Welcome to The Repair Shop,
where cherished family heirlooms are brought back to life.
Anything can happen - this is the workshop of dreams.
Home to furniture restorer, Jay Blades.
Nowadays, things are not built to last,
so we've become part of this throwaway culture.
It's all about preserving and restoring.
We bring the old back to new.
Working alongside Jay
will be some of the country's leading craftspeople.
I like making things with my hands.
I love to see how things work and I want to know how things work.
Whether it is a Rembrandt or somebody's family piece,
every painting deserves the same.
Each bringing their own unique set of skills.
You're about to witness some magic.
They will resurrect...
- ..revive... - Oh, yes.
..and rejuvenate...
..treasured possessions and irreplaceable pieces
of family history.
- Oh, my goodness. - Goodness, me.
Bringing both the objects...
Oh, wow.
..and the memories that they hold...
- Oh, thank you. - ..back to life.
Thank you so much.
I want to kiss you.
In the Repair Shop today, timepiece tinkering is on hold,
as clock restoration expert Steve
is called up to work on a vintage telephone.
It is at this point that I worry that springs are going to
shoot out all over the place.
While specialist Richard Rigby restores a collector's item
that casts its spell over everyone in the Repair Shop.
Wow.
So what are we waiting for today?
We've got a customer coming.
- Something for me? - You're keen, aren't you?
Well, yeah, it is something for you then.
First, furniture dream team Jay and Will are standing by to meet
Helen Smith from Herefordshire.
- Hello. - Hello. - How are we doing?
- I'm fine, thanks. - So here it is, yeah?
- It is here. - OK.
All right. We'll get this out.
- Lovely. - I will lead the way. - You lead the way.
So what is it?
- It's a piano stool for two people. - A piano stool for two people.
Is it all right to lift it up and have a look?
Ooh.
So what's the history behind this one, then?
This belonged to my grandmother.
I was actually born in the room that this lived.
So I've known this all my life.
On my grandmother's death, she left it to my sister,
and my sister had a big puppy
and the puppy would go into his chewing phase...
- Wow. - Was that in one sitting or...?
No, I should imagine, cos the piano's also had a little nibble,
but not as bad as that.
He had a nibble of the piano!
He couldn't play the tune, so he thought he would have a nibble.
And then I see that it's got, like, this tapestry on top.
Yeah. Gran did that.
Gran did that. I see it brought a smile to your face.
Yeah. Yeah.
That's in amazing condition.
- It is, actually. - I mean, considering when you look at everything else...
Yes, it was lucky to get away with it, I think.
Perhaps it didn't taste as good as the wood.
Helen's grandmother Enid Ruth Wicks honed her musical skills
on this piano.
My grandmother was a very keen pianist.
She was very good although she would say that she was competent.
She was a member of the Royal Academy of Music,
played in concerts for the BBC.
I think when you inherit or you have an heirloom in your family,
there's a responsibility to look after it the best that you can,
and at the moment I'm not fulfilling my responsibility.
So, Will, what you reckon? Do you know anything about the age of this?
- Have you seen stuff like this before? - It looks sort of like
typical art and crafts furniture - 1890s, 1910.
Really nice piece. With the base, I'd like to use this.
Oh, yeah. That would be brill.
I say that now, but once I'm working....
What am I doing?
I'm honoured to be working on something like this.
So as soon as we've got it repaired and looking fabulous again...
- Yes. - ..we will get back to you.
Lovely, thank you very much.
All right, thank you.
- Lovely, thanks very much. Goodbye. - Bye.
That's amazing. I know dogs go through a chewing phase but that is...
At least he left us something.
He left us a clue, yeah.
Because we learned to play the piano with my grandmother,
it's a family piece so, yeah,
I'm really excited about seeing what they're going to do.
What are you going to do with the fabric and with the top?
Basically it has to fit perfectly because, as you can see here,
the corner's coming out because this is too tight.
It won't fit in there perfectly.
- Why's that too tight? - I think what might have happened...
..is they've just covered over an original fabric on top of it,
but I won't be able to tell until I've taken it off.
I'm working out who has the most amount of work for this job.
Definitely me, obviously.
- It always seems to be me. - It's always me.
And then you walk over and say, "Is that ready yet?"
