Welcome to The Repair Shop At Christmas,
where cherished heirlooms are brought back to life.
Oh!
Overseeing the festive repairs is furniture restorer Jay Blades.
Nowadays, everybody spends a fortune on stuff
and 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 on items with Christmas spirit
are 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.
There's a feeling of anticipation when you take something to pieces,
because you never quite know what you're going to find.
As I'm doing this, she's actually really coming to life in my hands
and I'm getting this sort of little fluster of excitement.
Each with their own unique set of skills.
It's a real treat to be able to work on a painting like this.
There are not that many of them around.
They will resurrect,
revive... Now, that's Christmas red, isn't it?
It is Christmas red. ..and rejuvenate... Oh, wow!
..bringing the objects and their memories back to life...
Oh! Oh, my goodness!
..to make Christmas wishes come true.
I'm going to cry!
# It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
# Everywhere you go... #
In the Repair Shop this Christmas...
..five rusty sleigh parts...
So, we have artistic licence to make this look
like the best Santa's sleigh ever?
Yes! ..four brass cogs...
Put a disc on and let's see what happens.
..three tissue patches...
It's like massage for paintings. ..two donkeys' ears...
This looks interesting.
I like the donkey, even though his ears are missing.
..and a doll really needing TLC.
This is well and truly stuck. My heart is going...
But, first, hoping to recapture the magic of the family Christmases
of yesteryear, Catherine Bridgwater from Leamington Spa.
Hello, you must be Catherine! Yes.
She's hoping mechanical music box expert Stephen Kember
will be able to restore this treasured family heirloom -
a Polyphon,
a Victorian precursor to the jukebox, invented in 1870.
Well, it's a beautiful thing.
What's the history? How did you come by it?
Well, it belonged to my step-grandfather.
And he apparently was given it in lieu of a debt. Oh, right.
So we don't know any more than that.
And then it's come through the family.
So handed down to my father and mother.
And then when my mother died, my sisters and I inherited it.
Well, these were very popular in the late 1890s.
They were a very effective piece of home entertainment.
But by 1910, this became redundant technology.
When did it fail to function as you would like it to?
Well, it's just gradually got worse and worse.
Put a disc on, let's see what happens.
We'll take that down. Yes. What have you chosen?
That's Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.
Pretty good. That was one that was always played at Christmas at home.
And then you... Give it a wind.
And sometimes it doesn't quite go. Use some encouragement.
There we go. That's it. And then...
ONE NOTE PLAYS
Will it start?
TUNE PLAYS CLANKING
The sprockets are slipping.
It's trying hard, though. It's trying hard, yes.
It's like a stuck record in there.
Oh, well, we're off! If I remove the disc, then perhaps...
..the mechanism might continue.
So, there we are, look at that. TWANG
I've never done that before! It's quite safe, it's all right.
So, the penny's in each cradle there.
Yes, and then as it goes through, the penny drops,
and drops into the drawer.
So with an item like this, you must have a lot of memories.
Oh, yes, wonderful memories, especially of Christmas.
One thing my father always used to do,
if we were a bit late getting up in the morning on Christmas Day,
he'd put Christians Awake on the Polyphon,
and that always got us up and going out of bed. Yeah.
So who else other than yourself is going to be happy
to see this restored? Oh, my two sisters, definitely.
They'd love to see it restored, especially in time for Christmas,
playing the Christmas carols.
I've always felt a bit guilty about it being in such a state.
And so being able hopefully to get it repaired for Christmas
will be just wonderful. And I'm hoping that my sisters
will really enjoy hearing the music again.
Phew, it's a big one, isn't it? Yeah. Big and heavy.
So what have you got to do to this? We've got to stop that jittering.
When you say jittering, you've got to make this play?
And so you get continuous music rather than a lot of chomping about.
OK. Let's get it to your bench then. OK. No problem.
Right. Tilt it back. One, two, three.
Cor blimey, it is heavy, isn't it?
The Polyphon is a large disc-operated music box.
It produces a tune when a clockwork mechanism rotates a perforated disc
that plucks notes on a cone.
It's this mechanism that musical box maestro Stephen
is going to turn his attention to first.
There'll probably be a few little corpses in here as well,
the odd sort of spider and goodness knows what.
It's remarkably clean, actually. RINGING
And each tooth is ringing.
Now we can get to grips with the motor.
A bit more unscrewing is required.
Despite the fact I've been doing this for sort of quite a few years,
you have some feeling of excitement.
There's a feeling of anticipation when you take something to pieces,
because you never know quite what you're going to find.
And there's a sort of little link between me and maybe
the last restorer or the manufacturer.
We're a few years apart, but we tread in the same path.
So I do get a bit excited.
There we go. Right, now,
removal of the biggest oily bit.
Out it comes.
Oh, yes, there we are.
Right, true to form.
We've got a little casualty there.
Yuck!
Next to arrive at the Repair Shop this Christmas,
Merlin Evans and his cousin, Emily,
bringing with them a piece of family history
with a distinctly holy theme.
All right, let's see what we've got. Oh, now that's nice, isn't it?
Nice painting. Lucia, I've got something here for you.
The Repair Shop's art historian Lucia Scalisi
is keen to explore this interpretation
of the Madonna and Child.
Oh, this is absolutely stunning.
Stunning. This is quite a special piece.
Is it? I've worked on something like this before in museums.
