Original subtitles

Welcome to The Repair Shop,

where precious but faded treasures...

There's an awful lot of work to do here.

Things are definitely going to have to get worse before they get better.

..are restored to their former glory.

Look at that!

Furniture restorer Jay Blades...

Bringing history back to life

is what makes The Repair Shop so special.

..and a dream team of expert craftspeople...

It's solid as a rock.

It's actually quite miraculous, to be honest.

..come together to work their magic...

Look at that! It's tailor-made.

Just got to keep calm and carry on.

OK, here we go.

It's going to look great.

..employing heritage crafts skills passed down the generations...

This is how it was,

so this is how it will be again.

..preserving irreplaceable heirlooms.

Some object can have so much emotional attachment to the family.

That's what pushes me to want to get it right.

The team will restore the items...

Oh!

..the memories...

So that's the link between you and your grandad. And now my son.

..and unlock the stories that they hold.

I'm just blown away!

I'm flying!

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In The Repair Shop today,

old gold...

Without a doubt, this is probably up there

in the top five of worst-condition rings I've had to repair.

..meets a fiery fix.

Right.

Brenton goes the extra mile...

I've counted how many brass nails are missing

and there's about 80 or 90.

..handcrafting bespoke studs for his antique assignment.

It's not a two-minute job doing this,

so patience is definitely the key.

And more rigorous authenticity.

To think these were actually made back in the '50s? Yes.

She's a very special dolly - bright-eyed and bushy-tailed again.

There we go. It's just perfect.

But first, a right royal restoration...

..courtesy of Elizabeth.

She's travelled from Gloucestershire,

hoping the elite skills of painting conservator Lucia Scalisi

can restore an heirloom back to crowning glory.

Hello. Hello. How are you doing?

Not bad. Nice to meet you.

Hello. Hi. I'm Jay.

Hello. I'm Liz. Hi, Liz. I'm Lucia.

So this beautiful painting must be yours. Tell us about him.

It's Charles II, we think. Right.

My memories of it are it living in my grandparents' dining room

and it was right there sort of looming over you as you ate!

OK! But I love him. I think he's wonderful.

So when my grandfather passed away,

no-one else wanted Charlie, and I did,

so I said, "I'll have him!"

So... You call him Charlie, then!

Yeah, Charlie-boy.

So I took him straight away, straight to the flat and up he went.

And then we had our son a few years later.

We decided we're going to move house. Yeah.

We took him down, packed him away and he never went back up again.

What's your son's name? He's Dylan.

He got really into history, specifically the monarchy.

OK. He can tell you every monarch and his favourite monarch

is Charles II because he's the "Merry Monarch". Ah!

And I said, "I've got something to show you," and pulled him out

and he just lost it.

He was, like, "What?!

"That's amazing! We've got Charles II!

"This is so cool. Can we hang him up?"

And I said, "We can't hang him up.

"He's in such a state, we need to get him sorted first."

So hence we're here.

Lucia, have you seen Charlie-boy before? I have, yeah.

I've seen lots of paintings of him and I think it is Charles II

and it's great, but he's definitely been through the mill.

He's got lots of splashed soup and stuff down here or whatever.

And as for the frame - that's quite interesting, too.

There's a massive tear. There is. Right down the middle.

When he came to me, he had that.

So if Lucia is able to restore it,

Dylan will just be blown away, hopefully. I hope so.

I can't thank you enough for bringing this in.

Thanks, Liz, it's really great.

Thanks, Liz, bye! Bye. Bye.

Leaving the painting behind with Lucia is a relief

because he's finally getting the attention he deserves.

I look at Charlie-boy and I see my grandparents.

The reason I wanted him repaired was for Dylan, really,

so it's going to be really nice to see him

in all his Merry Monarch glory.

All of the texture on there,

would that tell you that is quite an old painting,

or an early painting, as you would say?

Yeah, I think it's an early painting.

I think the distortion in the canvas,

that's indicative of something that's earlier.

More modern canvases are very straight. OK.

I don't think it's 17th century, which is when he was around. OK.

But it could be 18th century.

Wow.

What you've got to do, then, is sort out the tear, clean it. Yeah.

And then touch up wherever you've got to do. Yeah.

I think it's going to be a real treat. Yeah, I think so.

I can't wait. All right, I'll leave you to it. Thanks. OK.

Ooh!

I'm just facing-up the edges of the tear with a synthetic adhesive

and bits to secure the broken edges of the paint along the tear,

so it's putting this acid-free tissue on because there are tiny

fractures all along those edges

and I don't want to lose any of the original paint.

So I just work closely across the surface and keep adding

these where I see that they're needed.

OK, so the job now is to actually do the patch repair

to hold that all together,

and that is a nylon gossamer patch

and it has a heat seal adhesive on it.

That's good, I'm pleased with that.