- Five minutes. - Of course. - Make a cup of tea.
Well, you've got to make the tea and get on with it,
cos I'm off, mate. You've got to lift it over by yourself.
- I've got the heavy bit. - I like a challenge, James.
So I have glued up the top of the chair, clamped it all into place,
snug as a bug in a rug.
The beading on the back is near enough all intact.
Whereas round the front and the sides they're flaking off,
so I've made the executive decision to keep that.
I thought would be quite nice to keep some of the original.
From wood to brass, ceramics or stuffing...
Out it comes.
..whatever the material,
the Repair Shop team use their years of experience
to lovingly restore it.
The next customer dialling 999 for an antiques emergency is Helen Kent.
- Hello. - Hello, how are we doing?
I am fine, thank you. How are you?
I'm very good. What have we got here, then?
It's an old daffodil telephone.
A daffodil telephone?
- Yes. - OK, the person you need to see then is Steve.
Steve, got one for you.
- Thank you very much. - Have a look at this. No problem.
Steve may be the Repair Shop's clockmaker...
Right, let's have a look at this telephone.
..but he's also the go-to guy for most of the mechanical curios
that arrive through its doors.
Tell me a bit about its history.
Well, I don't know where it started its life,
but it came to me when I was very early married.
And so I've had it since the very early '60s.
Also known as a candlestick or stick phone,
this model dates from the mid-1920s.
You think about all the calls it's made in its life.
- Absolutely. - That's incredible.
Yes, I mean it functioned when I was first married
- and I was a community midwife. - Oh, really?
Not very convenient because of course you've got to hold
the daffodil and the earpiece, not like today.
Oh, yes, of course. I hadn't thought about that.
Unless you do it like this.
So you picked the phone up and put that thing to your ear.
So what's wrong with it?
The dial doesn't go round any more.
You can make it go round but I...
It only... It doesn't really go around at all.
It's as if it has all seized up.
But I love the challenge of doing something like this.
Leave it with me and I'll see how I get on.
- OK. - OK, thank you for bringing it in.
- Fantastic. Thank you very much. - Bye-bye now. - Bye.
If Steve can make it work, so much the better,
but so long as it just looks nicer and the fact that my grandchildren
would be able to play with it and get, sort of, pleasure from it,
that my children had from it, that would be wonderful.
It's at this point that I worry that springs are going to shoot out
all over the place as soon as I start taking it apart.
I've never seen inside a telephone before, and the dialling unit
is absolutely alien to me.
The dial has gone back to a point which it shouldn't because it looks
as if it has been forced the wrong way,
and that might have caused some damage.
So I am hoping that it might be a simple fix.
But hold the line, Steve.
Woodwork whiz-kid Will wants a second opinion on salvaging
the damaged piece of wood from the piano stool.
So I was thinking something more like that.
So that's the old piece there, that's the new piece.
- What do you think? - Why are you doing this?
I thought it would be nice to keep some of the original.
- OK. - And once I've set that into there,
or spliced it on I will replicate the same pattern along the rest
- of the beam. - It's going to be a weakness.
Yeah.
That's why I was going to dowel to give it a bit more strength.
How about cutting it down the centre...
..and setting half of it into the new bars?
So you still keep the strength integrity of the new piece.
I see. So I'd have to leave enough on the inside as a core for the strength.
Yeah, yeah.
And then draw these out?
- Yeah. - That is a good idea.
That's why I asked you over, Steve.
He's the brains of the family, innit.
He's got years on me, hasn't he?
- So... - There we go. - Oh, steady on... - Years of knowledge.
That's better. See, you've got to follow it through.
Meanwhile, Jay is more concerned with avoiding a saggy bottom.
I'm putting in webbing...
..into the bottom of the frame...
..which is basically the foundation.
It's what's going to allow someone to sit on top,
rather than falling straight through.
When you get it at the right note then you know that is when you need
to staple it.
Because that is no sound.
No stability - it goes straight through.
So...
It's that, that's nice.
It sounds like a bass, double bass.
- That one. - I think we should turn it into like a family band, Jay.
A family band.
And I could be on the drill.
That does sound nice.
You up for some of that, Kirsten?
Maybe lead vocals?