They are quite rare. It's absolutely exquisite.
This damage is not so exquisite.
What happened? What happened?
What happened?
So, the thing to have when I was a boy was these little light sabres.
Me and my brother, I think, we were settling a score, and at one point,
one of the light sabres went through the painting.
I just remember looking at my brother just with wide eyes
and the fear of God in you. Right.
Ran away and didn't say a thing.
It was a few weeks before my mum noticed.
Really?! Oh, my goodness me, that is serious damage.
This is Spanish Colonial,
which means that it came from Central or South America,
probably South American.
And it's the Madonna and Child with angels in attendance.
And the child is wearing the same fabric as his mum's dress.
It looks to me, it looks quite early.
I mean, it definitely looks sort of semi-Baroque.
Because what happened was the painters down there were trained
by the Spanish colonialists, usually the priests were artists,
and they would train the local indigenous people, the Quechua.
So, how old is this thing, do you reckon?
18th century. As old as that?
Yeah, mid-to-late 18th century. Yeah, I think definitely 1700s.
Was it your painting or was it the family's?
So I've got an older brother, who I was fighting with,
and just before he was born,
my dad bought my mum this painting for her first-born.
Oh, so the mother and child.
So what does Dad think about this, then?
My uncle Matthew died last summer,
so I think it would be a nice symbol
for all of us to have it back in its true splendour.
Oh, I'm really sorry to hear that.
That's a sad thing. Yeah, we miss him.
So you're having this repaired...
Hopefully, yeah. ..or you want it repaired for your mum?
Yeah, absolutely. She deserves it, after this many years.
This has been a long time coming to pay for our mistakes.
And then once it's done, we can deny it ever happened!
Well, thank you for bringing it in. Thank you. I appreciate it. Cheers.
It was a pleasure. I'll give it my best. Thanks very much.
Thanks, guys. Take care.
His mum, you know, thinks the world of him.
And just going to the effort of getting something done like that,
I think she'll be really touched.
Ah, you know, my mum's my world, you know,
she's forgiven me for everything wrong I've done in life,
which is huge.
And then on top of that,
she's always very supportive and very kind.
So it's the least I can do.
OK, you got the easel? Yes.
Cool. Once the painting is out of its frame,
Lucia can begin to repair the damage.
First, preparing the canvas around the hole.
I'm applying acid-free tissue, which is very fine tissue,
just to the edges of the tear with isinglass,
which is a water-based adhesive,
which will make it easier to remove later on.
And this will protect the paint layer
when I'm working on it from the back,
because we want to keep as much of the original paint as possible.
So I think what I might do now is work with a little bit of heat,
very gently, not much pressure.
The heat from Lucia's spatula relaxes the torn fibres
in the canvas so the ragged edges lie flat.
It's like massage for paintings!
The barn's already bustling with festive assignments.
But a huge Christmas project has just landed outside the workshop.
LAUGHTER Oh, wow, brilliant!
How are we doing? You all right? All good.
We're going to get it up on there and have a proper look, yeah?
Joe and Emma are hoping metalworker Dominic Chinea
and furniture restorer Will Kirk
can help spruce up their traditional Swedish sleigh,
which they use to raise money for charity in the Essex town
of Leigh-on-Sea.
So, tell me about this, why have you got this?
It's like an age-old tradition with local charity groups,
we go around the roads with Santa on top, raising money,
knocking on the doors. Whereabouts did you buy it from?
I mean, is it English...? We bought it in England.
It was advertised as a Scandinavian sleigh.
It's a beautiful thing, isn't it? It is, a really nice thing.
And it looks like something that probably
looked really nice when it was actually made in the beginning.
A bit worse for wear. So, what do you want it looking like?
Do you want it looking in this same kind of green,
or do you want it vamped up a bit?
You're the experts! So, we have, would you say,
artistic licence to make this look like the best Santa's sleigh ever?
Yes! Yeah? Amazing.
During Christmas, what more could we want apart from a sleigh to work on?
Take care. WOMAN: Thank you.
This sleigh dates from around 1900.
It would have been used as a family vehicle in rural Sweden.
Although pulled, rather disappointingly,
not by Rudolph, but by a horse.
This is all bent at the top there, see.
That is metal. But it's really tricky,
because lots of the metalwork's
actually been painted over in that faux...wood paint.
There's lots of bits of filler and old repairs.
What are we working with here? We've got wood... Metal...
Paintwork. And the nice paint. Yeah.
Team effort! Team effort. I don't know where to start!
Dom takes charge
and begins to strip the sleigh down to its individual components.
I'm just working my way around now,
loosening all the nuts and bolts
that are holding all the steelwork to the sleigh.
This is an old thing, over 100 years old.
And over the years, it's been all different bolt sizes,
thread sizes, even the heads of the nuts did change.
Obviously, being made in Sweden,
I'm not entirely sure what they used,
so I'm having to try and fit the correct spanner to that,
which is quite time-consuming,
but it's just the only way to do it properly.
Great.
The work is now split into metal parts for Dom
and wooden pieces for Will.
But whatever the material,
they are both transformed the same way -
hours and hours of sanding.
Only once the surfaces are clean and smooth
can the festive paint job commence.
So, the paint that I'm using is enamel paint.
It's quite good, because it is really durable and hard-wearing,
which is what it needs,
because having some of the children and Santa in here as well,
it gives it that extra piece of protection.