So they're now secure so I can turn the painting over

and start working on the front.

Next into The Repair Shop, Michelle Hammond from Norfolk.

She's hoping goldsmith Richard Talman can bring the sparkle back

to a symbol of enduring love.

Hi. Hi. How are you doing? Good, thank you.

Good morning, Michelle. Richard. Nice to meet you.

So I know we've got a bit of jewellery. We do. Let's have a look.

There we go. It's an engagement ring.

It belonged to my grandma.

OK, so tell us about your grandmother, please.

So my grandma passed away in April this year.

She was 99 years of age. 99!

99. A proper legend, then! A proper legend.

So when we had to clear out her house,

we were rummaging through her things and we found her engagement ring

hidden away in a little teapot.

Hold on, in a teapot?! Yes.

Her little treasure chest, I guess. OK.

She and my grandad got engaged after the war. OK.

They got married in 1946.

She was actually engaged to someone else.

Hold on... Yeah, so she was engaged to someone else...

OK, go on.

..and she was meant to meet her current fiance at a local pub.

OK. So she went to the pub, but she bumped into my grandad

and, obviously, fell in love.

A bit of a whirlwind. Broke off the engagement with the other guy.

Love at first sight. Yeah. And the rest is history.

Aw, that is special. That's love, isn't it? Yeah.

And they stayed together until my grandfather passed away in 1991.

But, yeah, they adored each other. Bless 'em.

So without this, none of us would be here. That's true.

This is like the start of the puzzle for us.

And I'd like to think that when it's mended, it's like them

going full circle and reuniting back together.

And that's true love, as well. You can meet someone...

Love at first sight, everybody wishes for something like that.

So, yeah, that's why I'm here.

Tell us about the relationship between you and your gran.

Oh, she was - or is - everything to me.

And...she was just so special and so much fun.

She had a great sense of humour and I miss her terribly.

Take we take a look? Please do.

Ah, yes, certainly has seen better days, poor thing.

The way it looks so thin at the back is an indication

of just a lifetime's worth of wear, probably against a wedding ring.

So only the side of the ring,

just either side of the head where the stones are,

there's two very sharp bits.

Yeah. They would have been the original shoulders that comes

from the side of the band up to the head,

and it's just peeled back like tinfoil.

I can't wait to get started.

I can see how important it will be for you and the family

to get it mended. Oh, it will be.

Thank you for bringing it in and telling us that wonderful story.

Thank you, Michelle. Take care. Thank you! Bye! Bye-bye.

The ring, for me, it's the start of our timeline.

It just holds all our history from the day that they got engaged,

to the day they married, all the way through.

I really would like to get it mended for my gran

because she was just wonderful.

She was just so special.

It's totally not uncommon to see this sort of wear, but this one,

without a doubt, this is probably up there in the top five

of worst-condition rings I've had to repair.

So I just really need to think about the best way I'm going to do

it with trying to preserve as much of the original ring as possible.

It's going to definitely need

a new back portion of the shank.

The shank is the part that goes around the finger,

so the entire back portion is going to need to be replaced.

So the very first thing I'm going to need to do is give

it a really good clean to find out just how much

parts of it is going to be able to be saved.

Also on a deep-cleaning mission - Lucia.

With the surface of the King Charles portrait stabilised,

she can begin to reveal its true colours.

This moment, never lose the excitement of it.

This is, for me, the thrill.

So I'm going to go in with my aqueous solution

and see what's on the surface.

So quite a lot of dirt, really.

Quite a lot of dirt, but it's the varnish

that's causing the discoloration.

So now I'm using my hydrocarbon solvent

and this should start picking up the varnish.

Oh, look at that!

Fabulous!

You can see the brush strokes.

It's really nice to see the pink edges and this beautiful shading.

So that gives me an idea of the thickness of the dirt

and the varnish layers to be anticipated everywhere else,

but I can't take it for granted.

I'm starting to realise that it's actually a much better

painting than I thought.

The quality of the paintwork is a lot less naive.

He's wearing a suit of armour and it's quite a difficult thing

to make look like it's true metal.

This artist has done a wonderful job.

We're at the stage for filling along the actual tear.

If I was to paint directly onto the canvas, the paint

would just sink in and it will be a matt line and I wouldn't be able

to build up a body of colour,

so this seals the surface and it gives a ground

for the paint to sit on.

Now I'm just putting a watercolour base coat

so I can start the retouching.

I just build up these things slowly - I'm not looking to get,

you know, one brush stroke completes everything.

You kind of have to model it in.

I've done some research and I've discovered

that this painting is probably based

on a miniature by a gentleman called

Sir Robert Peake - a renowned engraver and printmaker -

and he was really best buddies with Charles II.

The miniature may well have been the first image.

Engravings were made and then artists copied them

and turned them into paintings.

