Enter a workshop filled with expert craftspeople, bringing loved pieces of family history and the memories they hold back to life. A heartwarming antidote to throwaway culture.

Season 12 - Episode 12



At the Repair Shop, the team resurrect a piece of kit from the 1970s owned by a pioneering music producer and a large ceramic statue of a German shepherd for a retired police dog handler. Elsewhere in the barn, there’s a painstaking restoration of a doctor’s diploma and an old pair of child’s rugby boots.

First through the barn doors is music producer Neal Fraser, aka The Mad Professor. Neal is credited for his pioneering work establishing a music genre in the 70s and 80s known as dub, and he’s brought the very machine he created that distinctive sound with. The electronic sound effect machine was last working back in 1984, and Neal would love to make music with it again.

Ceramics conservator Kirsten Ramsay greets John from Surrey and his faithful friend, an almost life-size statue of a German shepherd dog, named after his last canine partner, Belka. John was a police dog handler for over 25 years, and this effigy symbolises all four of his police dogs throughout his career. John’s wife bought the statue as a surprise back in 1972, and it sat loyally in their home until one fateful day, when an overloaded coat stand toppled over and smashed into Belka, knocking off the muzzle section of the face. Kirsten makes it her mission to return the dog to his owner looking tip-top.

The specialist skills of paper conservator Louise Drover are next to be put to the test when Sidra arrives from London with a laminated university medical diploma, awarded to her father in 1977, which is in a terrible state. He worked as an orthopaedic surgeon all over the world, and tragically lost his life to Covid while working in the Middle East at the peak of the pandemic. Sidra found the certificate when she collected his belongings and, knowing what a dedicated doctor her father was, she’d like to display it at home as a reminder of her brave dad. Louise must somehow remove the multiple layers of dry and peeling laminate without damaging Sidra’s father’s handwritten signature or tearing the paper.

Lastly, Lee delivers his favourite sporting souvenir – his very first pair of rugby boots bought when he was around six by his number one fan, his father. Lee is passionate about rugby and even played for the England squad back in the day. He lost his dad last year and feels that now would be the perfect time to preserve and display these scuffed little boots as a tribute.

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skorpion.