This is one of the biggest challenges the Repair Shop
has ever faced.
And to create a sleigh Father Christmas would be proud of,
Dom and Will have a huge amount of work ahead.
There's a notable buzz in the Repair Shop this morning.
Hello, guys, how are we doing?
Foreman Jay wants to make sure
the experts get their own little piece of Christmas cheer.
So I know we are all busy people,
but I wanted to do something nice for Christmas.
We've got Secret Santa going on.
So, in here, I've got all your names.
What I want you to do is pick a name out,
then you're going to make something for that person.
You can't tell anybody who it is you've got.
You know what I'm saying, Will?!
Yes. Right, Secret Santa! So, in the spirit of Christmas,
I think it's ladies first. Here you go, Will!
I'm only joking.
What are you doing?! What?!
I'm just seeing where the bits of paper are!
Put your hand in there!
So, are we all happy with who we've got?
All right, back to work, then!
Music box expert Stephen has disassembled the Victorian Polyphon.
On closer inspection of the mechanism,
he may have pinpointed why it's having trouble starting.
This is a funny shaped gearwheel.
It's a bevelled gearwheel.
And that might account for the fact that it's a bit of a slow starter.
So I'm used to seeing gearwheels that look like this.
If I hold the two up, they are a different shape.
It's a different profile.
I'd be more happy if this is installed rather than this.
So, let's see if it works.
I'll pop it in there. Put that in there.
We're on new territory here.
So, we'll put a bit of pressure on the main spring,
and we'll see what happens.
And away it goes!
The motor may be whirring away nicely,
but without attending to the battered brass discs
that play the tunes, the Polyphon will remain silent.
With his eye on the countdown to Christmas,
it's Jay's job to make sure all the repairs hit the deadline.
So, how are you getting on? I'm very pleased. OK.
But we've got to create some music now.
The position of each one of these protrusions gives us a note.
OK. The protrusions have to be upright, not bent forward a bit,
not bent sideways a bit, because that'll jam the machine.
So, if I'm going to have to straighten those,
I can't do it with my bare eyes,
I've got to have some magnifying glasses?
I have the very things here.
You can have the J90 Dame Edna power glasses,
and I've selected a little tortoiseshell.
That's magnified, isn't it?! Yes, they're special strong ones.
Oh! All right, cool. Yeah.
And then I'll need... Oh, wow!
Look at that! OK, here we go, then.
How about that one, what does that look like from your direction?
Does it need a bit of a tweak?
Is it this one you've got your finger on?
No, no, that one there. This one?
It's slightly bent, you see. I see it, I see it.
That's it. We're getting there.
JAY MUMBLES
They're good on the close-up, but not far away, are they?
No, hopeless. Twist it.
What do you reckon? I think we're actually approaching perfection.
Restorations and covert Secret Santa projects are underway
throughout the Repair Shop.
Lucia is getting to grips with the Madonna and Child painting.
She is applying a patch to the back of the canvas
to erase any trace of the youthful misadventure.
So that's a very weak little patch.
It's going to hold that tear together.
Now to carefully remove the protective tissue
from the edges of the tear.
Now, because it was isinglass, it's water-soluble,
so I should be able to get this off with my favourite...
Spit, and just roll over.
No pulling, just roll it off very gently.
And then we'll see the full extent of the tear.
I'm very pleased. It's lined up very nicely.
It's absolutely even.
With the painting in one piece again, Lucia now cleans the surface,
which has accumulated years of dirt,
dulling the colours and obscuring the detail.
And she's revealing some fascinating history.
When you're cleaning, you actually
spend a lot of time looking very closely at the surface,
and it gives you time to contemplate what's going on there
and what the artist used in terms of materials.
For example, we've got Prussian blue,
which are elements of jewels in the Madonna's dress.
And that is one of the very few datable pigments.
It has an exact date of when it was actually made - 1704.
And what we see in this fantastic painting,
and why we know it's Spanish Colonial
is because the Quechua artist has actually introduced a Quechua person
in the face of the Madonna.
The angels aren't. The angels are very European in their looks.
But the Madonna and the child
are definitely native people of the South Americas.
It's wonderful. Every picture tells a story. It's really great.
Now it's clean, Lucia can fill the damaged area.
The next step is to varnish the painting,
which will consolidate the surface and reveal the colours
to their fullest.
And I do a cross, take another dip of varnish,
and then I go out.
It's a bit like a Union Jack, really.
But you can see just brushing that out, it's fantastic.
It looks beautiful.
You start to see the radiating light behind the Madonna.
You know, she's basically hovering forwards in the air,
and you can really see the Indian quality to her face.
It's a real treat to be able to work on a painting like this.
There aren't that many of them around.
The next customers to arrive are Patricia Hall
and her daughter Alison...
Good morning. Welcome to the Repair Shop.
You must be Patricia? Yes.
..here to consult toy restoration duo
Julie Tatchell and Amanda Middleditch.
This is Betty, my precious dolly.
Oh, she's beautiful. I can see why you treasure her.
Can you tell us when you got her? Christmas 1939.
I was a little evacuee from London and this war broke out.
They said they'd got to get all the children out of London.
We went off one morning and, as I say, we didn't go back home.
The Government evacuation scheme began in September 1939
after the outbreak of the Second World War.