I found an actual engraving of this painting

and I can look at that and see the details.

For me, particularly, I love these rivets that are in the armour

and they're all there in the actual engraving, as well.

I just find that really charming.

So it all adds up to the history of the object.

It's really all pointing to the painting being a period piece

from the 1660s.

Even when I say it, it's thrilling.

It's just so exciting because it's so unusual, so rare.

It's just phenomenal.

It's absolutely phenomenal.

I'm absolutely thrilled to bits that we're dealing

with a little boy, seven-year-old Dylan.

This is like a secret that's been waiting to pop out

and it's chosen to come out in his childhood.

I mean, it's a lifetime surprise, really.

It's thrilling.

It's actually quite miraculous, to be honest.

Next, another item steeped in history.

Mahboba Abdullah and her daughter Nadia

are hoping silversmith Brenton West

can restore a well-travelled trunk that holds cherished memories.

Hello.

Hello.

I am Jay. And you are? Mahboba. Mahboba.

Nadia. Nadia.

And I'm Brenton.

Hello. Hello. Nice to meet you.

So this beautiful chest is yours, yeah?

Yes, it is indeed.

Can you tell us about it? Yes.

So I was born in Zanzibar, on the east coast of Africa.

What was it like growing up there?

Oh, growing up, it was fantastic.

We lived by the sea and we just played marvellously.

Me and Brenton were trying to guess where this is from.

That doesn't look African to me.

No, it doesn't, no. So where is this from?

Oman. Oman. Oman, yes.

So the Sultan of Oman also ruled Zanzibar.

People from Oman would trade these chests and then there

would be silk or whatever inside.

They'd bring it to Zanzibar and then they sell it to Zanzibar.

These sort of chests were scattered around our houses.

We'd hide inside, play hide and seek. Yeah, yeah.

Our chores were to clean it, these brasses

and then you'd get pocket money.

It sounds like an absolutely amazing place.

How come you ended up here in the UK?

Zanzibar, I left there in 1964 when there was a revolution.

We had, like, 24 hours to leave. Whoa! That was it, yeah.

So you never got any of your stuff? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

We left with nothing. Wow.

The British said that whoever managed to escape,

we could all come to the UK.

How old were you when you had to leave Zanzibar? I was 12. Wow.

Yes. And you couldn't go back. How did that feel?

For children, it was just exciting to come to UK. OK.

But for parents or the elderly, you could see on their faces

that they were just distraught

because they've left everything behind,

they don't know where they're going, what's in front of us.

They had no idea.

And it's just really sad, I don't have childhood photos of my mum. No.

My mum has no photos of her parents.

I don't have anything of her childhood.

That's why this is, you know, so important. Wow.

Then you bought this in... In Oman.

Oman. Oman, yes, in Muscat.

In 1970, Oman opened up

and people started...

People who are in Zanzibar,

they had their ancestors originated from Oman. Right.

So they went back to Oman because that was like home. Yeah.

So I happened to be in Oman in early '70s,

wandered around and you can see

the souks, which is the market. The market.

The market! Yes. OK.

And this is where you saw this chest? I saw this chest.

I said, "Oh, my God, this just brings me back to my childhood."

And, yeah, I shipped it back to UK.

So do you remember this, then, Nadia?

For my whole life this has been in our house. Yeah.

And I never got paid anything for polishing it.

I'm surprised you did! I did. I remember it.

Yeah. So any sort of heirloom that we have in our family

starts with this box, really. It does.

That's really nice.

That's powerful. Yeah, that is.

Yes, it is the only thing that old

and it has my history

that she will be able to pass it on because, for me,

I don't have anything else. Yeah.

Yeah, it's difficult when you leave in a hurry and you don't have...

You don't have anything from there. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Nadia, are you OK? Yeah. Oh, that's fine!

It is just a box, isn't it?

But it is - you're right, it is all we have

and it is the closest thing to a perfect mix

of our heritage that we have.

Oh, absolutely, yeah, and that is the thing.

Yeah, yeah, it is.

Yeah. And for me I think it would be really nice to pass

it on to my children, pass it on to the grandchildren

and so that they can understand the story, the culture.

The culture, yeah. Yeah, everything.

We'll get the whole team on this, don't worry about it.

It would just be... It will be nice. It would be lovely.

So was it bright?

It was bright.

The wood was darker. Really dark. It was very dark, the wood.

We'll be grateful whatever you can do, really.

Thank you, guys, for the history around the chest.

Thank you very much. Thank you for having us.

You take care now. Bye-bye. Thank you. Bye-bye.

The chest is every memory my mum ever had from home.

The chest is Zanzibar and your childhood.

I'm confident that they will do something to it,

that it will bring it back to life.

And it will be just brilliant, yeah.

There's an awful lot of work to do here.

This has got years of tarnish and verdigris on it.

