Welcome to The Repair Shop,
where cherished family heirlooms are brought back to life.
Anything could 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's 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...
- Oh, wow! - ..and the memories that they hold back to life.
Oh, thank you.
In The Repair Shop today...
for clock specialist Steve, it's a round of applause...
Oh, my goodness!
..as he turns his hand to toy repair.
And there's a box of delights for ceramics conservator Kirsten...
- Careful on the ceramics... - Yeah.
..with a little help from woodwork wunderkind Will.
Whoa, yay!
Well done.
The Repair Shop team is no stranger to weird and wonderful items.
Just come round this way...
And today is no exception.
And then over around there.
- That's it. Just there. - Right there?
Right here.
Thank you.
This iconic blast from the past is owned by Mike Pearce,
who has come to see Jay and jukebox expert Laurence Richardson.
- Hello, how we doing? - Morning. - You all right? - Yes, thank you, and you?
Yeah, not too bad. How can we help you?
- My jukebox has been delivered. - Oh, it's YOUR jukebox?
- Yes, it is. - OK, come round this way...
- Thank you. - I think this is the one.
So how long have you had this one, then?
Getting on 30 years.
30 years? How did you get hold of it? Was it in a coffee shop
or something, or has it come over for America?
No, I've always loved them in coffee shops.
I wanted to buy a pinball machine which I had seen advertised.
- Oh, right? - When I went to the gentleman's house,
this was standing in the corner.
So in the coffee shops, there would have been a lot of these...
- Yes. - Every coffee shop had one. - In those days, we didn't go to clubs,
there's no such thing as that.
We all thought we were James Dean...
- Oh, right! - We used to lean on it and see what the reaction was with
the other people. And if the prettiest girl in the coffee bar
- was... Like this. So that's when you play that one again! - Oh, OK!
This is my glorious 1957 Wurlitzer 2104 jukebox.
Unfortunately, like me, it's getting old and it's deteriorating,
and it gradually ground to a halt.
You have to remember with a jukebox, you've got these enormous speakers,
so they reverberate. They become part of the room.
It bounces off the walls.
Anyone of my age remembers music, this is how you would listen to it.
It doesn't sound the same from a CD or an iPod or anything.
It's not the same sound. It's a dear old friend.
I love it passionately. And it's so sad to see something
which should give so much pleasure just sulking in a corner,
poor thing.
- So, Laurence, what do you reckon? - Yeah. - Can it be done?
- Can we get this playing again? - Hopefully.
Have you worked on anything like this before?
I have worked on a few of these.
So, how often do these need a service?
Really, they need a service every year.
- Every year? - But most people leave it a couple of years.
And you've had this for 30... You've had it for 30 years!
If you leave it with us, we'll get it fully restored and working.
Lights flashing, yeah?
Yeah. To see it playing again, that would make an old man very happy.
- Miraculous. Thank you very much indeed. - No problem. - Thank you.
If it IS restored, it would be the most wonderful achievement.
Once it comes to life with music and light, it would be sensational.
- What have you got to do? - Well, open it up, have a look at it,
and then power it up and... keep your fingers crossed!
Power it up!
Yes, just to assess what's wrong.
Have you ever had any problems with these before?
- Yeah, you get problems, but... - Yeah? - I don't let them beat me!
Wurlitzer jukeboxes energised young people across Britain
during the late 1940s and '50s.
Excited teenagers could select from up to 104 tunes,
transporting them into the world of American rock and roll.
ELECTRICAL BUZZING
No. It shouldn't be making that buzzing noise.
As soon as I press a letter and a number button,
it should select the mechanism and it should start spinning round.
I'm going to manually flick a pin up,
which is what the buttons do electronically.
That will tell me whether the mechanism is functioning,
whether this motor works.
OK, it's going, but very slowly.
The speed is telling me that the motor isn't functioning correctly.
The motor feels a bit stiff,
so I'd like to take it off and clean it as well.
And then we need to see what it sounds like.
But that's a while off at the moment.
For craftspeople like Laurence, Jay, and the rest of the team,
it's a pleasure to get their hands on these little pieces of history.