Children from British cities
were moved to rural areas to protect them from bombing raids.
Over 800,000 children were torn away from their families,
some not returning to their homes and loved ones for six years.
We finished up being sent off to Bedfordshire
and it was just coming up to Christmas.
We finished up with this delightful family.
This was your Christmas present? Yes, yes. Oh, wow.
Obviously I was thrilled to bits with her.
She was all dressed up in this beautiful little red cape,
little white socks and plastic black shoes.
I think she's pretty. Absolutely. No, I totally agree.
So she holds some very special memories. Oh, yes, yeah.
They welcomed me in, made such a fuss of me.
It was lovely, actually. I was part of a family again.
That's lovely. She's the only thing I've ever kept.
She's never been away from me. She sits in a chair in the bedroom.
So you're used to seeing Betty all the time as well.
Yes, she is always sat in the chair,
because by the time I was old enough to even go on it,
she was already damaged a bit.
So I knew I was never allowed to touch.
She's obviously got some damage here.
This is just... I mean, after 78 years, it's amazing it's not worse.
It'd be amazing if she could even look a little bit better.
Bless her. Will you let Alison cuddle her, then, maybe?
Oh, yes! Oh, yes!
Well done. Thank you.
Having Betty back at Christmas time, well, I'd be thrilled to bits.
My mum's my hero.
For her to have gone through everything she's gone through
and to be who she is, it's just outstanding.
What a lovely lady.
We've got our work cut out here.
My main concern at this stage, we've got to get the head off,
cos obviously we don't want to do any more damage
than there already is.
But I think once we've done that, I'll take the head and arms
and you will have the body and legs.
Yeah. We have a plan.
Before Betty Doll can get better, she's going to look a lot worse.
Julie and Amanda have got to take her apart
so they can work on her individual components.
The last little stitch.
There she is. Betty minus her legs.
That includes removing the 78-year-old stuffing.
There we go! I can't believe all that went inside her.
I think I've got the more nerve-racking job,
because I'm not 100% sure at this point
how easy it's going to be to get her head off.
I think it's a combination of glue and stitching.
It's quite tough. This is well and truly stuck.
That sounds promising.
Oh, it does, but... My heart's going!
While Amanda and Julie have their hands full with Betty,
Jay's got a project of his own on the go.
What I'm doing is I'm making my Secret Santa.
I've got to wait for the paint to dry.
The reason why I'm whispering is
because it's for someone in the workshop.
They're just over there. Shh.
In the metalwork shed,
Dom and Will are toiling away on the Scandinavian sleigh.
How are we doing, lads?
Mind your head on that.
That's all wet up there. That's all of the steel parts for the sleigh.
It's wet, Will!
So, Will, how are you getting on, mate?
Not bad. So the inside of the sleigh's been sanded and painted.
Yes. Green. Green, which is this green here.
Nice. Is that dry, yeah? Yeah, yeah, go on.
But the outside, Dom and I have decided to paint that red.
Oh, that's nice. A bit Christmassy, a bit festive.
Yeah, yeah, cool.
Whilst you are here, maybe you'd like to, er...
Get on the tools! ..get on the tools.
OK, cool. So, we've got this wonderful, vibrant...
Wow. That's Christmas red, isn't it? That is Christmas red. Nice.
WHISTLING
So, guys, do you reckon we should give this sleigh a name?
What do you reckon? What, like a boat?
Yeah, that's it. What would we call it, though?
That's a good question.
Help me out. I don't know.
It's from Leigh-on-Sea, so what about Leigh?
Leigh? Leigh-on-Sea is spelt L-E-I-G-H.
L-E-I-G-H. Actually, if you put an S in front of...
The first initial... Leigh... Yeah, clever!
It's... Sleigh. ..sleigh. So what, S-Leigh?
S. Leigh. I like it.
Next into the Christmas Repair Shop,
a trio bearing gifts for ceramic conservator Kirsten Ramsay.
Hello. Come in.
This looks interesting.
Baby Jesus.
We've got a rather sad-looking donkey.
What a lovely nativity set.
Where are these from?
They're from our school,
which is Cardinal Newman Catholic School in Hove.
OK. We can see that they've been slightly damaged over the years.
What's the actual history of these pieces?
The school became a school in 1971.
Prior to that, it was a convent for about 100 years,
until the nuns left Brighton because they thought it was too racy.
OK. So we understand it's part of...
We think it's part of the original set from the convent.
So, looking at them, they look to me like they are made of plaster.
They're painted plaster.
OK. Which I would have thought was sort of 1920s,
'30s, that sort of era.
So maybe that does fit in, ties in.
Yeah, date-wise.
Do you have any favourite pieces, or...?
I like the donkey. Do you?
Even though his ears are missing. I still like him.
And yours is? I like Mary and Jesus.
Jesus has got no hands, though, has he?
See that? Goodness.
I don't suppose you have the arms or the hands, do you?
Unfortunately, no. No, we don't know what happened.
Well, I mean, this will be an absolute pleasure to work on
and get ready for your nativity.
So, thank you for bringing them. BOY: Thank you. GIRL: Thank you.
Thanks very much.
That's nice, isn't it? It's absolutely lovely.
Look at this.
I feel proud of our nativity set.
It is the centre of our Advent celebrations and our fundraising.
We raise a lot of money,
we do a lot of good for the local homeless charity
and having it back looking its best
will just make us feel even that bit prouder.
