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 its 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 me! It looks like it's new!
..bringing both the objects...
SHE GASPS
Oh, wow!
..and the memories that they hold...
back to life.
Oh, thank you. Oh!
Today in The Repair Shop,
vintage-electronics expert Neil Fairley
battles some ageing Doctor Who baddies.
We're coming to the really tricky part now.
- It's getting clearer. - It is getting clearer. I'll give it that.
And The Repair Shop's very own Time Lord, Steve Fletcher,
tackles a time-travelling conundrum of his own.
So, the balance isn't turning very nicely.
You're blinding me with science now.
You all right? Hi, guys. How's it going? I'm Nick.
- All right? I'm Jay. - Hi, Jay, how's it going?
What you got for us? It's in there?
Yeah, I've got a Victorian-era davenport that's been
badly treated by some horrible burglars.
First to pull up today is Nick Fiaca, with a highly prized
family peace in serious need of rescuing by furniture restorers
Jay Blades and Will Kirk.
So, what's the history behind this, then?
It belonged to a family friend of ours, Olive.
She lived next door when we were kids.
She never married, so we were kind of like her second family.
So, yeah, she used to take us to the park to play, and cinema,
that sort of thing. Almost like a surrogate mum to us.
This davenport sat in her front room all the years that I've known her.
Sadly, her house got burgled a couple of times.
During one of the burglaries, the side there got, er,
completely demolished. There's some false drawers which they obviously
didn't realise are actually false drawers and don't open,
- so they tried to force them. - One, two, three, four.
Four holes they've drilled in there.
- Oh, gosh. - That's crazy! Like, to get in there.
They must have sussed that these are no drawers.
They've gone almost all the way right down.
They've really made sure.
- I've never seen any damage like this before. - No.
That's quite remarkable.
It looks like they've taken a samurai sword or an axe to it.
- Yeah. - Either/or. It's really bad.
And on this right-hand side, where there ARE proper drawers,
they just ripped the top of the drawer off, trying to get inside.
- That lock looks... - That's from the drawer, isn't it?
- ..a bit busted. - How come you have it?
Did she leave it to you?
When she passed away, things were left to us.
And when we were clearing out the house, I saw the davenport
and I just didn't want to throw it away.
I was obviously close to Olive and also in memory of her, really,
I didn't want it to end up in a skip somewhere.
If it can be repaired and restored to anything like its former glory,
it would be fantastic because I'd like to actually pass it on
to my niece, who's actually going to university next year.
She's the brains in the family.
This would be a nice place to put her work.
This is the workshop of dreams and anything can happen.
Well, if you can, I'll take my hat off.
- Literally. - Literally take the hat off.
- Be brilliant if you could. Good luck with it. - Thanks very much, cheers. Bye-bye.
- Looks like you've got your work cut out for you, ain't you, son? - Well...
Olive was like a second mum to me.
Kind of nice to think that there's this keepsake,
this permanent reminder of her, that's going to survive
for many more years to come.
I haven't got a clue how you're going to do those.
I'll be able to do an amazing job from that.
- On this bit? - Yeah. - You sure?
- Ye of little faith! Come on! - You're too right there.
From bringing damaged desks back from the brink
to retouching antique works of art,
the Repair Shop team is ready and able to tackle any restoration task.
Steve is the gentleman you need to see, just in that corner.
- Hello. - Hello there.
I have a little travel clock for you.
The next challenge is for clockmaker Steve -
a precious timepiece that has been
in Ian Wyn Powell's family for three generations.
It belonged to my grandparents,
so I don't know its date or anything.
It was on their mantelpiece.
It's one of the few possessions
that they had left after internment in Changi, in Singapore.
- Oh, really? - I treasured it, and wanted it ever since.
And when they died, they gave it to my parents.
And when my parents died, they gave it to me.
And I'd love it back on our mantelpiece to give to our children.
When was it last working?
It has been working in the last 20 years,
but I took it to someone who sort of tried to repair it
- but it didn't work properly. - OK.
Well, it's Swiss, as you probably know.
It's Swiss made and I see it's got a silver mark.
- Oh, has it? - It's a Birmingham mark.
A Birmingham mark? On a Swiss-made watch.
- So, 1925 is when it was made. - 1925.
Now that he knows when and where the clock was made,
next Steve must find out why it's not working.
So, the balance isn't turning very nicely.
You're blinding me with science now.
The spindle that goes through the centre's called a balance staff.
And, quite often, if a clock is knocked, or a watch is knocked,
- the balance staff breaks. - OK.
