoxy putty -

it's like a glue, almost - to join
both pieces together,

which would not be my first
option, but I really have no

other choice now.

As soon as I start to mix
this together, there's

going to be a chemical reaction.

That chemical reaction is going
to make this go literally rock-hard.

It becomes almost metal.

This is really clever stuff.

I can really feel the heat. It
is actually starting to get properly

warm, which is reassuring,
it's doing its job.

I think I'm about there. Nice, even
colour, this is all good.

I'm going to start poking in there.

This is probably one of the most
fiddly things I've had to do

in a very long time.

Phew. OK, so I had to act quite
fast, then.

That's all gone in really nicely
and actually smoothed out,

I'm barely going to have to dress
that.

It's looking good!

I now need to do the same
again on the bottom.

Similar success with her fix

means Kirsten's a happy bunny.

It's so sweet.

It's just so sweet.

I can see the little sleeping shelf
now, that Emma was talking about.

She's managed to rebuild
the rabbit house.

Now she can redecorate.

I've got some acrylic paints here
that I'm just going to put

a little bit of colour over the
fills and try and blend them in.

And I know that trying to get
into the cottage itself

is going to be incredibly fiddly.

So here goes.

I really can't wait to see Emma's
face when I show her the cottage,

and I hope it brings back many,

many happy memories of her childhood

spent with her, with her mother
and her father.

When Emma's beloved night-light
was smashed, it left the bunnies

homeless and the whole family
devastated.

Now she's returned, hoping to see
the focal point of the magical

bedtime stories she shared
with her mother back in one piece.

Bunny's Cottage just represents
my childhood for me,

and so it's all about my mum
and dad.

And since I lost my mum, I mean,
I think about her every day.

She would have loved
to be with me today.

She dearly wanted to see it fixed.

You know, I mean, it's very special
to me, for both of my parents.

Hello. Hello, hi, Emma. Hello!

How are you doing, Emma,
are you all right?

I'm so excited!

I think we all are. You're excited
as well, you must be.

I'm so excited, yeah, I can't wait
to show you this.

You must have been working so hard.
Just a bit!

THEY LAUGH

Are you ready?

I'm ready. OK.

Oh, my goodness.

Gosh. Honestly, I can't believe it.

I cannot believe it!

Oh, my goodness, it's incredible.

How have you done that?

THEY LAUGH

Honestly, I can't believe it.
WHISPERS: Well done.

It's beautiful.

It's exactly how I remembered.

As a little girl,

your bedtime routine was to go
and see Bunny's Cottage

all lit up before bed.

It was. Do you want to go back
there?

Yeah, I'd love to go back there.
All right, let's do it.

OK.

Oh, my goodness, look at that.

Oh, it's incredible how you've
managed to do that.

Oh, I wish my mum and dad were here.

It's beautiful. It's amazing,
I don't know what to say,

I'm speechless, which doesn't
happen often.

THEY LAUGH

Incredible.

Where does it take you to?

It takes me back to childhood
in an instant.

I mean, it really does.

It's quite overwhelming, actually.

There's just a rush of memories

and, you know, all those feelings.

Now it's all repaired, what do you
think your dad will make of it?

Oh, he'll be over the moon.
Yeah? He will.

Honestly, I can't tell you what this
will mean to him, really.

He's going to be very emotional.

It's been an absolute pleasure
to do it, actually. Really?

Yeah, absolutely.

Well, let's get it packed up, then.
Lovely. Yeah? Yep. Thank you.

I'll get the door.

Bunny's Cottage has been a part of
the house as long as I can remember,

but I stopped looking at it,
I suppose, through a child's eyes,

and then just seeing it
for the first time now,

lit up, it just made me
feel like a child again.

I'm standing where my mum
was holding me in front

of Bunny's Cottage.

I just went straight back
to that time.

I hope my mum is watching down.

The bunnies may be safely
rehomed, but George the bear

is still on the road to recovery.

I've got the relatively easy job,
I suppose, really, in making

the new dungarees for George.

I'm just going to have to replicate
what I've got here.