Making it new will make it a memory for the next generations
that come to the school and it's something that makes everyone happy.
So what are you going to do to these guys, then?
So I think the main thing, actually,
which is going to transform them is to give them a really good clean.
They've got quite a lot of chips and things.
I think the main things that I see really are the ears on the donkey
and obviously little baby Jesus, some new...
He needs some hands, doesn't he? Yes, hands and arms.
It's going to be an absolute pleasure to work on.
It's going to be a joy? I can't wait! Do you want to give me a hand?
There's nothing I like more than sitting cleaning objects.
You get an opportunity to really look at how the pieces are made.
You get to see all the sort of tiny details
that normally just would be missed.
You know, the faces are quite exquisite.
The colouring is absolutely beautiful as well.
So this is lovely.
With the Polyphon nearly playing again,
Stephen just needs to make a few finishing touches.
And Will is on hand to lend his woodwork expertise
to the lock in the coin box.
It would have had a nice little finished area there, a little disc.
But it would have been a light wood,
made of the same materials as the other embellishments,
but stained to look walnut.
The clever bit is putting the keyhole in the middle.
Now, I've worked on a few of these before
and I know that they can be really tricky to drill into.
They have a tendency just to split out.
Why do you think I'm giving you the job?
If you give me the key and I'll get started on this. Thank you.
Excellent. Thanks a lot. See you. See you later.
It's quite tricky.
Now, I'm just going to slide that into there.
Stephen, meanwhile, rebuilds the mechanism.
A bit of a crunch moment, this.
We're going to see if the coin chute
is going to switch the motor on and off. So fingers crossed.
Ha-ha! There you go. It started first time,
which it didn't do before.
As finishing touches are applied...
..Catherine arrives with her sister Anne,
who shares the fond memories of the Polyphon
being played at Christmas in the family home.
Hello, Catherine. How are you doing? I'm fine, thank you. All right?
Hello again. This is my sister Anne.
Hello, how are you? I'm fine, thanks.
Hello, Anne, I'm Steve. Nice to meet you. Are you Steve?
Are you the repairman? I am, yeah.
So, are you ready to see this?
Yes. Excited. Excited.
Do the honours, Steve, go on.
OK, here we go, then. Right.
There we are. Oh!
And of course the main purpose of this is to produce music.
Yes. Who's going to do it?
I brought some pennies with me in case you didn't have one!
Oh, no, this is a penny. Would you like to do the honours?
Shall I do the honours?
I haven't done this for a long, long time.
I'm so excited. You ready? Yes.
Oh, here it goes.
IT PLAYS: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Oh... I'm going to cry.
You've done well. Well done.
THEY HUM ALONG
LIGHT CLATTER There goes the penny!
# Glory to the newborn king. #
Absolutely brilliant. Good, wasn't it? Absolutely brilliant.
Oh, yes. It's just moved me so much.
Because the last time I heard it playing, I think, was about 1985.
As long as that? Yes. Yes.
So...it just brought so many memories back of my dad playing it.
It sounded more beautiful than I remembered.
Yes, absolutely. Yeah? Oh, yes.
I've still got tears in my eyes!
Yes, same here. Same here.
Well, it's a special sound, isn't it? It is, yes.
And everyone who hears it always remembers it and asks about it,
and if we've still got it and if it's still working.
And if it's still working, yes.
Well, it is now. It's wonderful. Thank you ever so much.
It's been an absolute joy to work on this one.
Would you agree, Steve? I would. It's a privilege, thank you.
Well, thank you so much.
Merry Christmas. And to you.
And a happy New Year. OK?
Yeah, Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas, Steve.
Thank you ever so much. Thanks. It's wonderful.
Being able to play it all the way through
without having to wind it halfway and hearing that penny drop. Yes.
I haven't heard that properly
for a long, long time, so I was overwhelmed.
Yes, I was, too. Very emotional.
It's very precious to us, isn't it, the Polyphon?
I think it's going to be a really magical Christmas this year.
Yes. And the grandchildren will be able to hear it as well,
which is marvellous.
It'll be lovely, won't it? Really good.
The next stage of the sleigh repair requires some serious heat,
so it's over to the Repair Shop forge.
So this is the front grab rail from the sleigh.
And I think it's really important that this is symmetrical.
At the moment, it's not. It should be nice and curved like that,
and there's quite a bit of damage here.
So I've brought it into the forge,
and we're going to heat it up and try and wrangle it back into shape.
Dom draws a chalk outline of how the grab rail should look
with the help of blacksmith Martin.
And then turn it right over.
Um... It's way off, isn't it?
Right back to here. And it's got bent from right back here.
In my head, I would start in the middle and work out.
You're absolutely right. So we start from what we know,
and then we work along and file it all the way down. Exactly.
So the grab rail's in the fire now, it's heating up.
So we have to act quite quickly.
Once this comes out the fire, it's going to be cooling instantly,
the cold anvil, the cold air, it's all...
And then it becomes harder to move, so...we need to act quick.
That's really good. I'm really pleased.
I honestly didn't think we'd get it looking that symmetrical again.
And it's straight.
While Dom's feeling the heat...
..Will concentrates on the finer work of the sleigh.
So what I'm doing now is pinstriping the front of the sleigh.
It's really tricky, because this brush here is so delicate.