This one hasn't broken.
But I do need to strip the movement down to have a look and see why
it's not working correctly.
- Brilliant. - OK. - Thank you very much indeed. - Nice to meet you. - And you.
Knowing that it was 1925 and it was silver, and it's hallmarked,
that was quite amazing, cos I wasn't sure what the metal was,
cos it didn't look like dirty silver.
It just looked like some shiny metal.
The power's getting through to the balance
but the balance isn't turning.
I'm actually hoping, because it's been stopped for such a long time,
that it might just be stopped through dirt and grime.
And a good clean-through might just get it going really well.
While Steve starts deconstructing his clock,
Will is getting to grips with the davenport desk,
much of which was reduced to splinters by burglars.
I don't think I've worked on anything with such, sort of,
blunt trauma to it. It's in a bit of a sorry state.
Davenport desks are named after Captain Davenport,
who commissioned the design in the 18th century.
Often, they feature a set of drawers down both sides -
one real, one false.
It was the false drawers that fooled the burglars.
I really want to get this surface flat again.
Right now, it's just the preparation,
getting everything glued back in place, clamped really tightly.
I'm just trying to work as much of the glue
into the crack as I can.
So, I've got this piece of wood here, flat piece of wood.
The idea is to put the flat piece of wood over the crack
and clamp it down from either side.
I put some blue tape on one side
to prevent the wood from sticking to the glue.
But wood that's over a century old
isn't as supple as it was in its youth.
Can't you put a clamp in there?
- You need one here, don't you? - How am I going to get a clamp in there?
Unless I had a big deep-throated clamp.
Deep-throated clamp?
- Ya-huh. - I tell you what you could put -
you could put a strap round there
to go around that bit and that'll push that down, like that.
- I've got one. - A band clamp?
I call it a thingamajig.
- Thingamajig? - Thingamajig.
- All right, stick it on here, then. - There you are.
Perfect. Any more than that, you'll hear it crack.
I was going to do this anyway, Jay.
I just thought I'd aid you,
just a little bit, because I knew...
- You had it all under control, didn't you? - All under control! - Yeah.
I could see that bead of sweat just dripping off your brow.
Always watching over me, Jay - thanks, mate.
- Like an angel. - It's got to be done, man. It's got to be done.
While the glue sets,
Will turns his attention to the drawer and lock
broken by the burglars
and makes a 999 call of his own.
Steve?
- What do you think of this? - It's got to be a lock, hasn't it?
Let's have a look.
Oh, my word.
That's well mullered, isn't it?
When you say "well mullered", is it too mullered?
I'm not sure, without taking it apart.
- Have you got a key for it? - No.
- There's no key. - Have you got that bit?
I'm about to piece it all together now.
- OK. - That'll be the final piece in my puzzle, a working lock.
Oh, right. OK.
Careful you don't lose any bits.
- Cool? - Yup, OK.
You the man. Thanks, Steve. Cheers.
Nick's done a really good job at keeping all of these puzzle pieces.
I think they should all pretty much...
I say that now. Hold on.
I think they all pretty much fit together.
This one has been bent...
..and almost destroyed by the thieves.
While Will puzzles over his wooden jigsaw,
Steve has his own metal mystery to solve.
Got to fit a key to it now.
I've got a pot of spare keys.
Hopefully, I can get one of them to fit.
He always tells me it's really tricky cos he puts his hand into,
like, a jar of loads of keys and so has to test each key,
and it's usually the last key in the box that works.
If I ever see pots of keys in antique shops, car-boot sales,
I'll always buy them to add to the collection.
- Look at that - found one. - Have you? - Yeah.
If I just go like that...
- it works perfectly. - Wow!
- And the other thing, it wasn't the last one. - Aha!
How are you doing?
Young lady you need to see is Kirsten, just over there.
Expert at taking on the problems other fear to fix,
no restoration project fazes The Repair Shop team.
Hello, how are we doing?
And Brian Mattox has some childhood treasures he hopes
electronics expert Neil Fairley can jump-start back to life.
- What have we got? - It's very delicate. - What is it?
This is from my childhood.
These are two talking Daleks.
- Wow! - Oh, man, look at that.
Right, this is taking me back. Taking me back.
They came out in two colours.
Red Dalek. And this is the grey Dalek.
I remember watching Doctor Who and seeing the Daleks,
and being so scared of these when they first came out.
Behind-the-sofa stuff.
So, what I can see is that there's a kind of theme running through here.
You've got the scarf. Is these the only collect...
