The Repair Shop

Dom and Sonnaz team up to fix a vintage salon hairdryer, David repairs some intricately carved Nigerian figurines, and Rebecca takes on a rugby flag with a remarkable history.

David restores a keyboard that once belonged to The Stranglers, Dean brings a pair of platforms back for a boogie, and Chris repairs a precious family cookbook of Indian delights.

First to arrive in the barn are Tony Sivyer, leader of traditional Chinese lion dance team Dragon of the South, along with Alfie Allard, who has risen through the ranks since joining the group as a child. They've brought along a beautiful but broken baby lion, a costume that has trained generations of young performers in the traditional art. But with its bamboo frame weakened, its fabric tattered and its paintwork faded, it will take the combined talents of David Burville, Lucia Scalisi and Rebecca Bissonnet to revive this magnificent ceremonial piece so that it can be ready for many more dragon and lion dance performances. 

Next through the doors are Anne and Colin Draycott from Staffordshire. They've brought with them a pair of heavenly figures created by Anne's brother, celebrated artist Leonard McComb. These two stunning angels are scale models – known as maquettes – made before larger sculptures based on them are created. In this case, Leonard never actually produced the full-size versions, but he cherished and displayed these models in his home studio until his death in 2018. Anne and Colin were proud to have inherited these glorious pieces but were left devastated when the maquettes were damaged by Colin while he was packing them up for transportation. They're now desperately hoping ceramics expert Kirsten Ramsay can restore the crumbling legs and missing feet as a fitting tribute to Leonard's legacy. 

From Sussex comes Sally O'Connor, carrying something small but filled with significant memories. Sally's mother died when she was young, and on Sally's own wedding day, her father presented her with her mother's diamond engagement ring. This precious piece hasn't left her hand ever since, but it is sadly no longer fit for purpose. The diamond has slipped its moorings and was nearly lost for ever, only being found thanks to a huge stroke of luck, while the ring itself is stuck fast on Sally's finger – she's tried everything she can to remove it but without success. Fortunately, master goldsmith Richard Talman is on hand to carefully cut the ring free, then restore it and reunite it with its missing diamond so that Sally can once again rejoice in this daily reminder of her much-loved mum. 

Lastly, from Buxton in Derbyshire, comes Adam Crowe, with a pair of traditional beer pumps for the attention of Will Kirk and Dominic Chinea. These pumps belonged to Adam's much-loved dad and were the centrepiece of many a party, where his father would proudly dispense his prized home brews. Now riddled with woodworm and with its mechanisms and pipes clogged and jammed, it's over to Dom and Will to restore them to full working order so that Adam can pour their first pint in over 30 years and raise a toast to celebrate his late father.nce be

First into the barn is Christine Jagger from South Yorkshire, with a cherished garden bench – the best Christmas present she ever received from her late husband, Gordon. For 25 years, this spectacular seat took pride of place in the garden. It was where they would share a coffee and a laugh together, and it gave them a front row seat over the pigeon loft, where Gordon's racing birds would roost. Since Gordon's sad passing in 2009, time and weather have taken their toll, leaving the bench broken and flaking. But to Christine, it remains the heart of their home. With what would have been their golden wedding anniversary approaching, she asks Will Kirk to bring it back to life – a daunting responsibility for such an emotionally charged and badly broken piece of furniture. 

From Somerset, Jayne James brings a beloved teddy bear with an extraordinary past. The bear was given to Jayne's mother Betty, a nurse at St Martin's Hospital in Bath in 1960, by Hollywood songwriter Sharon Sheeley, immediately after she had survived the car crash that killed her boyfriend, rock 'n' roll legend Eddie Cochran. Betty was pregnant at the time, and naturally the bear was presented to baby Jayne, becoming her instant and lifelong companion. Now threadbare, sagging and on the verge of collapse, the bear is entrusted to soft toy restorers Julie Tatchell and Amanda Middleditch. With new red velvet paws and rejuvenated black fur, they restore him to a state befitting his star-spangled past, ready for Jayne to take him back to 93-year-old Betty. 

