Welcome to The Repair Shop,
where cherished family heirlooms are brought back to life...
This is the workshop of dreams.
..home to furniture restorer Jay Blades.
Nowadays, everybody spends a fortune on stuff that,
once it's broken, they just bin it.
But, everybody has something that means too much to be thrown away,
and that's where we come in.
Working alongside Jay
will be some of the country's leading craftspeople.
Every piece has its own story.
It's amazing to think that some of my work
becomes part of that story.
I've always played with things, I've always repaired things.
And I just love it.
There is a real pleasure in bringing people's pieces to life again.
Each with their own unique set of skills...
I can't wait to get started.
..they will resurrect,
revive,
and rejuvenate...
..treasured possessions,
and irreplaceable pieces of family history...
Wow!
..bringing both the objects...
She's fantastic!
That's just taken me back 50 years.
..and the memories that they hold...
Oh! Oh, yes!
..back to life.
Oh, my God!
In The Repair Shop today,
an intriguing object from far-flung lands reveals a hidden trick...
There's actually a secret panel on the back,
that was almost invisible to the human eye.
How on Earth did you...?
It's pretty incredible.
..while Lucia strives to get
a 180-year-old portrait picture perfect.
This is like cosmetic surgery for paintings.
Literally, a bit of filler for her luscious lips.
This morning, furniture restorer Will Kirk,
and silversmith and metalworker Brenton West,
are awaiting the next arrival.
Why are you wearing a checked top?
I told you I'm wearing a checked top today. And black jeans!
No, it's my turn for black jeans.
Anyway... Anyway, here he is.
Julian! Hi.
Will. Very nice to meet you. I'm Jules, hi.
Hi, Jules. Nice to meet you.
Julian Kilburn is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
and he has a very special item that has just come into his possession.
So, what have we got?
Admittedly, it's not in very good shape, but it's a seaside telescope.
Brilliant. Oh, right!
I've been trying to track one down for years.
I finally got hold of a pretty battered one,
so it needs a bit of love.
It's an echo of the British seaside holidays I used to go on.
This is this was the thing you saw when you knew you were there.
Yeah. You know, "Are we there yet?" "Yes, you are!"
What are you going to do with it?
It's going to go back to a place called Robin Hood's Bay,
where I holidayed as a kid. OK.
It's the only place we ever went on holiday, just near Whitby,
on the Yorkshire coast.
I bought a property there, so I can put it in a place where it can be
seen from the village and enjoyed again.
So, any 20p that makes it through the mechanism
will go to the RNLI... Brilliant. ..forever. I'll hold you to that!
You can do, yeah!
So, what's wrong with it.
Well, it doesn't work, and it's missing a door,
and you can't see through it.
But, apart from that... It's fine.
What colour would this have originally been?
I can see sort of reds... Mainly red, isn't it?
It's like that sort of pillar box. Yeah.
So I think I think that's... That's what you remember?
It is, yeah.
So, how does it work? You sort of just put in the 20p piece?
Yeah, if the mechanism was working.
The lens should open, so you can see.
So, the money drops down into there, does it? Yes, I think so.
Then the man comes along with his key... I guess so, yeah.
I think Brenton's after that 20p!
That's long gone now!
Well, it's a serious bit of kit to restore.
You've got a lot of work there.
There is a bit of work there. A lot of work there.
It'll be fun to do, so, yeah.
Looking forward to getting started. Great.
Thank you very much. Cheers, Will. Thanks, Brenton. OK! Cheers!
The telescope, it was the sentry man of the bay, in Robin Hood's Bay,
where we would go, and it's tied up with all that seaside imagery
of donkey rides, skimming stones,
the ice cream, and the kite flying.
I've not great expectations, it's in pretty bad shape,
and I'm not sure when it even last worked.
But they're such beautiful, iconic things,
and it'd be nice to bring one back to life.
So, what are you going to do with it?
The case needs to be opened up somehow.
See what's going on in there.
I suggest a chainsaw or a blowtorch, or something.
That sort of thing. It's going to be a lot of work to get that open.
And you've got this panel down here as well.
What's this I can see?