- Only things you've got in your collection? - Gosh, no. Golly, no.
I've got a whole roomful.
In a galaxy far, far away, near Wigan...
..Brian has collected a stellar store of Doctor Who memorabilia.
This is the Doctor Who room.
This is my Doctor Who DVD cabinet.
Doctor Who costumes.
Every Doctor Who magazine.
There's even a Doctor Who chess set down here.
Blow-up Dalek.
There's just Doctor Who everything you can imagine.
In the 1970s, I was a very, very bullied child.
Every day when I'd come home from school,
I'd be straight in there with my Doctor Who toys.
They were my escape into another world.
They were my friends.
The toys were more than just toys.
Just holding them and the feel of them
reminds me of the games that we used to play
and the adventures that we used to have,
climbing the icy wastes of the stairs.
So, what's wrong with them, then?
The grey one is a bit slurry, so he sounds, usually, a little bit drunk.
That one, yeah.
Right, and the red one here?
That one doesn't talk at all.
Oh, man. And then these go in there.
They're very easy to lose, obviously, when you're a kid,
but these fit in just as simple as that.
Now he looks like a proper Dalek, yeah.
Now he looks like the fearsome predator of the universe.
We've got to get these working.
It would mean an awful lot to hear everything work as near perfect as possible.
We're going to get it perfect, not near per...
Cos he's drunk, and we've got to get him sobered up.
- Thanks a lot. See you. - Take care. - Bye.
INDISTINCT DALEK SPEECH
THEY CHUCKLE
Oh, it'd be amazing if it could be made
so they could all talk in exactly the way they used to do again.
So, we're going to have some challenges here, then.
We're going to have some challenges but it's going to be good fun.
To fix them, Neil first has to find out what makes them speak.
This is the voice box of the Dalek.
I've never worked with a voice box before of any kind.
And - aha! - the discy thing is actually a record.
The Dalek's voice box works exactly like a record player in miniature,
with a tiny needle and a turntable powered by a small electric motor.
And Neil's already honing in on the possible source of the problem.
I think he's slurring because something in here
is not lubricated properly.
It could be these shafts.
It could be the motor itself.
So the first thing I'm going to do is some lubrication.
And, hopefully, that will stop the slurriness.
Meanwhile, Will is hoping that
his latest piece of handiwork doesn't come unstuck.
Big reveal, yeah?
Time to remove the clamps and Jay's thingamajig
from the damaged davenport desk.
Hey.
Well done!
- Flat? - That's cool! Yeah, that is flat.
That's pretty flat. That's a lot better, isn't it?
Well done.
Now the structure is secure,
Will can start repairing the gaping wound.
That's looking all right, innit? So, what have you got next?
I'm going to put a bit of polish on the front now.
When I get polish on there, I can colour-match it
- to the actual colour. - The real colour. - Yeah.
For the final stage, Will's drawing on another skill
from his restoration treasure chest -
one that will need all his craftsmanship and eye for detail.
It's pretty intricate, blending in the filler bit by bit,
building up the layers with the different parts of the grain.
Just trying to work between the different colours of pigment,
the orange, the browns and every
colour that you can find in the veneer.
I went to art school for a year - one of the best years of my life.
And I really liked painting and fine art and stuff.
But never had the chance, really, to use that.
So when I went into antique furniture restoration,
things like this allowed me to, sort of,
pick up a paintbrush again and mix around a few colours, and...
..be creative with a brush again.
Once this is dried, I'll give everything a wax over,
and a bit of a buff, and it'll be ready to hand it back to Nick.
- Jay? - Ooh!
What do you think?
HE SIGHS
HE INHALES SHARPLY
No. I have to...
- take my hat off to you, sir. - Take your hat off again? - Well done.
- Lovely. - Your finest work, mate.
- This is... - Really?
It's remarkable. There was a hole here, there, one there,
and there was a massive crack down the middle there.
It reminded people of a really bad memory
and you've just erased that completely.
Sorry, I know I've touched it and I don't want to ruin your work.
I saw those eyes. Let me have a look at the inside.
Well done. Well done.
That was all broken, across there.
This lock wasn't on there originally.
The lock was on a piece...
- Oh, a piece of timber? - ..inside there.
Yeah. But Steve was really kind enough to straighten up the lock.
If I ever get locked out of my house, I know who to call.
Steve! Do you want to have a look at this, mate?
Kirsten, come and have a look.
Will has, er... He's been busy.
- Finally finished. - KIRSTEN: That's amazing.