That's a lot of polishing, isn't it? There's a lot of polishing to do.

You got your hands full with the brass. There's loads of wood.

I tell you what, Will - if you don't mind - come and join us.

Hey, guys. What do you think of that?

That is lovely! It is, isn't it? Lovely, isn't it?

What are you going to do with this, Brenton?

I'm going to wire wool it.

I've actually worked on a trunk like this before. Oh, have you?

And I used steel wool to clean it all back. Yeah.

What you'll find is you might do a lot of the work for me, Brenton! OK!

Because when you're cleaning these studs, it's actually going to start

cleaning the wood around them by default.

So I think once you start scrubbing that you start seeing

that lovely dark wood coming back through there.

Then maybe finish with, like, a wax or an oil.

Oil or something like that would be lovely.

You're going to polish it all up and then, once you're done,

hand it over to Will. Yeah. Is that all right? Amazing.

Happy days. I wish you good luck with that, Brenton!

Wow!

I can see some nice shine coming through

and hopefully it will clean the wood up, as well, for Will.

So the whole of this box has to be done like this.

Then I go down to a finer one to get a good polish

and it's going to look fabulous.

Over on his bench, goldsmith Richard is working his own metal magic.

So now I've taken both of the sharp pieces of metal off

that were on the shoulders, I can see a little bit

more about the condition of the yellow gold beneath it.

Now, unfortunately, it really is very thin and it's not

about just repairing this as a quick fix.

I'm keen to try and keep as much of the original parts as possible,

so I'm actually going to remove all of the gold from this,

add a little bit more fresh, 18-carat yellow gold to it,

melt it up and remake the band,

so it's actually going to have all of the original metal

of Michelle's gran's ring in it, thus preserving its integrity.

With the new 18-carat gold I'm using here,

this has been purchased from the suppliers as recycled gold.

There's very little gold that is actually re-mined now

because there's enough of it in circulation,

so when people sell their old scrap gold, it goes to refiners,

gets melted down.

It's re-alloyed to the correct carat of gold

and it's put back in the system to make new rings.

So the gold just has to be melted to 1,000 degrees there,

probably just over, in order to make it melt together.

It's formed up into a little bead.

So when gold melts, afterwards it turns black,

which is the oxidisation of the metals.

So I need to remove that before I start hammering it.

To do that, I place it into a small amount of sulphuric acid salt

and that removes all the oxidisation

and turns it back into a yellow piece of metal.

So I'm just taking the piece of metal using two pairs of pliers.

I'm just going to bend it up slowly

and that now is taking the shape of the ring.

All I now need to do is solder this together

and hammer it around to make it a perfect ring shape.

Just shaping the ring around this steel mandrel.

We're using a hide mallet as opposed to a metal hammer,

so that no dents come out on the actual piece of jewellery.

This enables me to form it without leaving any marks.

Now it's a perfect round shape.

It might seem a little bit pointless that I've just made a perfect circle

and then cutting it open again, but by doing it this way,

it's going to make sure that the ring is as round as possible

when I introduce it to the head of the ring because I really want

to avoid as much hammering as possible

once this delicate part is joined to it.

So when you're lining it up to actually make the solder join,

it's absolutely critical

that it is in a perfect position.

If it's just even a fraction of a millimetre out,

it would have to be redone again.

We work to the tolerances

of about a tenth of a millimetre.

Right, that solder's flowed through pretty perfectly.

I'm happy with that.

Now it's just time to solder the other side,

do the identical process,

and then it'll be a matter of just cleaning it up,

ready for the shoulders to go on.

It's been the assignment of a lifetime for conservator Lucia -

working on a royal portrait over 300 years old -

and the frame is revealing just as many secrets

as the historical painting.

It's called an auricular design.

Auricular means "of the ear"

but, basically, it's organic.

It's organic leaves, acanthus leaves.

It's got the royalty motif of the fleur-de-lis

and the gold layer is quite thick, which is one of the indicators

that it's period, very specifically of the period of Charles II,

and to get something like this these days is,

I think, quite exceptional.

This is pure yellow ochre - a palette essential for a conservator.

That's not a bad colour.

Yellow ochre is a great pigment.

You can mimic gold with it!

That's the intention here, anyway.

I'm really pleased that I've gone the extra mile with this frame.

Once the picture is in the frame,

it will set it off absolutely beautifully.

That's it. It's all done.

This is the moment of truth.

Charles II is going into his beautiful frame.

Wow.

I'm absolutely thrilled. It looks fantastic.

I really can't wait for Dylan to see this.

I wish I was seven and seeing something like this

for the first time, it's really fantastic.

This is what it's all about in The Repair Shop.

To be able to do something as wonderful as this

and give it back to the family is just great.

And for me to be able to clean it - what a privilege.

