The Repair Shop on the Road

In this episode, the experts lend their skills to a community project, hear the story behind a new treasure to be repaired, and visit a local crafting hero.

Since 2020, Manchester Town Hall has been undergoing the biggest heritage renovation project in the UK, at a cost of 325 million pounds. Now, Repair Shop horologist Steve Fletcher has been invited to lend a hand getting its huge clock back up and running. So how will he fare on this super-sized fix?

Will is in nearby Oldham to pick up a vintage fruit machine that's close to John's heart. Inherited by him after a tragic accident, the mechanism is jammed, the paint scuffed, and he's never seen the lights working. Decades of experience mean game machine expert 'Pinball' Geoff is the perfect man for the job, but it will be a painstaking process getting it to pay out once more.

Then it's from the 1970s to the 17th century, as Will gets a crash course in traditional globe-making from man of many talents Jonathan Wright. Blending cartography, carpentry and several other heritage skills, he both restores antique examples and creates brand new globes on commission, making him the perfect teacher to show Will what goes into this delicate work.

In this episode, the experts lend their skills to a community project, hear the story behind a new treasure to be repaired and visit a local crafting hero.

Will and Dom visit the south coast, where East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service have an emergency even they aren't trained for. Built decades ago to take part in charity pram races, soapbox racer Babie, modelled on a fire engine, has lost a little lustre, as well as her hose and ladder. And she's gained a good few dents over the years. So the boys enlist the help of the team at Brooklands Aviation and Motoring Museum to get her racing once again, in tribute to the firefighters who originally built her all those years ago.

Will's on Brighton Pier to meet PJ, who'd like a memento of his mother brought back to its former glory. It's a very special gnome, one of more than a hundred she collected, but it has broken off its base, with the paint worn and chipped. There's also a mystery piece of rusted metal attached, which Kirsten might need a hand removing before the big repaint can begin.

We're staying in Brighton to learn all about neon sign making from a father-and-daughter duo that blend science and art in their colourful creations. Dom's more used to moulding metal than glass, so how will he fare when faced with the delicate task of blowing his own glass?

In this episode, the experts lend their skills to a community project, hear the story behind a new treasure to be repaired, and visit a local crafting hero.

Dom and Lucia are in Dundee, where regeneration of the waterfront has sparked change throughout the city. However, in the shadow of the celebrated RSS Discovery, Britain's oldest wooden ship, HMS Unicorn, is moored around the corner and a little neglected. Beloved by many, especially the generations of the Women's Royal Naval Service who trained on it, the 200-year-old vessel is in need of immediate preservation. However, getting it into drydock is a costly operation, so the team are visiting to help with their fundraising efforts. In the past, a fibreglass copy of the unicorn figurehead went on tour to raise awareness of the project, but since it was damaged a decade ago, it has been unable to perform those duties. Despite some recent health troubles, heraldic sculptor Peter is eager to repair the figurehead so that it can go out on its fundraising excursions once again.

It's all to play for when Dom picks up a Scotland Schoolboys football cap that holds immense significance for Amanda. It was awarded to her husband Frank, who became a legend at local club Dundee United, playing there for a decade. But after retirement, Frank suffered from vascular dementia, and he would cradle the cap often, a reminder of earlier days. Now the gold brocade is tarnished, and the purple fabric faded, so master hatter Jayesh Vaghela has his work cut out to restore it to how it looked when Frank first held it all those years ago.

Lucia trained at the V&A in London, but this is her chance to visit to the Dundee branch of the celebrated art and design museum. She is there to learn about their restoration of a lost Charles Rennie Mackintosh-designed interior. Originally in Miss Cranston's Ingram Street Tearooms in
Glasgow, the interior was painstakingly moved and rebuilt in Dundee. Bringing a work like this out of storage and back to the public is a conservator's dream, and Lucia can't wait to hear all about it.

In this episode, the experts lend their skills to a community project, hear the story behind a new treasure to be repaired, and visit a local crafting hero.

We head off to the North East, where Will and Suzie unearth a true hidden gem, one of the few theatres in the country to have retained its original Victorian stage machinery. After a devastating fire, this decades-long restoration project is nearing completion, so our resident master carpenter is going to lend a hand getting the various traps and lifts under the stage ready for their big debut.

In Northumberland, Suzie is meeting Anoop to pick up a backpack she'll take down to the barn to restore. It's not just any bag though - it's an emotionally charged reminder of his mother, who sent it as a gift after he had to flee apartheid South Africa. Anoop has travelled the world with this special bag, and it's starting to show its age, so will Suzie's repairs to the lining and new straps make it fit to travel once again?

While in the north, woodworker Will stops by to get some tips and training from marquetry artist and restorer Victoria Walpole. It's delicate and sometimes dangerous work, involving small slivers of wood and an extremely sharp saw or scalpel, but in the hands of a master like Victoria, can yield stunning results.