What have you got? Oh, it's my payment!
Your payment?! Thank you.
We're not paying you for anything! Oh, come on!
I'm going to decide whether or not to give that to you as payment,
or back to Julian. OK. But, for now, top pocket.
So I have got to fix it then!
You have got to fix it. I'll give you a hand. Ready? Let's go.
Good luck.
My problem is, I've never ever done a telescope before.
I don't think I've ever broken into anything before,
so it is a unique job for me, yes.
It will be a challenge.
So, the mechanism is a clockwork mechanism.
It's fairly simple, depending on... Someone's had a go at getting
in here already, and I can see the front is slightly damaged.
Oh, there's money in there!
Will can keep that money, I'm having this lot!
There we go.
Bingo.
Let's see what we've got here.
So, we've got that bolt out of there.
Then, this door will open, and I can get that mechanism out of there.
You can see that's a 15mm socket in there,
so this is going to be easy to do.
Maybe it's not 15. OK...
So, we'll try 17 in there.
That's too big now.
I've now got to find another way into here.
We'll come back to this then.
Difficult.
Next into the Repair Shop,
Nick Jansen has brought with him a well travelled item.
Hi, there.
I'm Will, please come in.
Look at that! So, what have we got here then?
A walking stick with a monkey's head
that is almost like a ventriloquist's dummy.
Hmm, interesting.
I can see that there's a mechanism in there. Steve?
Pop over and have a look at this.
It's really cool.
Hello, I'm Steve. Nice to meet you, I'm Nick. Hi.
A monkey stick. Monkey stick.
And the mouth opens. Yes, there's a button on the back.
Oh, right, OK! Press the button.
Originally, the mouth opened and the ears flapped.
Fantastic, isn't it?
Where was this made?
I assume it was made in India.
It belonged to my uncle, my father's elder brother,
and he was in the military, in the cavalry in India,
and he was an excellent horseman,
and he was invited by the Maharajah of Rewa
to ride his horses, his race horses.
Apparently, this was a gift from the Maharajah to him.
And I've always loved it.
And when he passed on, eventually I inherited it.
And then, a few years ago, the ear dropped off.
You haven't got the ear? I have the ear. Do you?
I have the ear.
Ooh, ooh! That's the ear there.
I don't really know much about the mechanism on the inside, Steve,
that's probably more your forte.
I think the problem is going to be actually...getting into it.
So, this will be quite important to you... It is.
..to get this repaired. It's a connection with my family,
with my dad's only brother.
It's also important to my son, my son loves it as well.
So it'd be a nice thing to pass on to him, working.
If you leave that with us, I'm sure that between myself and Steve,
we can fix this.
Fingers crossed. Fingers crossed.
Thank you for coming down.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.
I think my uncle probably left it to me
because I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I loved it as a child.
And it was something that I enjoyed playing with,
and to see it in action again,
with both ears,
and the jaw working, that would be fantastic.
The Repair Shop team will have to work together on this one.
Clockmaker Steve is always up for any mechanical challenge.
But first, Will has to find a way to get inside the monkey's head.
This is really tricky.
It's almost as if the monkey's head has been built from the outside in,
because there doesn't seem to be any openings, apart from the mouth.
But, I can't actually get any access, any decent access,
that Steve needs, through the mouth, or even through the broken ear.
So there must be another way of getting in there.
There actually seems to be a really thin line running down the back.
That could possibly be an opening.
Oh, it's coming out.
Perfect!
Fantastic. Just popping that out,
so that was actually like a secret panel there,
which they probably had made
before they did all the carving on the back,
so they glued that in,
they must have then carved in all the hair behind,
making it nearly invisible.
Hey, Steve.
Look. Oh, you've got it open!
I got it open, yeah!
Oh, the whole back's come off!
There's actually a secret panel on the back,
that was almost invisible to the human eye.
How on earth did you...
That's pretty incredible.
Yeah! So, I'll let you...
..have fun with the monkey's head!
OK! All right, Steve.
On the other side of the workshop, Brenton is still trying
to break into the vandalised seaside telescope.