- Which is the side that was... It's this side, isn't it? - Ah!
She's got the charm of a queen, hasn't she?
THEY CHUCKLE
Isn't that just fabulous?
- Absolutely fabulous. - It is, isn't it?
Can't deal with all the praise! I don't know how to take it.
- But it's true! - It's true. You've got to give credit where credit's due. - That's amazing.
- It is, isn't it? - It's just got a new lease of life, really, hasn't it?
Honestly, it was so dilapidated before.
- Well done. - Thanks, guys.
Enjoy it, enjoy it, cos you have done good.
The davenport was a really challenging job.
I mean, it was pretty severe, what the burglars had done.
And the pressure of getting it right...
I mean, the story behind it - Olive, what she's done for Nick's family...
So I really hope that what I've done now will help remove any negative
associations, and he can look at it now
and just think of the good times with Olive.
NARRATOR: Bidding farewell to The Repair Shop,
the desk makes the 100-mile journey back to its owner Nick
and his sister-in-law Michelle -
now fully functional and ready to be passed onto Nick's niece Ellie.
So, Ellie, I bet you're wondering what's going on.
We've actually got a surprise for you.
Hiding underneath this red cloth
is something which I hope you're going to really enjoy.
It's something that belonged to Olive,
something that was in her family for a long time.
I'm actually really excited to see it, because I haven't seen it yet.
- One, two, three. - Three, two...
Whoa! Gosh, that's really old school. Isn't it lovely?
They've done a fantastic job on it.
I don't know if you can see this - right from the top,
all the way to the bottom, was this massive crack half an inch wide.
They've done a fantastic job there,
because you wouldn't be able to tell.
It's given it a whole new lease of life.
- It's brilliant, isn't it? - Fantastic. - Good craftsmanship, isn't it,
the way they've been able to do that? So, are you pleased?
- Yeah, really pleased. - Lovely, isn't it? - Yeah. Thank you. - No problem.
Just really hope you enjoy it and get lots of use out of it.
I really do appreciate it, because it's such a nice gift
and it reminds me of Olive.
And having that to take with me and also pass on,
like, future generations, it's just, like, really thoughtful.
I was absolutely staggered. Unless someone had told you,
you wouldn't have known it had suffered so much damage.
They're just magicians - I don't know how they did it!
It's a really nice ending to the story that Ellie's now got
something that can remind her of someone who meant so much to her.
I know it would have given Olive a lot of joy knowing that
it was going to be passed on to Ellie, as well.
Back in the workshop, Neil is still trying to sober up the drunk Daleks.
- How are we getting along, Neil? - We're doing well, Jay.
I'm about to fill this one with oil because,
having used solvent to clean out the old oil and grease,
we now need to put new oil and grease.
What we're going to do is put some oil on this end
and on that end of the motor, which is where the bearings are.
Where'd you get one of these from, then? I like this.
You can buy them on the internet. It's not sharp,
so you don't need to worry about touching it with your fingertip.
- Cool. - It's a blunt needle. - And it comes...
Oh, what? Now, that is smart.
- So you can get it right into the little... - You can get it right in.
So, that should do it?
We hope so. OK.
So, it's all oiled up, yeah?
It's all oiled up. I'm going to give the motor a good spin
to make sure the oil's got to the parts.
I've oiled the shaft just by putting a little bit of oil on my hands
and rubbing it like that.
So we start to reassemble now.
The record goes into the right place.
- I want to hear it! I want to hear it played. - Fingers crossed, you will.
But we're coming to the really tricky part now.
I'm putting the needle on.
We've got to get that tiny spring to fold back
so it goes inside the top part of the case.
I think I missed it.
So, here we go again.
- All done? - I think it's back together.
OK. So, we'll put the batteries in.
- DALEK: - Exterminate! Exterminate!
He's getting proper excited there!
Attack! Attack! Attack!
Yeah! That sounds good.
Exterminate! Exterminate!
- Wow! He's sobered up now, hasn't he? - He has.
So, you've got lubrication, made him work, and that's it -
- everything's good? - Everything's good from the silver Dalek.
- How about this guy? - Well, we're going to get to him next.
- OK, cool. - Let me put this one back together first.
Oh, right. I'll leave you to it, then.
With Dalek number one refreshed,
revived and keen to get back to the day job...
Exterminate! Exterminate!
..it should be a simple matter of repeating the process
for Dalek number two.
That's not a promising sign. These two screws,
which hold the two halves of the voice box together,
they are absolutely chewed to rags.
The heads of the screws have gone.