When this painting arrived at the barn, its true age and status

was obscured by decades of dirt,

but under the learned touch of Lucia, it's been revealed

as a royal portrait of historical significance

and it was all thanks to this little boy, Dylan, and his love of history

that mum Liz was persuaded to visit The Repair Shop.

Today's really important to us and the family.

You excited? Yes.

Yeah. It's actually really cool.

Like, I can't put it in words.

Hello. Hello. Hello!

You must be Dylan. Yes, I am.

I understand that you're a bit of a history buff and you recognised

this gentleman that was in the painting.

It's Charles II of England.

So, underneath this blanket, what are you guys hoping to see?

I'm hoping for it to be like it was when it was first painted,

all nice and neat.

That's ambitious, isn't it?!

ALL LAUGH

Do you want to see it? Yes, please.

I'm very nervous myself.

Ho-ho! Oh, my God!

Wow!

That is so amazing!

That's amazing!

Lucia, this is amazing, thank you so much.

Oh, bless you.

My glasses are steaming up!

I didn't think I'd get like this!

It's beautiful, absolutely beautiful.

I'm going to get Lucia to explain to you a bit

while you catch your breath. Yeah!

This is just the beginning for you guys.

So do you know the dates of Charles II?

He was king in 1660.

He died in 1685.

So this painting, there is nothing about this painting

that isn't of the period,

so I actually think it's a very early painting.

What, as in 1660s to 1680s? Yeah, yeah.

Oh, my goodness! What?!

The palette of the artist and everything

is really in keeping with that.

That's a shock, though, that it's that old.

A nice shock, I hope! Yeah, oh, a wonderful shock!

That's amazing. To think how OLD that is!

A good 400 years.

It's quite scary, the responsibility, mind!

It's been a treat for us all.

To have something this old in here is really special

and it's all thanks to you.

I'm really chuffed that you brought it along, Dylan.

You've got an eye, you've got an eye.

Well done, me!

Finding out that Charlie-boy was nearly 400 years old

is absolutely mad.

I mean, it's just outstanding.

What Lucia has done to the painting, it's so amazing.

The painting is going to stay in the family.

Eventually, it'll be his.

I think I'm almost the luckiest person on the planet

to have a painting that's that old.

As King Charles makes his way back to Gloucestershire,

a new arrival is hoping for the royal treatment.

Lorraine Thomas from Conway, North Wales,

is hoping toy restorers Julie Tatchell and Amanda Middleditch

can revive a very special childhood companion.

Hello. Hello. Welcome to the barn.

Thank you. It's nice to meet you.

And who have you brought for us today?

So today I have brought along a cuddly toy

and his name is Donkey. Oh, look!

Hello, Donkey! You'd never have guessed!

ALL LAUGH

Oh, look at him! We just called him Donkey.

That's all he was ever known as.

He's lovely. My little Donkey, yeah.

Can you tell us a little bit about him?

So Donkey belonged to Mark, who was my twin brother. Right.

And when we were born, we were both given a cuddly toy.

So Mark was given Donkey and he was cherished by Mark -

he absolutely adored him - and Donkey went everywhere with him.

He was a bit like a comfort toy, I think.

We lost our mum when we were seven. Oh, no!

So I think, Donkey... Yeah, he helped him through, you know,

through those tough times.

And Mark helped you, by the sounds of it.

So were you quite close? Yeah, we were very close.

Obviously, we were twins, but we were very close.

He was quite protective of me. That's lovely.

So we were always together.

We were like one, really.

But sadly, I lost Mark... Oh!

..in a road accident when we were 21,

so Donkey became mine.

How did you cope?

I think you just have to... You just sort of learn

to live with it, really.

I don't think it's anything you particularly get over.

No.

And I suppose Donkey is my connection with, you know,

certainly with Mark. Yeah.

And that's why I'd like him to be preserved. Definitely.

Can I have a look at him? Of course you can, yeah.

Hello, Donkey!

It's just general loving and wear, isn't it? Yes, yeah.

I mean, he's all there, apart from his eyes.

He's got a wire frame in him

and obviously that over time has got a little bit buckled,

but that's not a problem.

Do you want to have a look, Amanda? I would love to have a look at him.

Thank you. Do you know who made him, the company?

I think it's a company from Ironbridge. That's right. Yeah.

Absolutely. Merrythought. Yeah.

And they made this donkey in different sizes and guises.

It looks like somebody has already done a little something.

I think Mark actually did that, if I remember rightly.

He did that himself.

I would love that to stay. To stay just like that? Yeah.

If it could. That's absolutely fine.

I would love him to have eyes! Yeah.

And I think his legs, as well, so that he's not wonky -

a wonky Donkey!

A wonky Donkey!

He's still smiling, though. Yeah.

Absolutely, he is, yeah.

Lovely. I'm looking forward to this.

Absolutely.