Next, Gaynor McCarthy-Smith and her husband Jamie bring a remarkable fishing chart, once used by Gaynor's late father Paddy, a celebrated Grimsby trawler skipper. The vast 1940s paper chart, stained with spilt tea and sea salt, guided Paddy through the perilous waters of the North Sea for more than 50 years. But now, brittle folds, torn lining and a missing corner threaten to erase its history. Paper conservator Angelina Bakalarou works delicately to clean, flatten and infill the chart's fragile surface, reconstructing the missing section by hand and ensuring it can once again be safely displayed as a tribute, not just to Paddy but to generations of his fellow trawlermen who risk their lives at sea. 

Finally, from Lancashire, David Birch brings in a wartime camera that once belonged to his grandfather Charlie. This camera travelled with Charlie through Dunkirk, north Africa and Italy, capturing images of the conflict and of the grave of his fallen brother. After the war, it served in happier times, seeing constant action at the hands of David's grandmother on holidays and family gatherings. But decades later, corrosion, fungus and grit have left it lifeless. Camera expert Pierro Pozella dismantles and cleans every mechanism, while cobbler Dean Westmoreland restores the worn leather case, together hoping to ensure the camera that recorded a family's past is ready to capture its future.

Hoping to strike a chord with stringed instrument restorer Julyan Wallis, the barn's first project has given Gary Miles from Mold in north Wales plenty of teenage kicks. Given to him by his father Eddie when Gary was just 14, his electric guitar was his pride and joy growing up. Gary's dad played guitar in a band for several years with none other than Ringo Starr – and while Ringo went on to slightly bigger things, Eddie himself continued to perform. His band – The Eddie Clayton Skiffle Group – enjoyed significant success, being immortalised in bricks and mortar on the legendary Cavern Club's wall of fame in Liverpool. The guitar was Eddie's gift to Gary, and the pair would jam together at home right up until Eddie died. Years later, leant up against a wall, the guitar slipped, causing major damage, and with the electrics also no longer working, Gary is desperate to have the instrument restored to honour his dad. Jules gets cracking, adjusting the frets, replacing the lost wood and preparing it for its musical comeback.

Next to arrive is Jo-Anne Thompson from Stamford in Lincolnshire, with some family jewellery from afar for the attention of master goldsmith Richard Talman. The gold bangle she has brought to the barn was the cherished possession of her grandmother, who lived in Guyana in South America and never took it off. Jo-Anne's parents left Guyana for the UK in 1962 as part of the Windrush Generation, and Jo-Anne was born soon after, with the family living in just one room in a shared house. Conditions were so poor that her parents decided to send her back to Guyana to live with her grandmother where she could flourish. Grandmother Louise became like a second mum from when Jo-Anne was only two. When Louise died in 2006, her children decided the bangle should come Jo-Anne's way, and just like her grandmother, she wore it constantly for nine years. However, the bangle started cracking every time she opened or closed it to take it on and off, and it is now badly fractured. Richard must come up with a way to reinforce the fragile bracelet without damaging the lettering so it can be worn again with pride.

From Leeds, Phil Rakusen brings in the most fragile of family heirlooms for the stellar skills of leather expert Suzie Fletcher. In Jewish culture, when a boy becomes a man at 13, he has his bar mitzvah and is usually handed a leather tallit bag, which typically contains a prayer shawl, a yarmulke, or skull cap, and a daily prayer book. The tallit bag first belonged to Phil's great-grandfather and is over 100 years old. It was passed down within the family to Phil's grandfather and then his father. But the bag is in a sorry state, with the front split and completely worn away. This is Suzie's first tallit bag, so the pressure is on. She sets about restoring its strength, relining it, replacing the studs and rejuvenating the lettering to get this sacred pouch back to its best.