So I used these as my template.

I just pin it into place.

I'm going to allow for a little bit
extra seam allowance,

A - because I know he's going to
come back fatter from Julie,

and B - the seams
here are really frayed.

I can kind of see how they got
the damage that they did.

I have this picture of Harry holding
George and kind of patting his back

and rubbing his back,
and that's basically love.

He's been loved to bits.

Yay!

George is ready for his bath now,
but we are hoping that the mild soap

will lift some of this colour
transfer from his dungarees that's

moved onto his fur.

So this is it, George, in you go.

So these were my pattern
pieces that I've made

for George's dungarees.

I've got to now transfer
those all onto this lovely fabric,

which I'm really, really
pleased with.

I don't think we could have got
a better match than that.

So just marking this onto the fabric

and then I'll be able to cut it out.

There.

I'm really pleased with how George
has turned out after his clean,

and he's ready to be stuffed.

You can tell by the shape
of an empty bear

how he's meant to be.

And with George, you can see

that he's actually got a flat
bottom.

So he would have been designed
to sit,

which means I can't overstuff

the front of his body or his legs,
because he won't sit.

We need to leave just a little bit
of a gap here,

so that the legs will dangle.

The pieces are all cut out and I've
got to start machining now.

Julie did try and learn to use
a sewing machine, and after a few

attempts, she went, "Amanda,
you're going to have to learn,

"because I don't want
to do this any more."

But the thing is, I learned
as a child, on my mum's

sewing machine, and I was terrified
of it

because it used to sort of go...

SHE IMITATES DRONING SOUND

And then...

SHE IMITATES VIBRATING SOUND

..I ran off.

I went 40-odd years, buy myself
another sewing machine...

I know, it was awful.
..and it does exactly the same!

It was pretty awful, but

It does always seem to get
lumbered on me now.

Well, I think it's just that you've
done it so much now that,

you know, you have the finesse
that's required.

I feel like I've been a bit
"stitched up", really?

No, don't worry,

I will do the machining
when necessary,

but you can do all the darning.

Thanks.

SHE LAUGHS

Feel that control.

I would say he's done.

I do hope he still fits those
dungarees,

after Amanda's spent all that time

making them! Oh, George,
we'll be in such trouble.

It's been a team effort renovating
the dilapidated skateboard

that had been cherished
by its owner for over 40 years.

Hey, mate! Shiny deck.

Nice!

Amazing. My hands aren't clean.
Just pop it down, maybe.

Just pop it down on there.

Fantastic! How are you getting on
with those trucks?

I'm very nearly there now,
just final assembly.

I can't wait to see it come together
and for you to do the first trick.

THEY LAUGH

Right, pal. I'm quite familiar
with taking apart skateboard trucks

from my youth of skateboarding,

so this is all fairly
straightforward

to put back together.

Arguably Liverpool's first-ever
skateboarder, Mike has returned,

keen to claim his beloved board
and relive his glory days.

It's great coming back here now
to collect my skateboard,

and I'm really excited to see
what the guys have done with it.

Mike, hi. Hi, there.
Hi, guys.

How's it going? Apprehensive.
OK. Why are you apprehensive.

Well, it's been a long time
with me, this skateboard,

and it's anticipation, apprehension,
excitement, all rolled into one.

You know what? This did take us both
a little bit of a trip

down memory lane, which made us both
get our skateboards back out. Yeah.

Good, I'm glad to hear that.
You must never give up your

skateboarding. You're never too old
to skateboard.

You should see us on the
skateboards...

THEY LAUGH

You ready? I'm so looking forward to
seeing this now.

HE LAUGHS

All right.

Whoa! My gosh!

Oh, that is awesome!

That is absolutely sensational!

Wow!

You guys are wizards - that looks
just like it did when I bought

it in 1967, with that beautiful,
beautiful, shiny deck.

My gosh! Thank you, thank you,
thank you,

you're just tremendous, you two.

Well done, Will. It really was
a team effort.

Dom has managed to do some
fantastic work on the trucks. Whoa!