So, what I've established here is there's some weld in the hole,
which is stopping the socket going on the bolt,
so I'm just going to try and drill the weld out of the way.
The socket, hopefully, will go on there.
Oh, yeah! That's going, I think.
Yeah, brilliant.
Oh, look at that.
And...
..we're in! That is a strong piece of metal.
They didn't want you getting in there, did they?
Right, see what we've got in here.
There's the mechanism.
There's a string that holds the shutter on the telescope.
I'm just going to cut that so I can get this mechanism out.
This is had a bit of a life, I'm afraid.
Obviously, the front of the box is very strong,
and whoever's tried to break into it
has used a big lever and a big hammer,
and pretty much destroyed this mechanism.
It's almost beyond repair, I'd say.
Oh, dear.
However, the Repair Shop has a wealth of skills to call on,
and, if anyone can get the coin operated timer working, it's Steve.
All right, Steve? Yeah.
This is out of my seaside telescope. Right.
That looks a bit of a contraption. Lovely, isn't it?
So, you wind that, that ticks away, moves that mechanism.
OK. First of all, the 20p doesn't go in very well.
It goes in and turns, but it doesn't always drop through.
Do you want me to reshape the 20p?
If you could, that'd be good!
Secondly, once the 20p has dropped through,
it's got to open the telescope,
just by pulling on that, and then it slowly goes away,
and then lets go. Oh, my goodness!
Have you ever seen anything like it? No.
Leave it with me.
Good luck! All right. Phew, got out of that one!
LAUGHTER
With Steve on the mechanics,
Brenton tackles the aesthetics.
So, I've got years and years of paint on here.
There's probably four or five layers.
Brenton's using a fast-acting paint stripping gel
to soften the old paintwork.
It's always good practice to take the old paint off, if you can.
It'll make a much smoother finish,
rather than being all lumpy and bumpy, as it has been before.
How are you getting on?
It's hard work. Is it? Isn't there an easier way to do this?
We could sandblast it.
But, this has been galvanised, which is zinc plate. Right.
That stops it rusting. OK.
Because it's by the seaside,
we want to keep that galvanising on there. If we sandblast it,
it'll take all the galvanise off, and then it'll rust in a few years.
You're going to be out here for years, aren't you?
Not if you do that for me.
I'll get this done, you do that. Got any goggles? Behind you.
There we go.
Nice one.
This'll be done in no time! Bit of elbow grease, look. Good!
Hold on, why am I wearing glasses and you're not?
Because I've got a bit of an issue with my glasses.
I can spend some... Oh, wow.
So, my glasses have got a bit of an issue, so.. Cor, blimey. Yeah.
They need fixing then. I'm going to take them to a repair shop later!
It's just down the road!
Lucky, isn't it? It is!
Back in the barn,
Steve is currently devoting time to the monkey walking stick.
It was a gift from a Maharaja.
Basically, the mechanism in here isn't that complex.
It takes a bit of setting up, it's quite difficult,
it's a bit like doing some...brain surgery, basically,
through a small hole.
The ear that had already broken off,
there was a steel rod going through,
which would have held it so that it would pivot, like that.
The problem is that the wood has rotted away,
in an area that should have held the pivot.
So, what I'm going to do is put a brass bush in there,
basically a brass bush is...
..a clock bearing,
which is a sleeve to push a new piece of steel in,
and then, hopefully, it'll work all right.
The bush, that fits in there nice and snuggly.
I just need to drill it out to the right size,
so that the steel will fit through it, and will swivel on it.
Right. Putting the bush in was successful.
What I've done is also I've put some filler over the top,
I've just carved it the same as the ear,
and I'm going to leave it for Will to colour up the same as the ear.
I've just actually glued the pivot...
..onto the wood there, and this is the moment of truth.
See if it works.
Finished?
Yes, I have!
No way! Yes!
THEY LAUGH
That's all right, isn't it?
Oh, hours of joy with that.
It's really good. Great job.
So, yeah, it works.
Is it ready to hand over to me yet, or...?
It is. It is!
Oh, my gosh.
I don't think I'm going to get it finished,
I'll be playing with it! I know!