It's really good for getting the nice pinstripe lines,
but you almost have to hold your breath whilst painting it,
because it takes...
Takes a lot of patience and...
..a very steady hand.
With Will suitably occupied,
Dom's starting work on his Secret Santa project.
So, I picked out Will, which is great.
I'm really looking forward to making him his present.
I thought I'd do something different.
Instead of making something out of metal,
which is what he's probably expecting,
I'm going to knit him a scarf.
He's always saying he's really cold and always moaning,
so I thought this would be a really good present.
Practical as well, he can use it. It's just going to take a long time,
and I'm definitely not the fastest knitter.
Meanwhile, a delivery for Amanda and Julie.
It's a bit early for presents, but this is in a good cause.
Hi.
Ooh! I believe it is for you.
So, what is this for? Is this for the sleigh?
Maybe. Maybe.
They have their own little contribution plan.
Oh! Ooh!
That's looking good. Look at that.
It's quite big, so don't drop it on the floor. My gosh.
It's like a poncho!
That's lovely. Perfect.
Across the barn, Jay has also pulled the Repair Shop's clockmaker
Steve Fletcher onto Team Sleigh.
Having fun? Yeah, real good fun.
These are the bells for the sleigh, then, yeah? Yeah.
Let's see? That's right. That sounds right, doesn't it?
That does sound right. They're going to hang on the side. Right.
And they sound like jingle bells?
They do sound like jingle bells. Yeah. All right.
How did you do them, then? So I've got these discs,
drilling a hole in them. OK. And then punching them in this former,
and that's what comes out.
That to that? Yeah. That's quite cool, isn't it? Yeah.
While Steve is focused on his jingle bells,
Kirsten is working on her secret Santa.
WHISPERING: I've got Steve.
So he's quite tricky.
I wasn't sure whether to do something ceramic-y, but actually,
I've decided to go with something Scandinavian
because of my Norwegian background.
So in Scandinavia,
there's quite a lot of little Christmas people
which are called Nisse.
You find them all over people's houses tucked in corners.
And I thought I'd make a little Nisse.
Do you want to have a go? Of course! So I can just bash away, yeah?
Yeah. Don't hit your fingers.
Never. I'd laugh...
If it went!
OK. And then...? That's it, yeah.
I do like this.
This is therapeutic, isn't it? It is really therapeutic.
So, when do you know when to stop?
Because I could just do this forever.
Shall I leave you to it? You can have a break now.
I'll take over. OK. See you later!
I'll be back in a mo. Take your time.
Don't worry about it. I've got this covered.
Over on Lucia's workbench,
having closed the tear on the Madonna and Child picture,
she must now flex her skill as an artist
to blend in the missing area of the repair.
After carefully mixing colour to match, it's time to take the plunge.
So you can see it's actually quite transparent, this,
it's not knocking the white out very much, but it's the tonality
of the colour is quite good.
I just want my greenish raw umber, that's it.
My favourite pigment. I'm dotting it on
because I don't want one flat coverage.
I actually want quite a broken surface.
I want the light to reflect off it in a broken way.
Not one solid colour.
So that's starting to disappear.
So, how's it going? Yeah, good, nearly ready.
Nearly ready to go. Merlin's mum's painting is finished, then, yeah?
Yeah, it is. It's got to be refitted in the frame,
which maybe you can help me with.
Now, that looks beautiful. You can see orange in there.
Now, the other thing I can see is these rays coming out the back.
Yeah, these rays have become much more prominent now
because the dirt has gone. But, you see, what happens is,
when there's a damage like there was here,
your eye is always attracted to that.
The damage, yeah. The focus now is what is meant to be the focus.
Madonna and the Child.
Yes. It's proper special, but we have to put it back in its frame,
don't we? Yeah, we do.
Merlin brought his mum's painting to the Repair Shop
on a Yuletide mercy mission.
He needed to fix the damage he and his brother caused decades ago
in time to present it to his mum at Christmas.
So Lucia worked her magic, repairing the tear and restoring the painting,
revealing the Madonna and Child in their full glory again.
Hi. Nice to see you again.
Ooh! Hi, Lucia. OK, Merlin, you're going to have to help me with this,
because I want you to help me lift the cloth up
and away from the surface.
SHE GASPS Look!
That's amazing. Wow. Look, it's completely gone.
So much brighter as well.
My brother's back in town in a few weeks, so for her sake,
hopefully we'll get along. Any sharp objects around?
No light sabres! No light sabres, yeah.
But there's so much more detail. Do you agree?
I don't think I even noticed
that there was the stuff down there before.
There was a lot of dirt on there,
but it's had a surface clean and a re-varnish as well.
And, also, the hole is invisible, which is incredible.
It's great to see it back in good condition, but I'm sure, yeah,
my mum will be over the moon and I can put this chapter behind me
and I'll be a good son again.
That's good. I mean, it's a fitting subject for Christmas anyway.
Absolutely. So that's an extra treat.
Everyone will have Christmas lunch sitting right next to it.
So just no more sharp objects next to it.
No more fighting! No more fighting. Is that cool?
No promises!
Yes, exactly.
So, thank you for bringing it in.
Thanks, Jay. OK? We appreciate it. Yeah, no problem. Thank you, Lucia.
A pleasure. Amazing, thank you. For saving my bacon.
The Repair Shop team pull together
as toy restoration experts Julie and Amanda
give a 78-year-old doll called Betty a new lease of life.