Thank you so much for bringing him to us

and we will take great care of him.

Thank you. Thank you, both, so much.

Safe journey. Bye now. Bye-bye. Bye!

Donkey is so special to me because it is actually my connection

with my twin brother, Mark.

We were so close and I think,

you know, just the thought of how wonderful he would feel

if he knew that I've actually still got Donkey and that, you know,

Donkey's going to be repaired.

This is a tribute to Mark - and to my mum, as well.

Um, quite a bit of work to do on him to get him stable,

but I think until we've lined and repaired all of him

and got his frame straight and all stuffed...

I propose I take his head off

and I'll pass those to you to work on. Yeah.

And I'll get to work on his body. How about that? Yeah.

There you go! Thank you very much.

This kapok's just turned to dust, hasn't it? Yeah.

We're not going to be able to re-use it.

Not surprising, really, though, is it? Oh, gosh, no.

He's had a lot of loving.

Oh! I've found his skeleton.

Ooh.

BOTH LAUGH

It's no wonder he was wonky, really, is it?

We'll be able to re-use it.

I just think we need to straighten it out a little!

Yeah, I think a little bit of straightening would be good for him.

Yeah. Oh, it'll be fine, Donkey, do not worry.

Isn't there a saying that being as crooked as the hi...

Hind leg of a donkey?

Horse? Hind leg of a horse? Oh, it's a horse, is it?

It might even be a dog.

I'll just be quiet, then!

There's his other... Back legs.

BOTH LAUGH

Well, there you go!

He definitely is a wonky Donkey.

It's been a labour of love for Brenton,

who's been painstakingly restoring the lustre on the ordinate trunk.

My fingers are absolutely killing me!

I've been polishing this box for two days now and it's looking lovely.

However, there's a bunch of missing nails.

I've counted how many brass nails are missing

and there's about 80 or 90

and I'm going to make those with

my doming block and a doming punch.

And this punch fits into

this little recess here

and if you put a flat piece of metal in it and hit it...

That looks good.

I'm just going to see if it matches

the other ones.

Bingo!

So I've now got about 80 or 90 to make.

I'm just soldering the nails into the domed brass bit.

As soon as the solder flows,

that's attached.

I let that cool down

and we've got one done.

This is a massive job -

there's so many nails to put in -

Yet, if you look at the chest, it doesn't look like there's

that many missing,

so there must be hundreds

and hundreds of these nails

in here because I'm only making 80 or 90

and it's just to fill a few that are missing,

so the poor person who made it must

have spent days making nails

and banging them in there.

It's not a two-minute job, doing this,

so patience is definitely the key.

I keep noticing ones that I haven't seen before,

and I'm worrying that I might not have made enough.

I think I'm going to be here for quite a while sorting this one out.

Brenton, this looks amazing. Thank you!

Nice and shiny. It looks lovely. It's getting there, isn't it?

It is indeed. Is it over to me now? Yes, please.

Could you give me a hand to my bench? Of course I will.

BOTH: Bend the knees!

BOTH LAUGH

Brenton has done an amazing job on this.

It's lovely and shiny.

When I get some oil into this wood,

it's going to really bring out the colour and the grain.

It's going to look lovely.

This is already looking wonderful.

I'm going to keep on building up the layers and the coats of oil

until it can't drink any more.

Absorbed in his own endeavours - Richard, hard at work

on the engagement ring.

So I got the small piece of white gold that I've cut

off two identical lengths.

These are exactly the same length as the cut-out

that's now in the side of the ring.

And these are the two pieces that are going to make the shoulders.

They were the parts that had worn very thin and were performing...

..making a very spiky edge on the ring when we started.

The purpose of these shoulders is so that when the part of the band

goes round to the head of the ring, it doesn't stop abruptly -

it sort of flows into the top - and it's also structural.

So they're quite a vital, vital part.

So now I just need to solder these pieces in and start to file

it up. It's a delicate task.

You forget to breathe sometimes.

Lovely.

Happy with that.

So now that the shoulders are soldered in, it's just now a matter

of sandpapering, filing it all up,

just so it smooths off all the edges

and then finally a polish before it's ready

to be reunited with Michelle.

When this ring arrived at the barn, it was twisted and worn

after decades on the finger of its owner, Michelle's grandmother,

who received it from her devoted fiance 74 years ago.

I'm feeling a little bit nervous, actually,

about collecting my gran's ring today.

Excited at the same time.

But since dropping off the engagement ring, I think

it gives you time to really reflect upon how precious family is

and how wonderful my gran was.

Hello. Hello. How are you doing? Good, thank you. How are you?

I'm very good, actually. Hi, Michelle. Welcome back. Hi.

So, to us, this ring means love at first sight.

But what does it mean to you and your family?

It means...everything.

No pressure!

No, it does. It means... It means so much.