Great stuff. Brilliant. Well done, Steve. Cheers. Thanks a lot.
The back head plate needs to be glued back in place,
and it has to be done in such a way that it almost looks invisible,
as it was made to look in the beginning. Seamless.
So...making sure that there's not too much glue there
that gets into the mechanism that Steve's lovingly fixed.
That on there.
Perfect.
I'm going to mix up some filler.
I'm going to fill some of these gaps,
where you can actually see that the original wood has split out.
It's quite a small object to be working with,
and, just because it's small, doesn't necessarily mean
that it's an easy fix. It's actually quite fiddly.
I'm being really careful not to put any pressure
on the monkey's ears because
the last thing I want to do is for them to break again,
and for me to have to explain that to Steve,
after all the work he's been doing.
So, I've filled all the cracks in the monkey's head,
and now I'm just going to perform a minor bit of surgery
with a scalpel.
The areas I've filled have actually lost the detail from the hair,
so I'm just going to start carving that back in.
It's sort of made a bit easier, the fact that I can follow the
original carvings around the repair.
I'm kind of just following that shape back in.
And that's helping me get the right shape of hair grain.
Will may be making headway with the monkey stick,
but there's a constant stream of new arrivals.
Bill Arnold and his son Jeff have brought with them
a cherished heirloom in need of expert attention.
Hello. Hi. A painting! Let me help you with that.
Thank you. I'll put it on an easel, follow me.
They're hoping conservator Lucia Scalisi
can work her magic.
A beautiful painting. Who is this?
This is Mary Carmichael.
My great-great-great-grandmother.
So, it's sort of like 1800s?
About 1780, I think. 1780.
She was born Mary Holyland,
and she ran away and eloped to Gretna Green
with James Carmichael in 1775.
They went on to have ten children.
Her husband was a Fellow of the Royal Society,
and Physician Extraordinary to George III.
Fantastic, fantastic! And what happened to it?
Well... Ask him!
I can see two damages. The most obvious one is this one.
It's a terrible cold sore on her mouth. Yes!
I shot her in the face with a... I shouldn't laugh, it's terrible.
With a dart gun, as a ten-year-old boy.
I was doing target practice, spun it round, took a shot...
Sadly, of all the places it could have gone,
it went straight through the painting, and her lip. So...
Oh, no, what a shame! Yeah.
How did your father feel about that? How do you feel about that?
To be honest... You must have been horrified!
Not at all because I didn't notice for two months! Really?!
Despite the fact that I walk past the portrait
at least a dozen times a day!
And it was only my brother-in-law who pointed out to me
that she'd got a fat lip, and it then was revealed to me.
The family had kept it a secret from me that he'd done it.
Oh, what a shame. And what happened here, what's this one? Same time?
I don't know.
No, I think that may have been afterwards.
I don't know what happened there.
We moved fairly recently. It may have happened then.
It's a beautiful painting. Do you know who painted it?
Well, no.
There is a name on the back, but it is just the name.
So I don't know who painted it.
OK, that's something I could certainly find out for you.
What would it mean to you to have this restored to its former glory?
Well, I'd be only too delighted because, of course,
I shall be passing this on, to probably my oldest daughter.
Not to him, I hasten to add!
Part of your history will go with it. Exactly, exactly.
It's very much in the style of an artist called Romney,
a Scottish artist, although I don't think it is a Romney.
Partly because it's not very highly finished,
but it's still quite beautiful.
But we can find out a bit more when I have a look at the back,
and see what's on there.
Thank you very much for bringing it in.
It's a charming picture and a really nice story.
OK. We'll see what we can do. Thank you very much.
Lovely to meet you. Lovely to meet you, Bill. OK!
Lovely to meet you, Jeff. Lovely to meet you too.
The painting's in safe hands.
Much safer than any of ours, which is good.
So I'm quite excited to see, you know,
the finished result, which I'm sure will be amazing.
It is important to me that it's passed on to the next generation,
for another 250 years.
So it'll be wonderful to have it restored.
This painting being restored has brought a whole new lease
of family history to us, I think.
I'm going to brush up, I will know more.