They may arrive showing their years,
but they leave with a new lease of life,
to be enjoyed for generations to come.
The next guests are keen to restore their precious piece back to
its former glory. Mary and David Shockley, and Freddie, the dog,
- from Wiltshire. - How are we doing?
- Oh, fine, thank you. - Hello.
It's a job for ceramics conservator Kirsten.
That's great, lovely.
Oh, my goodness! Look at that.
What have we got here. What can you tell me about this, please?
Well, as far as I know, it was a ladies' Victorian travelling box.
It was given to me when I was about 10 or 11 years old.
- Yeah? - I understand that the panels on the front are hand-painted
French panels, which is quite unusual.
Because apparently, they usually just come with wooden fronts.
Oh, right. They're rather beautiful, actually, aren't they?
Beautifully painted.
Lovely colours. Has it always had that crack down...?
- Yes. - It has. - It had it when I had it.
Right. I can certainly have a look at that for you.
That would be absolutely marvellous!
- OK, all right. - Thank you.
It hasn't been out of my sight for the 60 years
that I've had it!
So leaving it somewhere is quite a wrench!
Will?
- How can I help? - These apparently are, um, French painted panels.
It's going to make my life a lot easier if it could come out of here.
- What do you think? - Right... Hmm.
Well done.
The painted tile is already cracked in two.
- Careful on the ceramics. - Yep.
It's up to Will to remove it without causing any further damage.
Whoa, yay!
Well done.
OK, so I'm just going to stick this final piece on here.
I tipped it onto its side,
to...use gravity to help pull the two edges together.
It should go together really nicely.
There we are. So, I'm just going to leave that now...
to go off.
From treasure box to jukebox.
Laurence is trying to resurrect Mike's classic 1950s Wurlitzer,
whose innards have remained untouched for three decades.
I've taken the motor off,
and it's really difficult to turn the spindle,
which is this piece at the end.
That tells me that it's seized up inside.
It should be nice and free, it definitely needs to be cleaned
and be lubricated.
- Oh, that's nice, isn't it? - Yeah, good, Jay.
- Yeah, we're getting there. - Got the back open?
- Got the back open. - Have you got it working? - No, not yet. - Not yet!
So, what's the problem with it?
Well, the motor is definitely very slow...
- OK. - So I've taken it apart. - What's that part? - That's the transformer.
- That's power, then? - That's power.
And then that's the mechanism?
This is the brain, if you like.
- This part. - Right, OK. - And it's not getting the signal from the button.
When you press the buttons, it's just buzzing.
It should click a pin up to make it rotate to select the record,
- and it's not doing that. - I want to get this going, man.
- Yeah, OK, OK! - Are you going to do it, are you going to do it?
- Yeah, I'll do it. - All right, I'm not going to stand over you
cos that's the worst thing. Put too much pressure on you.
- You're in control, ain't you? - I'm in control.
ROCK AND ROLL MUSIC
So, we've given this a clean-up.
And it's running much freer now.
Should be fine to go back in.
I love restoring jukeboxes
because there's something different to do every day,
and there's real satisfaction when you've restored something that
most people think looks ready for the tip.
The end result's just stunning.
Now I'm going to put the amplifier and power supply
back into the jukebox.
Hopefully, it will have speeded up the motor, the drive motor,
so it functions properly.
It's made a clunk...
Yup, the carousel's turning much faster now.
So it should stop when it gets to this pin.
It should lift the record up.
Which it's doing...
ROCK AND ROLL MUSIC PLAYS
Now the Wurlitzer is starting to get its mojo back,
Laurence gives it a well-earned drink.
Right, it's time to get the button bank out now.
This 1957 Wurlitzer 2104 is one of the most collectable from the era.
Fully working models can change hands for several thousand pounds.
All of the contacts look really dirty.
I'm going to completely clean everything there,
and then hopefully the signal will go through
when you press the buttons to start the jukebox working.
Right, I'm putting the button bank back in.
MUSIC: Moonlight Serenade by Glenn Miller
- MUSIC SLOWS TO A HALT - Ooh.
Put an end to THAT party, didn't it?