And I know Steve has got something, he's got something to do with this.
Yeah, Steve is on the cup.
We're going on tour next week.
Lovely. Great.
Smashing. Super.
Musical ability aside,
when it comes to transforming the unloved and unusable
back to the glorious objects they once were,
this talented team share a wealth of skills and know-how.
And next in line for the Repair Shop treatment,
Judith Barrett and her son Ben from Oxfordshire.
How are we doing? You all right?
That's a big box, innit?
Yes. Heavy box.
Right.
I like this already.
- What is it, anyway? - Well, inside there's a magic lantern.
There's a magic lantern?
Oh, wow. Oh, cor blimey, this is heavy, isn't it?
Magic lanterns were wildly popular in wealthy households of the Victorian era,
projecting pictures onto walls to enthral and entertain.
- That's the bit that needs fixing. - That is the bit.
Richard Rigby is an expert in these fascinating items
and if anyone can restore it, he can.
Oh, wow.
This is a nice, exciting project.
You've got a lovely machine there.
- Good. - You couldn't have brought a better one.
- Oh, excellent. - So do tell me about this.
How's it been in your family?
How long has it been there? And just the history behind it.
Long before I was married, I got very interested in bits of antiques,
much to my parents' dismay.
And I bought this and I just took it home and then I married,
had a family and started to show them...
- He was... - Small.
Very small. And when they get married and they have children,
they have been rather on at me to get the show out
for the little ones, the younger ones.
What I thought was that when we were kids and we watched it, we loved it.
So it would be really fun to try and get it working again,
- and give them a show with it. - So if you leave the lantern with us,
Richard is going to work his magic on the magic lantern,
and we will get back to you once it's fully restored.
Thank you, Richard. Looking forward to that.
- I'll do my best. - Thank you. Bye-bye.
- Cheers. - Take care.
The family will be pleased because I have been being nagged
by the older children to let their children see it.
But I have been so worried about it being a bit rusty and very delicate,
but I think now we will be able to, and they will all be able to have it and it will be good fun.
So, Richard, we best get this on your bench and hopefully get it fully restored,
so the children can actually enjoy something that is 100 years old
and something that their parents enjoyed as well.
That's right, and their grandparents.
- Are you ready for this? - I am.
- I'll carry the heavy bit. - OK. - That's me.
Thanks a lot.
I love to improve things.
Simple as that.
And I hate waste.
I hate old wonderful old machines being destroyed or skipped.
It is just wrong.
But to renovate this complex machine fast,
Richard is going to need the help of everyone in the Repair Shop.
First in focus, mechanical mastermind Steve.
This is right up your street and not up mine.
- Go on. - This is what we call a flasher.
Thank you very much.
THEY CHUCKLE
At some stage, this has been replaced by a piece of tin can.
- You can still see the curve to it. - OK.
What I'd like to do is take that off and make a new circular piece.
In brass.
- I can do that. - Yeah?
- All right, leave that with me. - Take care.
While Richard starts work on the magic lantern,
Will is applying finishing touches to the arts and crafts piano stool.
Almost happy with this now.
Just want to try this in there.
- Already that looks amazing. - Happy days, cool. - Lovely.
Jay just needs to re-cover the seat before Helen returns to be reunited
with her grandmother's renovated stool.
- Hello. - Hello, how are you? - How are you? - Very well, thank you.
Nice to see you. I can't wait to see this.
It looks like, and feels like...
No, don't touch it.
- No touching. All right. - So, are you ready?
- Yeah. - You sure?
Yeah.
Oh, wow.
It's just amazing.
Thank you.
Oh.
It's just better than I thought.
It'll be like having my gran with me when I play the piano.
Cos she used to sit on one side, this side,
and I used to sit on the other.
Cos she always played the lower keys and I played the higher keys.
You wouldn't know there was anything wrong with it, would you?
No. One thing that I have done, though.
I've actually used part of the original piece,
which is right in the middle.
- Yes, you said you would. - And I've set it into a new piece of wood.
I've actually kept a couple of the nibble marks cos I thought that
would be quite nice to have some of the story.
So is it pretty similar to how it was in the beginning before...?
It's how I remember it.
And it just looks proper now, doesn't it?
It looks like it should be.
- Yeah. - It is amazing.