Basically, they've had it.
With the red Dalek resisting the force of
Neil's not-so-sonic screwdriver, he resorts to drastic measures -
injecting his special solution into any opening he can find.
We'll give it a good shake.
The solvent will now have evaporated.
So I've gone for my second syringe,
and I'm putting some oil on the pivots.
And keep our fingers crossed and see if it works.
Meanwhile, time is standing still for Steve
and the silver travel clock.
There's real thick oil on the underside of the dial there.
Just wipe that off and show you.
It's had loads of oil put on.
There's no way you should put as much oil onto a clock like this.
Steve now needs to dismantle the gummed-up clock,
thoroughly clean the intricate parts and reassemble it again,
all before Ian returns to collect his treasured family timepiece.
It's quite a nice part of the job, cleaning up the silver,
cos it does come up really, really well.
Going to start putting the main part of the clock together now.
There we are - all done.
It's quite incredible to think that this survived Ian's grandparents
being in a Japanese camp.
They must've had it hidden away somewhere...incredibly safe.
- Hello, Ian. - Hi, Steve.
- How are you? - Nice to see you again.
- You, too. - How have you got on, sir?
- Yeah, really well. I'll just go and get your clock for you. - Thank you.
- Oh, wow. I can see... - There we are.
Wow! I can see from here you've done a lot of work on that.
That is really glistening, isn't it?
- I've never seen the silver look like that. - Oh, right. - Never.
That is amazing. Actually, can I...
I haven't heard it tick for so long.
- Oh, it does. - Yeah. - That's beautiful, isn't it?
- And is that the right time? I've got no idea. - Yes, it is.
It's absolutely amazing.
I did not expect it to come back looking like that.
Thank you very much.
I hope it brings back the memories of your grandparents...
It certainly will do that.
..and the life that this has had with your grandparents, as well.
Well, that's what I'm now desperately keen to find out,
because I haven't found it out.
I've spent a long time looking and I haven't quite got to
- the end of it yet... - Oh, right, OK. - ..to know how it came to them,
- whether it came from my grandmother or my grandfather, because... - Right.
..there's a bit in their life that's missing
and I need to try and see if I can research it a bit more.
It's re-sparked the desire to go through the family tree
in a bit more detail.
I can't believe he's got the silver up the way he has.
It's never looked like that, all the time I've had it.
I'm gobsmacked. It's brilliant. It's absolutely brilliant.
And I know, when I tell the family what's happened,
they will be absolutely delighted.
- There we go. - Never thought I'd get it back like that.
And I wish I'd met you earlier.
- Oh, thank you. - Cheers. - You take care. Bye-bye, now.
But as one happy customer leaves the workshop,
two more recent arrivals are kicking up a fuss.
DALEK TOYS WAIL
This red Dalek has been silent for ten years
and electronics expert Neil is on a one-man mission to make him speak.
We need the oil to get into all the places the oil needs to go into,
and the best way of getting the oil to do that
is to make everything move that needs to move.
The best way to make everything move that needs to move is,
of course, to put in batteries and push the button.
SLURRED:
- That doesn't sound right. - Shall I take it outside?
Yeah, it's a bit possessed, yeah.
I think you need to take it out.
Nightmare. I'm going to be thinking about that tonight.
Demonic Dalek coming for me.
He's asking what our orders are.
- He's a good Dalek. - I'll give him an order - get the hell out of here!
- It's getting clearer. - It is getting clearer - I'll give it that.
With their dulcet tones restored,
these fearsome warriors can be reassigned to their quest
for world domination near Wigan
and return to their master, Brian.
- How you doing? You all right? - Oh, the tension!
- The tension! - Good news about the Daleks.
DALEK: Attack! Attack! Attack!
- Now, he's on hyperdrive. - Isn't he?
But even the red one...
You will obey!
You need to obey. But, apart from that,
you need to make the thing work as much as possible,
so don't be afraid to use it. Use it and use it and use it,
and the more you use it, the higher its pitch is going to get.
So he's going to end up speaking like a normal Dalek.
What are your orders?
It's so good to hear them both speak, at least.
Considering they were made in 1975, crikey!
They are doing very well, both of them.
They are, really. I'm very impressed with that noise.
Awesome! Thank you.
Now I've got them back again,
perhaps these Daleks can conquer the icy slopes of the stairs again,
just like they used to do in the 1970s.
- DALEK: - You will obey!
Exterminate! Attack, attack, attack!
Join us next time,
as more family treasures are rescued
and precious memories restored in The Repair Shop.