It sounds all right. Like, everything is rocking and rolling.
Yeah, it's selecting really well.
- But you don't look happy. - No, well... I am happy.
- What's left? - I think the sound could be a bit better, so...
I think that needle's worn out.
I don't think that's been changed for a while.
So that will make it sound good?
Mike's going to come in and lose his mind! It'll take him right back.
He's going to have the leather jacket on, the quiff. So basically,
we've got to get this sorted.
What else have you got left to do? Cos he's coming today,
- he's got to pick this up. - Is he? - Yeah, he is!
We need to give it a good clean. The screen's really dirty.
I could take care of that. Once you let me know when I can...
He's going to be made up, Mike's going to be made up.
- But listen, we've got to get this going. - Yeah, we will. - Call me!
- Right, OK. Thanks, Jay. - No problem!
No challenge is too big...
..or too small for the expertise and experience of the Repair Shop team.
Yet the objects that arrive...
- Ooh! - Oh, yes!
..still have the capacity to surprise and delight.
Oh, wow!
And none more so than the next offering,
brought by Peter Veal from south-east London.
- Hello. - Hi, there. - What have you got in there, then?
- So, we have a monkey. - A monkey? - Not a real monkey.
- Not a real monkey... - No.
What we've got is a toy monkey.
I spent quite a few summer holidays
in Montrose in Scotland with my best friend, James, and his grandmother,
who was an amazing woman. She'd lived all over the world,
and when she died, I was asked,
"Would you like anything to remember her by?"
- Right. - And the monkey, to be honest,
was the only thing I remember from this amazing room full of toys!
The first time I saw it, it actually moved, it's supposed to work.
But since I inherited it, and I think that was in '91,
- it's not moved a muscle. - It's not moved, no? - No.
This slightly scary simian was produced by Japanese toymakers
Bandai in the 1950s, which makes him between 60 and 70 years old.
- How do you operate it? - You just
press the lever and it moves its face, and it claps the cymbals.
So all of this moves up and down?
You can kind of re-enact it by doing...
- what you're doing there. - Right.
It can be terrifying for young children...
- Yeah, I bet it is! - I have a big print of it in my house,
and my niece came to stay at Christmas and she said,
"Can I have another room?"
We had to remove the picture from the wall.
I've done a lot of toys, I haven't done one of these, so...
His name is Mungo, by the way.
- Mungo the monkey, I don't know why. - Mungo the monkey?
How fast do these go when they're...
- When it is working? - I don't remember the speed!
What do you want, hertz or per second, what do you want(?)
I wondered whether it just goes like this or whether it goes like that.
- Yeah, the faster of the two. - The faster? All right.
Well, I think this is a job for you, Jay.
- Is it? - Taking off the clothes...
Steady on! Taking off the clothes of a monkey!?
- Yeah. - Yeah, because we've got to stitch them back, haven't we?
- No, that one's glued. - It is glued. - If you leave it with us,
we'll definitely get back to you once we've got him working again.
- OK. - Is that all right? - All right. - Thanks very much. Thank you.
- Thank you. - All right. - Thank you very much. Thanks a lot.
Well, Mungo's in quite a sorry state, to be honest.
He's looking worse for wear.
He's aged worse than me, I'm happy to say!
So if he could look almost as good as new, um, that would be amazing.
So, I've got to take this to my bench, get the clothes off...
- OK, all right. - I'll see you in a bit.
This is what it must feel like to get your chest waxed.
Almost there.
I think we've got lift-off!
He was resisting. He hasn't had his clothes off in many years!
Oh, was he?
- I suppose he hasn't! - And he could feel the chill in this building.
- Yeah. - And then...
- Well done, you! - See, if you can get...
- I can't get this off. - No, I don't think you need to.
I think the less we have to take off, the better.
So the shoulders... I think this whole back bit just comes out,
- doesn't it? - Yeah, no. It does. Yeah, no, that's perfect. Thank you.
- Leave that with me. - Yeah. - And... - You'll get him working, yeah?
- All right! - Hey, hey! - What's that? - Bye!
There you go. See you later, mate!