Don't you worry, Dad. I doubt it.
This is the first view of the back, so you can see very clearly
the damage again, this hole.
Can see the tear.
It's obviously being pushed through from the front.
What's really exciting is that, on the back,
we've got a canvas stamp, which will help me date the painting,
and also the artist has signed it,
not only with his name, but with his address in London.
Which is extraordinary, really.
I've heard of... I think it's Gilbert Stuart Newton...
I have heard of the name, I don't know his work.
So, that's something that I shall look forward to finding out about.
It's dead exciting!
Outside the workshop, Brenton's been busy with some painting
of his own, applying a red oxide base coat,
and reassembling the seaside telescope.
Just in time for an inspection by Jay.
How're we doing?
Yeah, good. That's come up all right, hasn't it?
Yeah, that's the primer. OK.
So, pull this thing... What's going on? It's not working.
No, the mechanism's not been fixed yet,
but this little thread, if you pull that, it opens the shutter up,
and you can see out there. Cor blimey!
Can you go any closer? No. What, that's it?
That's it. Your 20p, that's all you get.
Oh, man! It's a seaside telescope, it's not for looking at the moon!
Right, OK!
This focuses it up, does it? It does, yeah.
Yeah, that's better. Cor, blimey!
So, are you going to paint this as well?
Right, so this is going to go pillar box red.
Yes. As per Julian's instructions. Right.
And we've got to fix the mechanism because, at the moment,
we've just got a piece of thread opening the shutter.
We'll fix the mechanism,
and then we've got to make a door for the bottom. OK.
So you ain't got much to do, have you? Not a lot.
OK. Well, if you stay focused you'll get it done! Ha-ha!
So, I'm just making the door for Julian's telescope.
The old door was vandalised.
I've got 5mm steel here, which is heavyweight.
That's going to fit into the front of the scope.
When I've cut that slot out of there,
we can put a padlock on there,
and Julian's money will be safe.
But, for Julian to collect any money in the first place,
he'll need a working coin mechanism.
Steve's given it his best shot,
but, despite hours of tuning and tweaking,
sometimes even the greatest Repair Shop minds draw a blank.
Oh! I know why you gave me this.
You've fixed it for me, brilliant! No, have I heck!
It's not nice engineering, is it? It's really not nice engineering,
that's a really good way of putting it.
What I've been thinking is,
because you've made such a lovely job of the telescope,
and it's all working, isn't it? Yes, the head telescope works. Brilliant.
So, if we could leave it open all the time,
and just have a little sign on there saying,
"Donations to the RNLI".
We could engrave that, so that people can look through,
and it can be a sort of honesty box.
It'll probably make more money than if it was 20p.
Yes, perfect. I'm sure Julian would be really pleased with that.
Yeah, that's our solution for that.
Excellent. OK. OK, well I'll leave you with that then.
Thanks a lot. You're welcome! Thank you!
With as many of the working parts fixed as possible,
there's just one job left to do.
The restoration of the monkey walking stick is almost complete.
Steve got the mechanism working again.
Will's trying to make him a bit more presentable.
I'm going to start mixing up a little bit of polish.
I'm going to start trying to match the monkey's hair colour.
Trying to get a really nice match.
The panel on the back was seamless in the beginning,
so I really want to do a really good job,
that you can't actually see any repair.
Just as it was done before.
With a bit of polish, and a nice clean and a wax,
hopefully I can achieve that.
When he came into the Repair Shop, this cheeky monkey only had one ear,
couldn't move his mouth,
and was definitely showing his age.
Now, owner Nick is back to collect his beloved companion.
I'm looking forward to being reacquainted with my monkey stick.
It'll be wonderful if it's working again.
Even if it's just back together with the ear on and the face together,
so that the monkey is the monkey again, and not...
But, if it's working, that will be a real bonus.
That'd be fantastic.
How are you doing, Nick? Hi. All right? Fine, you? Very good.
You've come to pick up your monkey stick. Hopefully, yes.
Will!
And Steve, if you don't mind coming? Nick's here.
Hi, Nick. Hi, nice to see you again. You too.