I have managed to clean Betty
and I'm really pleased with the way that she's come up.
Now I'm able to address this crack,
which is the big concern.
So I'm making a composite of fine sawdust and glue,
which is what the original mould would have been made of.
It would have been formed in the mould,
a two-part mould, then when dry, a bit like an Easter egg,
put together and glued in place.
At the moment when I squeeze her head together around that crack,
there's movement and that's what we must stop.
Until we've completely filled this hole and the glue has dried firm,
I'm not going to know for sure.
Meanwhile, clockmaker Steve has a plan for his Secret Santa.
Basically, I've been given Julie...
..to make a Secret Santa present for,
and I've got an idea what I'm going to do.
I've got a box of wheels and what I plan on doing is taking...
Taking a few of them, polishing them up and making a necklace,
and I've looked on the internet...
..at teddies, and I never thought I'd hear myself say that!
And I'm going to - on the string of wheels -
I'm going to have a little teddy hanging from the middle one
even though I've never made a brass teddy before.
I'm quite excited about this as well.
I'm going to make Betty all-new body parts.
This is the better of the two legs.
Patricia had covered them in stocking fabric,
which had preserved enough of her legs
for me to be able to use them as a template, which is really good.
I'm now just filling with a really fine acrylic filler.
Fortunately, I was able to use some of Lucia's.
Once I've got that smooth, I'll be able to start
matching the paint colours, which I'm quite looking forward to.
Here I have Betty's original body parts.
Patricia, she has such an attachment to Betty,
we thought it would be really nice to keep these original pieces,
so I've made this little pouch here.
When we eventually get to put Betty doll back together,
we're going to put this inside her tummy and Patricia will know
that she's still got all the original parts inside there.
She's coming along really well.
It's amazing, just with that first coat,
how much better this is looking.
Little girls of this era would have only had one doll.
You know, she loved her, she had to look after her,
otherwise she wouldn't have got another one.
She was lucky to have this one.
And now we live in this sort of throwaway society
that the children have so many toys, so many toys,
which makes these all the more special, doesn't it?
Betty was originally stuffed with wood wool.
All the early toys, they used wood wool.
It's going to get a bit messy. I get covered.
I'll look like Worzel Gummidge by the end of this.
Just every time you pull a bit out, it goes everywhere.
You can feel when it's right because it starts to get firm.
There's no point putting wood wool in it
and just leaving it all soft and squishy.
She wouldn't have been soft and squishy.
She was a firm, good firm dolly.
As I'm doing this, she's actually really coming to life in my hands
and I'm getting this sort of little fluster of excitement.
Because I'm just imagining what Patricia must have seen
on that Christmas morning when this doll was brand-new.
I just... I'm a little bit emotional, actually.
Over on Kirsten's workbench,
she has her hands full with a very important Christmas visitor.
So I've been really looking forward to working on little Jesus here.
He's in a rather sorry state at the moment.
The obvious thing is that he's missing his hands,
so I'm going to try and make up some new hands.
Before I start modelling anything on a piece,
I sort of have a look and see if I can find helpful references,
and in this case, I haven't got any hands, but I have got feet.
And as you would expect on a baby,
they're rather sort of sweet and podgy,
so I'm going to have a look at those and sort of try and make hands
that match the feet, really.
The modelling material that I've used has now gone completely hard
and I'm able to start sort of improving on the shape.
The other sort of quite major repair
is to make up the broken donkey's ears,
so I've made up some modelling paste.
It's just a really nice part of the job, this.
It is quite challenging, but it's one that I really enjoy.
It's just the sweetest donkey.
It's got such a gentle face.
It's really lovely.
While Kirsten labours to get her repair finished...
..things are rather more boisterous in the metalwork shed.
Dom is piecing the newly painted metalwork of the sleigh
back together with a little help from Will.
Next are the skis. Ah. One of these? Yes. Whoa!
In there? Yeah, that's it. Are you lined up?
Look down there, is it?
No, a bit more. That should be it. It's not!
How's that? Yeah. Yeah. Perfect. OK.
As the reassembly of the sleigh continues,
Julie and Amanda have put Betty the doll to one side
while they whip up some cosy seat covers.
It reminds me of like an Arctic sort of look about it.
It's got that Lapland sort of...
Yeah. Those boys have been doing all that grafting and sanding
and doing what they do and we've got is this lovely cosy job.
I've got the heavy end, haven't I?
I don't think you have. I've got all the seats and chairs on my end.
Yeah? Yeah.
THEY EXHALE
BREATHLESS: Quite a thing, isn't it?
When the sleigh arrived at the Repair Shop,
it was decidedly lacking in Christmas cheer.
Dull, bent, rusted and chipped.
But the whole team has transformed it
into a sleigh that Father Christmas can be proud of.
Hi. Hi. How you doing?
Joe and Emma are hoping it will be the prize attraction
during their festive fundraising.
This has been a massive team effort here.
And we just want to say that we've enjoyed this thoroughly.
So thank you for bring it along.
And if you don't mind, you're going to grab one side
and we'll grab the other side and unveil it. Yeah? Yeah. You ready?
I don't think you're ready yet. Are you ready?
Very ready. This is killing me.
Is it? OK, cool.
Let's go for it.
Oh, wow. It does look amazing, doesn't it?