While Steve gets to grips with Mungo,
the jukebox is almost ready to return to active service,
complete with new needle and working lights.
For the final touches,
Laurence is calling in some Repair Shop reinforcements...
Right, Jay? Can we get these windows clean?
- How dirty are they? - They are filthy, mate!
They are, aren't they?
- It's had a hard life. - A hard life!
That's good stuff.
Yeah, it bit of vinegar, don't go amiss with that...
- IN AMERICAN ACCENT: - Gary, come and have a look at this!
- Unbelievable. - Put on my favourite song!
Aw, it stinks!
- Is that vinegar? - Yeah.
Ugh! Come on, guys, I want to listen to music.
ROCK AND ROLL MUSIC PLAYS
With the Wurlitzer sparkling once again,
Mike is back to be reunited with this most-treasured piece
of musical memorabilia.
Hearing the music coming out of my Wurlitzer again would take me
straight back to the 1950s.
The sounds will be the same, it would look the same.
And the feeling will be the same.
- Thanks, mate. - Right!
- There he is. How we doing, Mike? - Hello again, Jay. - You all right?
- I'm good, thank you. - OK, are you ready for this?
Laurence is smiling, that's good enough for me!
Yeah? Here we go, here we go.
Oh, that is beautiful!
Isn't that the most beautiful thing?
Laurence, you're a star, thank you so much - and thank you, Jay.
- It's amazing what he's done on this. - Never looked this good before...
- No? - Nope. That is wonderful.
So, does it take you back to the coffee shop days?
Sorry, that's where I WAS!
Oh, is it? I should leave you there, we should go, then!
Yeah, exactly.
She's exactly as they should look.
Yeah? I tell you what the best thing to do now is play a song.
That's the first time for a few years too.
Here comes the magic bit...
MUSIC: At The Hop by Danny And The Juniors
That sounds good!
Is that all right?
'The sound, something else with the giant speakers,
'took me straight back to the '50s, the coffee bar days.'
And we'd play all the early rock and roll records.
Wonderful sensation.
It looks so beautiful, that it can't have looked that good since 1957!
So, Mike, are you happy with the job that Laurence has done?
- I know he's standing there! - Happy's not the word. I'm ecstatic about it!
It is absolutely wonderful.
No, I didn't expect it to come up as well as this.
I'm pleased with it.
Honestly, it just looks so nice, sounds so nice, and it looks right.
That's the important thing. And it feels good, too.
- Yeah, it does. - You're an absolute star, thank you so much.
- That's OK. - Press a number...
- It's very clever. - It's very clever!
MUSIC: Moonlight Serenade by Glenn Miller
Laurence and Jay have done the most spectacular job on it.
It's beyond my expectations, for sure.
It is back to how it should be - it's living, it's breathing,
it's a real thing again.
It will be cherished and be given the future that it deserves.
But The Repair Shop can't stop to party for too long.
Steve's got monkey business to attend to.
Most clockmakers do repairs to all sorts of things,
because we're sort of the last resort in a lot of cases,
so we get a lot of mechanical toys to mend, especially vintage ones.
This happy chappie has been popping up in popular culture
since it was first manufactured in the 1950s,
making appearances in Rebel Without A Cause, Toy Story 3,
and even The Simpsons.
The clapping monkey has become an enduring childhood image.
I'm following the wires around, to check to see where they are, and...
..I've actually identified a loose wire just here.
Ooh!
Oh, brilliant, we've got life there!
- Oh, my goodness! - HE LAUGHS
You got him working, then?
Well, I'm holding a wire in place at the moment.
- He's a mad little monkey, isn't he? - He is.
What are you holding together, just a bit of wiring?
I've got this wire that's loose in there - can you see this wire here?
- There we go. - Oh, as soon as it touches that, yeah?
Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, it's all right.
And then you've got to solder in there, but how you going to do that,
- without getting this...? - I just, I'll just...
I've got to move that out of the way, so I don't burn it or melt it.
- And that's it? - Well, no.
Then, then there's this lever, this little button on top,
- that's then supposed to... - What, on his head?
Yeah.
- Oh, wow. - That then changes its action.