To have it back... Yeah. ..and mended

and whatever's under there.

I can't wait. You can't wait. I can't wait to see it. Yeah.

It means everything. Ready?

Yeah.

Can I have a look? Of course you can.

That is beautiful.

Can I pick it up?

Wow!

SHE SOBS

I'm sorry. Wow!

Can I try it on?

Oh, wow.

My God, that is so beautiful.

Every Christmas when she used to come and stay with us,

when we give her a Christmas present... Right. ..from whoever

it was, she'd always pick it up and kiss it.

So you might think it's a bit strange,

but I'm just going to do that now. No, it's not strange.

She would just go...mwah.

Mwah...it's what she'd do.

So that's for you, Gran.

She would love this.

I'm sure she's somewhere.

I'm sure she's smiling. Yeah.

Well, thank you. Thank you so much.

Take care. Bye. Bye-bye. Thanks, Michelle.

Bye.

Oh, bless her. That was special, eh? It was. Loved that.

Well done, you. Cheers.

Having those two ends meet again is like my gran and my grandad

meeting again. I just can't wait to just show everyone and continue

to tell their love story, because they'd adored each other.

And it will bring back all these wonderful memories

of my gran and my grandad, and that...

..brings me so much joy.

There's a long road ahead for Julie and Amanda, who need to get

the little toy donkey back to fine fettle again.

They've taken him completely apart and now they can begin

to rebuild him.

I've got the job of working on Donkey's body.

I've turned it inside out at the moment

because the first thing I need to do

is make sure it's stable, and I'm going to use felt to line it.

I'm going to lay this on here, like this.

I'm going to tack it into place, cut it out, and then I'll do the other

side and then it'll be ready to do the repairs.

I've just finished lining Donkey's head and mane with felt,

and I turned it through, so I'm just going to put some

stuffing into the tip of his muzzle to create a firm base for me

to begin the darns.

What I'm going to use is this silk crepeline,

which is a very fine gauze,

because this supporting meshing is a really good way of helping us

contain those stitches and give us something else to stitch into.

We want Donkey to last quite a bit longer.

Finished lining Donkey, and I'm really happy with the way

it's come out. He feels much stronger.

Next part of the process will be to do the actual repairs.

So I'm putting the first layer of stitches down from left to right.

The fabric is weaved two ways.

I always remember the weft goes "weft" to right

and the weave goes up and down.

So once I've got those stitches in that way...

..I can turn him round and then go

under my first stitch and over the next.

Under, over, under, over.

Turn it round and come back the other way.

It starts to form a lattice pattern.

My grandma taught me how to do it. It's quite an old-fashioned method

of sewing, and I think it was more traditionally used

for mending socks and jumpers and things like that.

But it suits these old toys. So, basically...

..I've created...a patch, without putting a patch in.

I'm really pleased. It's coming along really nicely.

Just a little bit of finishing up and then I can move

on to the next one.

I'm pleased with the mesh, so I'm going to just add his nostrils.

I'm starting under his chin.

I'm going to come up and I'm going to make a narrow loop...

..go back in where I started.

Up to the top of his original stitch again

and catch this black thread around...

..and then that gives us a sense of the opening of a nostril.

And then exactly the same on this side.

I rather like the way that, following the exact markings

from where his original threads were, he's got kind of a slightly

twisted, wonky nose.

That's how Mark would have seen them the first time that he

set eyes on Donkey.

I like that about hand-finished toys.

Gives them their expression.

I've just got a couple of darns to do on the back of his ears,

then he'll be ready to go back to Amanda.

With Donkey's outer fabric strengthened, Amanda's now focusing

on his nearly-60-year-old bent interior framework.

So I nearly got it straight enough.

It doesn't have to be perfect, as long as it supports his legs.

Because it was important to Lorraine to keep the stitching here,

we've gone about this repair in a slightly different way,

so we opened up his tummy.

So I've reclosed that now.

So I'm going to have to do all the work now through his neck.

With a little bit of wiggling, we'll get one down each leg.

That's perfect.

You can see, even without stuffing, those legs are actually

now supporting themselves.

So my next job is to pack the stuffing around that wire.

I'm stuffing him with kapok, which is what he had originally.

Needs to get it in there quite firm.

He's strong enough now to be able to take that.

In effect, this wire that we're putting in is kind of

like his skeleton or his bones.

And I'm putting the sort of fat and muscles all around.

So I'm going to continue with the stuffing.

But you can see already this leg is able to take its weight

and he's not going to collapse.

All good.

The ornate wooden and brass chest has been absolutely transformed

by hours of patient work by Brendan, but it's Will who's responsible

for its final finishing touches.

It looks lovely. So much colour and depth in that wood.

I'm going to put some handles on the side.

Brendan has given me these really nice handles, nice and shiny.

That will complement the work that he's done on the side of the box

and also sort of fits in with the style of the box, as well.