Whoa! Here we are, Nick. Hey, hey!
Can I unveil it then? Yeah! Oh, go on! Absolutely. Yeah? Yes.
Moment of truth, eh?
Careful.
Oh, flipping...
Wow!
It's fantastic.
Oh, it's beautiful.
Well done, guys. It really is.
I think you need to see if it actually works.
HE SNIFFS
Oh, it's brilliant.
Thank you so much.
Thank you. No, thank you. You're very welcome.
I don't know what to say.
What memories does it bring back then, Nick?
Brings back...memories of...
..family getting together.
I mean, there's not many of us left now, so...
Thank you. Thank you all so much.
It's really interesting because we were trying to work out
how to get into the monkey's head.
We found a sort of secret panel on the back
which had been really, really well disguised.
The whole of this section at the back here came off.
Wow, the craftsmanship.
Fantastic.
Do you think that you'll be using the stick to walk around town?
I doubt it.
I shall, I shall...
I ain't going to risk it, no.
No, it's going to sit there, safe! Pride of place? Safe! Safe!
Thank you, gentleman. Take care. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.
I'm going to miss that little monkey!
Feeling a bit churned up.
I wasn't expecting to get quite so emotional about...
..an object,
but the memories it brought back,
it is a link back to those days,
back to my family, and to see it working,
cos I've never seen it working before,
it is brilliant.
I didn't think they were going to be able to make
the mechanism work,
but this is absolutely wonderful.
CRACKLING
Art conservation expert Lucia is busy restoring
the dark and damaged portrait of Mary Carmichael.
She's also done some additional detective work into the painting,
and uncovered an extraordinary history.
I think this is a copy because I think she had been painted
by Romney, and I think she is in the National Gallery of Edinburgh,
the original Romney painting,
and I think that Newton went to Scotland and did a copy of it.
He copied the painting that was in the gallery there,
and I did wonder if it was because it was a commission for the family
here in the south of England.
Commissioning copies of portraits was very common
for large, wealthy families.
Gilbert Stuart Newton painted this portrait around 50 years
after Romney's original.
George Romney was one of the most successful artists of his day,
painting many leading high-society figures.
It's now down to Lucia to keep that legacy alive.
So, looking at this painting now,
I'm going to actually secure the paint around the edge
of the dark, erm, hole,
and the same thing along this tear as well, just to hold
all the broken, fractured paint in that area in place.
To restore the two damaged sections of the canvas,
Lucia's using a fish glue to secure adhesive strips,
which will help preserve the original paint.
This is like cosmetic surgery for paintings,
and the fact that it's on her lips, a bit of...
..literally a bit of filler for her luscious lips.
She must have been considered a great beauty.
I mean, look at her - she's wonderful.
I'm going to turn the painting over and start working on the back.
So, I'm just very gently introducing
moisture into all these torn canvas threads,
just to soften them, because they've been in this position for 20 years,
The damage happened 20 years ago, so they've become quite rigid
in that position.
But, to be honest, I actually think all the threads are still there.
There's no loss of canvas in this area.
While the damp canvas dries, Lucia can give the painting
a surface-clean -
much-needed after being hung on walls for almost 200 years.
Look at that. Do you know what that is?
That is nicotine.
I'll do it in the white area cos you'll see it very clearly.
So, we can expect quite a dramatic clean just of this surface,
without removing any of the original varnish.
That is nicotine.
So, you can tell different dirt on the surfaces of paintings,
where they come from, because of the different colour,
and some of them need... I mean, this is coming off very easily.
Look, it's just yellow, bright yellow.
If it was city dirt, environmental pollution
it would be grey or black.
But hopefully we'll get a bit more contrast between the background
and her hair, which is sort of, like, lost in it a bit.
You know what? I never get tired of this.
I never get tired of the sort of reveal that I get when I'm cleaning
and seeing it because it's...
Sometimes it's just remarkable.
Next, Lucia must repair the damaged sections of the canvas.
I've put some nylon gossamer, already prepared with
the synthetic adhesive, and I'm just going to apply these.
as my tear repairs.