I think - and I don't know this - I think it stops the cymbals
and then it makes a noise and its lips go up and down
and eyes go in and out and things like that.
- Is it? - So, yeah, watch this space. - OK.
There's this button on top here.
I was hoping that this would actually engage
the mechanism to alter the...
eyes and the lips.
The lips are supposed to open like this,
and the eyes are supposed to bulge out.
And I think it's had quite a bash in its past.
There are levers really bent and broken in here,
but I'll have a look at it and see what I can do.
While Steve goes like the clappers to bring Mungo back to life,
Kirsten is applying some blue-sky thinking to the treasure box.
So, I'm just sort of finishing off this plaque from the treasure chest.
I'm hoping that it's going to look really, really nice
and that the owners will be very happy with it.
All that remains is for Will to carefully reattach the door
and Mary, along with her husband, David,
can be reunited with the box she has loved since she was ten years old.
- How we doing? - Very well, thank you.
With Kirsten off on a Repair Shop mission,
it's over to Jay to do the honours.
- You ready for this? - I am.
- Wow. - Oh gosh, that's beautiful.
Hasn't she done a lovely job?
Brilliant! You can't see the mend at all.
Oh, it's absolutely brilliant, and it's come up beautifully.
My mother would be thrilled to see it like that, as well.
And I hope to pass it down the generations.
- That's good. - Because I've got a daughter and a granddaughter,
- which would be lovely. - Yeah, that would be.
It's absolutely fantastic.
- Yeah? - Yes, I can't thank you enough for doing it.
'I couldn't believe my eyes.'
That crack has been there ever since I owned it,
and to see it gone is absolutely marvellous.
It makes it so much more complete.
The treasure box is going to be kept now in the lounge and not
in a wardrobe in my bedroom, and put it on display,
so that everybody can admire it.
If there's one project in The Repair Shop that's in danger of driving
everyone bananas...
..it's this one, Mungo the musical monkey.
- All right, Jay? - How you doing, Steve?
Yeah, he's ready to... He's ready to be redressed.
- Redressed! - Yes. - OK, let's have a look.
He ain't been to the dentist for a long time, though, has he?
- He hasn't been to the dentist for a while. - You sorted him out.
- He could do with a gold tooth in there. - He could, actually.
I might have to put one in there for him!
I'm not an expert at dressing a monkey, so I'll leave that to you!
Yes, please!
Cheers, Steve.
Steve's done a brilliant job in getting Mungo working again,
so the only thing that's left for me to do is basically glue him
so he doesn't stretch his fur.
There we go, Steve, one fully dressed monkey.
He's got his dignity back, then.
He has a bit, he has.
- Waah! - I know, the batteries are in!
Turn him off, mate, turn him off!
- He's a bit scary. - Yeah, you've done a great job there, well done.
Restored and re-dressed...
- How we doing? - Hello again.
..Mungo can be returned to owner Peter.
- Hello, Peter, how are you? - All right, you?
A reminder of childhood memories of holidays in Scotland,
with his best friend and his grandmother.
There we go, all tucked up nicely.
How long is it since you saw him doing anything?
- Er... 1988, so what's that...? - '88, oh, my word! - 29 years?
Gosh! Right, once upon a time he used to open and close its lips
and the eyes used to bulge out, and he used to make a noise, as well.
But at some stage in its life,
it's had a wallop or two or three, or maybe a lot more wallops on it,
and is beyond repair, really.
But what you remember happening is happening now.
Hey! He didn't go THAT fast!
Very good, thank you. I've never seen him twirl on his bum like that.
No.
- Well done. - So, yeah, all good.
- May I? - Yes, sir, absolutely you can, yeah.
I can't stop it...
Oh, it's exhausting!
- Thank you. - To tell you the truth,
I'm quite chuffed that he's leaving the workshop.
I haven't had a good night's sleep since he's been here!
I'm feeling very happy,
because I honestly had given up on him
ever being a working monkey again.
It feels very nice that Mungo's been brought back to life,
because it connects me with the memories again
and I can't wait to show James, because I think that...
the memories will come flooding back for him, as well.
Join us next time, as more treasured possessions
are brought back to life.