- This feels better - there was always a dip. - Yes.
I have to learn to play the piano properly now, haven't I?
Oh, dear.
It's beautiful. I didn't think that you would be able to get this detail
- back into it. - I managed somehow.
You can see his head getting a bit bigger.
All in a day's work for me.
I don't think you realise...
..what you've all done, really.
Because my future now is definitely finding
and learning to play the music that my grandmother played.
- Thank you so much. - Thank you.
Busy at his work station, genie of the lantern Richard Rigby
is casting an eye over all of the working parts.
Steve is playing the wizard's apprentice.
I need the brass for the flasher.
And I don't know what a flasher is.
So we will have to see what it does when it's all up together.
There must be some brass around here somewhere.
I need a disc of brass.
A disc of brass?
Why would I have a disc of brass?
I'm a wood man.
Jay, you haven't got any, have you?
Hold on, hold on.
No, I've used it all.
You must have something.
Don't come scrounging over here. You've got stuff over there, Steve.
I know you have, I've seen it. I've seen it.
What have you got in your...?
Get out of it! No, no, no. I have got nothing in here, mate.
- Don't shut all your drawers. - It's all locked up, man.
It's all locked up. Everything's locked.
I could let you have that. That will get you away from here
and stop scrounging. All right.
- Is that all right? - Have you got any thinner? - Come on, come on.
It's almost the right size, isn't it?
- Perfect. - That is almost the right size, so if I can flatten that...
Hold on a minute. "Thank you," wouldn't go amiss.
- Thank you, Jay. - That's better.
- You're more than welcome, sir. - Absolutely brilliant.
You should charge him, Jay, seriously, mate.
We're going to just try and get it back to its...
How it appeared originally.
The non-brass parts...
..need blacking.
This fits absolutely snugly.
There's a hole in the centre there that was for a thread for something,
so I found an old piece of grandfather clock cos I keep
old bits and pieces, so I'm just going to turn that up,
make a nice little plug for the end there and it will all look the part.
- How are we doing, Richard? Cor blimey. - How are you? - I am good.
- You stripped it apart, haven't you? - I have. - You've been busy.
The big problem was that she hadn't enough light coming through
to make it work nicely. We're going to use an LED.
How's that going to be powerful?
Well, you wait and see. It's incredibly powerful.
This is what we are going to fit. This is made to my own design.
- So this is going to go inside there? - That is going to go inside there.
And then the LED light bulb goes in there, yeah?
Yeah. Lanterns always had the very latest light.
- Right. - Didn't matter when the lantern was built,
the lanternist would use the latest available light.
That would then go in there through the condenser.
Yeah.
Through the lantern slide.
- Yes. - Into the objective lens, and then be adjusted to perfection.
- Well, I'll let you crack on, then. - Thank you.
- Hi, Steve. - I've got another little job you might be able to help me with.
Oh, yeah. Let's have a look.
I just made this. The only trouble is, it's all brash and very new.
- Yeah. - It would be nice if it was that sort of honey colour.
Oh, right. The whole thing?
Yes. Could you do that?
All right, well, I'll get on with that now, then.
I'll leave you with that so you have got the colour match.
OK, Steve. Thank you.
Brass task handed over,
Steve can return to his workbench to finish repairing
the 1920s daffodil phone.
I've identified the problem with it.
Basically, there is a nylon bearing that has worn out.
And I can't actually put a new nylon bearing into the place
that it should be.
So what I've done is, to compensate, I've put
a couple of washers in place and it actually works.
That turns round the full way and it does go back.
Although it's slowly, it works.
And it stops at the right position.
I'm going to put it back together again and then I'm going to clean
up the rest of it and polish it, and then it will all look lovely.
- Hello, Helen. - Hello, Steve. Nice to see you again. - How are you?
- I'm fine, thank you. You? - Good.
So you have come for your daffodil telephone?
I have indeed and I'm very excited.
- Good. - Hey.
Oh, wow.
And does the dial go round?
Try it.
It does!
- Yes. - Fantastic.
- Absolutely. - It's not been smartened up too much that it looks like
- a reproduction. - Yeah, absolutely.
That's really lovely.
It was quite good fun, actually.
Was it?