That looks really nice, nice and shiny, matches the rest of the box.

That's one down, one more to go.

Then it's ready for Mahboba and Nadia.

For Mahboba,

this chest symbolises a family history spanning three countries,

and it is a tie to the homeland she left behind over 50 years ago.

I've been thinking about the chest.

I've been thinking where it came, what story I could be telling

my grandchildren, my children.

I have been thinking about it.

Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello.

How are you both? Really excited. Excited, yes. Yeah?

Very excited.

Well, I feel super excited.

This thing is travelled from Oman and to England. Yeah.

It's a bit like me.

So here we are.

Yes. Here it is.

You ready? I'll take a deep breath.

Oh! Ah!

Oh, it looks lovely.

Oh! Oh, my goodness.

Oh!

Oh, thank you so much. Oh!

This is like my history to my children and grandchildren.

It's like we've gone back in time. It is, isn't it?

This is how it looked when I was younger.

You can't even see that anything was missing.

THEY CHUCKLE

It's lovely to make it look nice.

And Will's done the woodwork and done a beautiful job

on that for us, as well. It's beautiful.

Yeah. It is like opening a history book, isn't it?

It is. For us, it is, yeah. Yeah.

And that was the driving force behind the team.

What you wanted this box to actually represent for your family. Yes.

It's just beautiful. Thank you. Thank you.

You're more than welcome. You take care now.

Thank you. Thank you. OK. No problem. All right.

Thank you so much.

It looks proud, I think. Yeah, it is. It will be our family treasure.

We will put all of our memories in there.

It looks so amazing. More than I expected.

It's just wonderful.

Yeah, I will treasure this moment for the rest of my life, I think.

After some loving care and skilful attention from the bear ladies,

Donkey's standing proud on all four hooves again.

What do you think? I think he looks fabulous.

I bet you can't wait to get your hands on him.

Bring him here. There you go.

There's just one important final detail.

And, as always, the ladies have gone that extra mile for authenticity.

Right, you come and stand here.

We've got these perfect, perfect original eyes in here.

To think these were actually made

for the Merrythought company

for these donkeys back in...

..'50s? Yes.

These were actually given to us from their archives.

We've been itching, haven't we... Yes. ..to use them,

because they are so rare and so unique, and to be able

to put the original type of eye into the toy that it was meant for -

just perfect. There we go.

Already that's bringing his character back.

Just got the other one to do.

This beloved toy served as a boyhood comfort for its little owner, Mark,

and later provided a connection between him

and his twin sister, Lorraine.

I'm feeling so excited today to be here to collect Donkey.

I think since Donkey's been away from me, it certainly

has made me think about Mark, because he was so attached to Donkey

and the fact that we were always together.

So it just...

Yeah, it just makes it so special.

Hello, welcome back. Hello, hi. How are you?

I'm fine, thank you.

How are you doing, Lorraine? Are you all right? Lovely to meet you.

Likewise. Have you been missing Donkey, then?

I have missed Donkey.

It's been quite strange not having him in the house. Right.

So excited to see him.

I think we should reunite them. Are you ready? I'm ready.

Ah! Oh, that's wonderful.

Thank you.

Oh, it's wonderful.

That's amazing.

Gosh, it's amazing.

Hello, Donkey!

Oh, gosh!

Oh, that's wonderful.

That's really wonderful. Thank you so much.

Look at you! You can see me now, with those lovely big eyes!

SHE LAUGHS

Oh, that's wonderful.

That's absolutely wonderful.

Oh, gosh, Mark would be absolutely thrilled. I know he would.

Definitely. And it's lovely he can stand up.

Yeah. I love that.

But I love the eyes.

The eyes are very special.

We are so, so lucky that we were given some eyes from their archives.

Oh, that's amazing. So those are... Did you hear that, Donkey?

..the exact eyes that he would have had when he was made.

When he was made. Oh, look at that.

Oh, that's lovely. Oh, that's so special.

We've left the stitches on the back that you asked us to.

Yes.

We were very aware when we were working on him

that we had to preserve those memories for you. Yeah.

But he had to look like Donkey.

Yes. Yeah.

And he certainly does.

I'm looking forward to taking him home.

Thank you for bringing him in.

Oh, thank you. Thank you. Bye-bye. You take care now.

Bye-bye, Lorraine. OK, thank you, all. Bye. Bye. Bye, now. Bye.

As soon as I saw Donkey, I immediately started thinking

about Mark, which was lovely, absolutely wonderful.

It's lovely to see him with his head held high and those beautiful eyes.

He looks amazing.

I know Mark would be absolutely thrilled.

It's wonderful, what these ladies have done.

Join us next time for more miraculous resurrections...

TOY: How should I wear my hair?

Oh, thank goodness.

..in The Repair Shop.

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