So, these little patches will do the job of holding
that area of the canvas together.
They're very fine.
That's good, so I'm pleased with that.
Having sealed the tears on the back of the canvas,
Lucia needs to patch the holes with acrylic filler.
It sort of acts as a seal, but it's
going to be the ground layer that
I can paint on top of.
I'm just putting the base colour in, in the lips, and I'm doing it
with watercolour, and it just blocks out the white filler,
and that's because, erm,
I'm going to retouch with the synthetic resin and dry pigments,
but they tend to be much more transparent,
so I do need to have a base in place.
It is a tiny damage, but it was...
It was very...
It's in the centre of her beautiful face, so there was
no way you could ignore it.
Across the workshop, Brenton is putting the finishing touches
to the seaside telescope,
hoping to recapture some childhood holiday memories for owner Julian.
Polishing - that must mean you're finished.
It's done, isn't it? JAY GIGGLES
Looks good, doesn't it? Are you happy? I'm happy.
Does it work?
Sort of.
Sort of? How does it work?
We had a bit of a problem with the mechanism... OK.
..where we couldn't get the rather nasty mechanics to open the shutter,
so what we've done is we've tied the shutter open... OK.
..and then we've made this sign that goes on here,
saying "20p donations to the RNLI".
And then the money's going to...
The money's going into... A good cause. ..the lockbox at
the bottom, and then it can go off to the lifeboats. Yeah.
Well, if you've got a 20... Hold on, let me see if I've got one.
I have got a 20p, actually. I might have one as well.
Oh, no. I haven't got one. I've got one here. There you go.
You can put 20p in towards the lifeboats.
COIN CLINKS It's a nice sound, that. Good, isn't it?
You've cleaned up the lens as well, haven't you? Yeah.
Can you see them all working over there? Yeah, everybody's working.
Yeah. Good, isn't it? It is good. Yeah. So...
And it looks a little bit...better than it did before, doesn't it?
It looks a lot better, not a little bit - a lot better.
Well, cheers, mate.
When the traditional seaside telescope arrived at the workshop,
it was broken and vandalised -
a ghost of a bygone era.
Now, resplendent in pillar-box red and brass trim,
serving as a collection point for owner Julian's charity of choice,
the RNLI, it's ready for him to take back to the North Yorkshire coast,
where it belongs.
All right, Julian? Nice to see you, Brenton. It's nice to see you again.
How are you doing? All right? Jay, nice to see you. Likewise.
So, what are you expecting to see underneath here?
A telescope in better condition than I left it with you, I hope.
Show him? Shall we do it, then?
I'll do the bottom one. You do the top one.
OK, let's take that off.
JULIAN GASPS
Wow.
Are you happy? I'm delighted.
Yeah? It's unbelievable.
It's just a new lease of life for something that was dead.
Yeah, yeah. So, fabulous.
You've done good. Well done. Thank you.
Well done, Brenton. Thank you. You're an artist.
Thank you, thank you. I wasn't on my own.
I did have...I did have help from various colleagues.
That is marvellous.
New door.
METAL CLANGS Yeah, with a padlock on there.
And you didn't give a spare key to Will, did you?
No, no, no, I wouldn't give Will a key. God, no.
He'd have all the money out of it.
So, this is like an ultimate kid's toy, isn't it?
Cos this can take you right back. Isn't this what you wanted?
Yeah. For me, it's going to the seaside.
The telescope was the first, sort of, thing that you'd see. Yeah.
You knew you were looking out over the sea at that point,
so it's the iconic guardian of the sea.
Erm...
So, yeah, I've been looking for one for a very long time.
We had a slight issue with the mechanism.
Right. OK? Yeah. So, we had the best minds in the business on it...
Yeah. THEY LAUGH
..and the bit inside that makes the telescope open was not repairable.
OK. OK? So, we put a new money bit in there,
so that goes kerchink. Oh, wow.
I've got you a whole heap of money out of it. OK.
So, you have a little go, and it makes a lovely chink.
And what you've got is an honesty box, I think,
and I think people will put their money in. Yeah.
That's it? Yeah.
Yeah, and turn... And turn? Yeah.