Because the mechanism - I have never seen anything like it before,
but there are wheels
and a regulator that's very, very similar to a clock regulator.
Well, I'm thrilled to bits.
- Good. - Thank you very much.
- You're very, very welcome. - Bye-bye, then. Bye.
- And there you go. - Amid the bustle of the workshop,
the repair of the magic lantern has turned into a real team effort.
- How are we doing? - All right. - You've got the light on?
Yes, I have. If you have a look in here, it's...
This is a...
Have you broken...? Oh, no, you haven't broken it.
- Is it meant to come out like that, then? - It is ubiquitous, you see.
Yeah. So you're clever, aren't you?
- Well... - Yes, you are.
It's very simple.
This is a bit tatty, isn't it?
It would be nice to replace it.
I suppose being an upholsterer, you might have something you can use.
Yeah, let's have a look.
Shall I take it out?
Yes, please. I will see if I've got anything.
All right, I've got two versions. I've got the clean one and the dirty one. Which one do you want?
Well, that is a difficult decision.
- It is, isn't it? - Tell you what, let's go for the new one.
Go for the new one, the non-dirty one.
All right. It is not black but it's...
In fact, it is rather nice.
- Yeah? - Yeah. - Brown velvet.
Lovely match for the mahogany in the side changer.
- Cool. - Wonderful, wonderful. - So is it all right to take that?
- Yes, please. - And then carry on. You sure I can't tempt you?
Really. Silly boy.
They say that many hands make light work.
Whilst Kirsten lacquers the brass flasher to give it antique patina,
Jay is on point with his needlework.
Oh, that is much better, isn't it?
Fantastic.
- There you go, Richard. - Ah, Steve.
- Thank you. - How is that?
Isn't that beautiful? Oh, wow.
That's going to be perfect.
From my little contribution...
Oh, you've done it. Oh, excellent. Now we can really get on.
- Yes. - Now, you did put a hole either side to get this down?
Now you say that, hold on a minute...
- I'll stick it on there, then. - Do you want to put it on? - Yeah.
Nice bit of needlework there.
- It is a bit, isn't it? - You're a craftsman.
I am a craftsman.
It's a historical magic.
If you can imagine before we had the magic lantern,
the only pictures the average person would see was either in church
or in a big house.
And then to suddenly find pictures appearing on walls,
whitewashed walls or a sheet of muslin, it was just magic.
And they called it magic.
I like the flasher. Look at that.
This is the house that Jack built.
- OK, cool. - Well, I hope Judith and Ben enjoy it as much as I have,
and their children.
This is the special one. Wow.
It was artificial fireworks.
- You can see why, can't you? - I'm getting motion sickness.
Nice to think it's going back three generations.
We've been through three generations with my lanterns with our children
and grandchildren, so it's just nice.
MEOWING
What was that?!
Easy!
Look at that. It's a dove. It's a dove.
LAUGHTER
- Here it is. - Oh, wow.
- Shall we have a look what they've done? - Let's have a look see.
Oh, wow. Oh, that is much better than it was.
He's totally polished it up, hasn't he?
Oh, it has got a little velvet curtain, how very sweet.
Oh, where's the lantern cover?
Oh, he's finished that up nicely, hasn't he?
Oh, that is dead serious.
A bit more professional than last time.
Very modern. My goodness me.
Is there something to sit it on?
Well, it is magnetised so it attaches itself to the bottom.
Oh, good gracious. This flips up and down properly now.
Oh, he's really done a fantastic job.
It looks ready for a show. Shall we set it up?
It will be very interesting to see what they think, won't it?
Magic lantern versus iPad - let's see which wins.
This is the story of Jack And The Beanstalk.
Once upon a time, there was a boy called Jack.
He lived with his widowed mother in a little cottage in the country.
I haven't seen anything like that before.
I liked it.
10 out of 10.
The giant was huge.
Fee-fi-fo-fum.
I smell the blood of an Englishman.
I really loved it.
It was lovely seeing the magic lantern again.
It was an echo from the past.
I saw the magic lantern as a little girl of five,
my children saw the lantern.
I could see the same expression on their faces.
And it was just like life ought to be in a family.
Jack and his mother lived happily ever after.
For more magical transformations,
join us next time in The Repair Shop.