Finally, Deirdre Fry from Staplehurst has brought along a lucky find, relating to a skill her family has traded in for centuries, and which she hopes stonemason Richard Fraser can rekindle. Made by her grandfather Charlie at the Kent brickyard his family owned for six generations, these ‘Kent peg tiles' were the very last tiles made there before the brickyard closed down in the mid-1970s. Surprisingly, Deirdre has only had them in her possession for six weeks! By chance, at a local farm sale, she and her sister saw some items for sale from her grandfather's brickyard. It was a huge lot, but Deirdre spotted some writing on the tiles – in particular, a curly C Charlie used to make. On closer inspection, she could see they were made by him and the very last to be made at the brickyard! Richard's challenge is to fill the missing pieces and reinstate the faded inscriptions on these touchstones of a historic family trade.

First into the barn is Heather Evans from Winchester, who is hoping bike aficionado Tim Gunn will be able to restore balance to a tricky mode of transport. She presents a battered unicycle that was a gift she bought for her late husband, Perry, and it perfectly embodies his playful spirit and unquenchable thirst for life – all the more notable given the challenges he faced. On Perry's second date with Heather, he told her he had HIV through infected blood products he had taken for his haemophilia and that he only had a few years to live. Perry fell seriously ill, but new drug treatments came along, and within a year, he was back at work, living life to the full and riding the unicycle that so perfectly sums up his sense of fun. Sadly, after 36 years of marriage, Perry passed away, and the family are desperate to get his beloved unicycle back up and roadworthy once again. Tim pulls out all the stops to straighten the buckles, fix the broken spokes and get the unicycle ready for further adventures with the next generation.

Ready to put Mark Stuckey's electrical expertise to the test are Florence, her dad Adrian and family friend Alex. They are entrusting Mark with an iconic 80s gadget – a canary yellow cassette player that belonged to Florence's mum, Mel. Mel worked as the wig mistress for Les Misérables in the West End for 25 years, and the boombox was constantly blasting out Eurythmics or Michael Jackson in her wig room as the backdrop to plenty of gossip amongst the cast and crew. In 2001, Mel was diagnosed with breast cancer, and she sadly passed away 12 years later. The cassette player currently just chews up tapes, but the family would love to hear it operating at its best again. Mark works on its drive belts and clutch, and even demagnetises the head, all in an effort to honour Mel's West End legacy, blare out some iconic 80s bangers and keep her memory well and truly alive.

Next into the barn is Keith from Oxford, bringing in something contagious that most people try to avoid for the attention of David Burville. This unique model of an adenovirus was made by Keith's father Robin, an electron microscopist. Back in the 1960s, Robin worked at the National Institute of Medical Research, studying viruses and developing vaccines. One day, he had a eureka moment, finding and photographing the adenovirus – the virus that is responsible for the common cold – for the very first time. Robin's colleagues were in awe, and the national press picked up the story. Wanting to be able to explain the virus's shape more clearly and how it worked, Robin decided to create a 3D model from his 2D photo. It was his pride and joy. Over the years, some of the polystyrene balls have been damaged or fallen off, and the family are keen to have it repaired to give the next generation the opportunity to learn from it. David must come up with a strategy to contain elements of the virus and to prevent the damage spreading in order to save this extraordinary piece of family and medical history.

Finally, Paul from Barnsley has brought a piece of Edwardian gadgetry for Brenton to focus on. The Houghton brass and wood field camera was bought at auction by Paul and his brother Ian, a passionate photographer and Paul's close companion through all manner of childhood scrapes and adventures. The brothers had hoped that Ian, who was a dab hand at most things, could mend the broken shutter. However, before he was able to repair it, Ian was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, and the family lost him in 2019. To help Paul reconnect with cherished memories of his brother, Brenton must get the shutter working and replace a missing glass screen in order to restore life to the brass plate camera, the embodiment of a brotherly bond.