COIN CLINKS Oh...
Thank you, Brenton.
And another...and another boat gets rescued.
JULIAN CHUCKLES
Seeing the telescope for the first time
just made me feel like a kid again.
It reminds you of the end of the journey of, erm,
"Am I there yet, Mum?"
It just means you've arrived on holiday
and so I'm really pleased to be able to finish the journey.
It's like a dream come true.
The final item in the Repair Shop is nearing completion.
Lucia is putting the finishing touches to her makeover
of the Mary Carmichael portrait.
I'm just retouching the damage to her luscious lips.
I'm hoping that Bill and Jeff, when they come to see her,
will be very pleased and...
I mean, she is beautiful.
She was a society beauty, obviously,
with all this wonderful auburn hair.
I'm just putting a few finishing glazes on,
and she'll be...she'll be finished.
Actually, this is quite sweet retouching, because it really,
sort of, pulls the whole, sort of, form of the lips together,
so I'm hoping that they'll see her with renewed eyes.
Where the dirt can damage a thing of the past,
the painting's owners, Bill and son Jeff, are back at the Repair Shop
to collect the revitalised portrait of their ancestor.
I'm used to seeing it and, for the last 18 years,
I've been used to seeing it with a hole in it...her lip.
Yeah, and not having her in the house
for the past few days has been quite odd.
It could be quite nice to see her back in true form again,
without the...without the fat lip.
Hello, Bill. Hi.
Welcome back. Lovely to see you.
Hi, Jeff. Hi, Lucia. Lovely to see you again. Welcome back.
Welcome back. Thank you.
Are you ready to see her?
We are. Yes, please. Yes, please.
THEY GASP Look at that!
Absolutely perfect.
She has a lip!
And you can't tell... No, you can't tell at all, can you?
You really can't. She's beautiful, though, isn't she?
I know! Absolutely brilliant.
Pity it didn't rub off on me, isn't it? Yeah, I know.
Yeah, where did it all go wrong, Dad?
Oh, no, you're beautiful, Bill, but, erm...
I did a surface-clean... Mm-hmm. Yeah.
..and there was a lot of nicotine on there.
Oh!
I wonder where that could have come from!
I wonder where that could have come from! Really?!
it was obvious that somebody had been smoking a lot.
Yeah. Well, it was definitely my grandfather.
JEFF LAUGHS Couldn't possibly have been me. Really? Really?
Of course not. Oh, dear.
I think it's easier to see her hair now,
this beautiful auburn hair. Oh, yes, you can.
You could hardly see it at all.
So, I found out a little bit of information
about when this was painted. Oh.
I think this is a copy,
because I think she had been painted by Romney,
so the time it was painted...
Oh? ..well, it was a very narrow window of time
between 1832 and 1834.
Oh, I think she would have had some of her children by then.
Oh, no, she died. She died in about 180... She died in 1806.
Yes, yes, so... So, this is definitely post, erm...
Post, yeah. Right. So that sort of lends into the whole idea of
it being a copy of the Romney.
Yes, yes. Mm-hmm. So, that's, erm...
Yeah, but you can do more research maybe,
and look at the Romney painting,
and see why it may have come to... If it still exists.
It does. It's in the National Galleries of Edinburgh.
Oh, it is? Yes. Ah.
So that's a really interesting thing.
Well, I'm delighted. It's been brilliant, yes.
And will you start to look at it, Bill, every day?
I'll look at it every day, I promise. Yeah?
And he promises not to shoot it again.
I won't... Yeah, I won't shoot her in the face.
Well, I hope you enjoy looking at her for many years and...
I'm sure we will. Yeah. Thank you very much.
Pleasure.
To see the whole thing now as this amazing, gleaming,
well, lipped painting is incredible.
Yeah. We'll still keep the story alive, though.
I think we'll tell the grandchildren all about their naughty Uncle Jeff.
I don't think Dad will ever stop talking about it. Will you?
No, I won't.
Join us next time, as more treasured heirlooms...
We've had to make things worse before we got better.
..are brought back from the brink...
Oh, my lord!
..in The Repair Shop.