DOM LAUGHS

Oh, my gosh! That is just
unbelievable!

You would have thought a simple
thing like a skateboard could not

engender so much emotion,
but it does, really.

You've got to have a proper
look at it.

Dare I? Yeah, go for it.

You absolute beauty, look at that.
Wow!

I'm very tempted to try
and ride it.

Yeah? You're braver than us.

I don't think I should.
No, its riding days are over,

this is going to be a wall
hanging now.

And every time I look at it,
it will remind me of my history,

my childhood with my family, my
friends, my mum, and obviously

you two guys now.

So thank you, I just can't thank you
enough.

It's over to you.
Yeah, you can take it.

Enjoy it.

Wow! Thank you. Take care, guys.
See you later.

Bye-bye.

So he's off to a skate park now?
I hope so.

THEY CHUCKLE

I couldn't believe what a fantastic
job they'd done on this sort

of battered old board.

I think it's helped me to remember.

Never forget where you come from,

never forget your roots and never
forget your enthusiasms

and your passions for life.

Thanks to Amanda and Julie,
George the bear's makeover

is almost complete.

This is the last stitch going
into his nose.

He's now ready for his fashion fix.

Let's have a look at you.

Hee-hee, hello!

His first new outfit in three
decades.

You haven't squeezed him
into them yet.

You're going in!

SHE LAUGHS

George the bear had been
Harry's comfort and companion

for nearly his whole life,
but 26 years of devotion

had taken its toll.

Now he's been given a new lease
of life, and Harry,

along with his mum, Mikki, are
back at the barn for the reunion.

I'm really excited to see
how they've fixed him.

He's been missed, hasn't he? Yeah.

But Harry's done really well,
and we're just looking

forward to having him back.

Hi! Hello. How are you?

Oh, we're good, thank you,

how are you? Yeah, we're fine,
thank you, how do you feel?

I'm excited, yeah, I'm excited to
see him. That's good.

Has it been hard being apart?

It's certainly been strange...
Strange.

..to not have him next to my bed

for a while. Walking in and not
seeing him, it's very odd.

Are you ready? Yeah.

Oh, wow!

MIKKI GASPS

That's amazing.

He looks like a brand-new man.
He does.

SHE LAUGHS

Especially the nose, his nose

hasn't look that fresh
in a good few years, but that's

exactly what he used to look like.

Yeah, it's better than I was ever
expecting, really.

Those dungarees are incredible.

You wouldn't even know they weren't
his original ones, would you?

Look, it's got a little "G" on,
as well.

"G" for George. You've managed to
get him a bit softer, as well.

I can't believe that,
that's amazing.

Aw! Pleased? Yeah.

Thank you, so I can't thank
you enough, you've done such

an amazing job.

How is it going to feel now to know
that George is stronger and brighter

and will be able to be with you for
your other surgeries?

Well, it just means so much to know
he's going to be in such

a good condition that I don't have
to worry about taking him places

or giving him a cuddle
when I'm recovering.

It's just such a great comfort
to me to have him.

So this is going to make
such a huge difference to that.

We thought you'd like to keep
his old dungarees,

so we've popped them into a little
travel bag for him.

Oh, wow!

So they're all tucked in there.

That's so cute.

Well, they symbolise the start
of the journey, don't they?

And they are important.

Yeah, he's part of your journey
moving forward, isn't he?

Yeah, exactly. A long journey ahead,

so he'll be there every step
of the way.

HE LAUGHS

Oh, he loves his bag.

Get his handbag on, there you
go. There we go.

THEY LAUGH

Well, he's all yours now,
and all the best for the future.

Thank you very much. Bye!
Bye-bye.

I'm so happy to have George back.

I mean, George was initially
meant to be a support bear,

and he's definitely lived
up to his job.

And it's so nice to see
that he's in such a wonderful

condition to be able to continue
to support me on my transition.

It was always what he was
destined to do.

Join us next time as our barn full
of talented craftspeople...

Dah-dah! That looks fantastic!

..restore the nation's treasured
heirlooms...

Oh, I can't stop smiling!
..in The Repair Shop.