It's so cool. Oh, look, you've got little bells on the back. Yeah.
This is going to be so cool going through the streets of Leigh,
it really is. It's going to really make a lot of difference
to a lot of people. I'm actually...
I'm a little bit speechless. So, yeah.
Oh, look, it's even got Leigh here, Joe.
That's such a nice touch, isn't it?
And it's nice to have the red down here with the green as well.
It'll look good with Santa's suit.
It's not what I expected, is it, yeah?
No, it really isn't. It's good. It's good, though.
It's good, yeah? In a good way, yeah. You've not done bad.
So, do you want to give it a go? Yeah. Go on, then.
I think it might... If it can hold up to my weight,
I think it can hold up to Santa's weight. Yeah.
That's quite comfy, actually.
Oh, yeah. The big man's going to love this.
You've done an absolutely fantastic job. I'm well chuffed with this.
It's been a pleasure to be working on. Brilliant. Thank you.
A good Christmas present, yeah? Thank you for bringing it in.
Thank you very much, guys. Thank you.
Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas, guys.
The sleigh is set to make a lot of children in Leigh-on-Sea
very happy this Christmas.
But hoping to rekindle some past magical memories
are Julie and Amanda.
They're carrying out surgery on a very important wartime present.
We need another pair of hands, don't we?
I think we do actually, yeah. We do, yeah.
We're only going to get that one go at this.
We've got to get it in the right place before the glue goes off.
If you could hold, support her head? Yeah, I've got her head.
And I'll just line it up like that. And you're going... Right.
I'll just hold it till the glue goes off.
OK. She's going to have a little bit on her chest there, Amanda.
Is there any way we can get rid of that before it sets?
Oh, Betty, come on.
We did it. Good or not good? I'm thinking positive.
Good. Yeah. That's good. Looks good from here.
Well done. I'm glad I could be of help.
Yeah, you came in just at the right time.
It was Christmas morning in 1939 when four-year-old evacuee Patricia
unwrapped Betty for the first time.
Betty's always been there.
A part of my life. I'm quite worried about her.
I'm wondering what she is going to look like when I get her back.
I'm really excited to see Betty again,
so I'm like the five-year-old at Christmas
waiting to see what's under the tree, basically.
Hello, Patricia. Hello.
Take a seat. So how're you both feeling?
Apprehensive. Excited.
A mixture of feelings.
If it's any consolation, we're feeling similar.
So are you ready? Go on, then. Go on, then.
Oh, my... Oh, my goodness.
Oh, my goodness.
Oh, wow. Oh, wow.
She's fab. She's beautiful.
Oh, thank you.
Hold her.
Oh, wow. God.
Just look at her. She's got legs again. I know, she's amazing.
That's her original dress.
Oh, thank you so much.
Did you try and keep as much as original as you can?
All the pieces of her that were torn and worn over the years,
they're all in a little pouch inside her tummy.
Oh, wow. So every bit of her is here. It's still here.
Thank you. Thank you both so much.
Thank you. Absolutely fantastic.
She looks amazing. Does she look like how you remember her?
The face is identical.
There's nothing different about that face.
Oh... Which is beautiful.
Well done. Yeah, I never thought she'd look like that again.
Yeah. It's a wonderful Christmas present
and more than I'd ever expected.
Look at that. Oh, my God. Can I cuddle her?
I was going to say, Alison, you can cuddle her now.
No! I'll cuddle you, then, instead. Oh, she's beautiful.
She was always beautiful in my eyes anyway.
JAY: So, Merry Christmas.
And I hope you enjoy her for many more years to come.
She's lovely.
Betty will be in pride of place this Christmas
when all the children come.
She's always part of the family, anyway,
but she'll be taken where she can join in a little more this year.
With Betty on her way home for Christmas...
..it's up to Kirsten to complete the last item
in the Christmas Repair Shop.
So, just putting the final touches here
on the nativity set for the Cardinal Newman School.
I know that they're going to be needing these pieces back
soon for Christmas, so I'm almost there.
Just a few more little bits to do and then I'm finished.
Here we go. Is that the last one, yeah? It is, yeah.
They're looking good. Thank you, Jay.
Everyone, come round and grab a glass of mulled wine.
They look really good. So Jesus has got some hands.
He has, yes. And the donkey has some ears. Yes, yeah.
Which is your favourite, Kirsten?
I'm... Easily the donkey. I absolutely love the donkey.
Well done. Well done. Thank you. Thank you very much. Well done.
I prefer this one here. He's got, like, the same chiselled jaw.
The final repair complete,
the experts can at last down tools
and unwrap some handmade gifts of their own.
Ooh! Oh, my word.
There's something on the end. Hang on, hang on. Oh, look at that.
Oh, wow. Look at that.
It's lovely. I think it was either Jay or Will.
It was me, actually. Yeah. Oh, thank you. You're welcome.
Well, I love it.
Oh, wow. Oh, look at the spanner!
Oh, that's really nice. Thank you.
Ooh. Handmade box. Tissue paper.
Lots and lots of... Oh, my goodness! Oh, wow.
That is amazing. I absolutely love it.
Thank you.
MUSIC BOX PLAYS
Oh, look.
Oh, my goodness.
God, I'm absolutely blown away.
Oh, wow. That's a winner.
Oh, no. Who's it from, Steve?
Have a guess. I suppose I have to own up to it.
Well, if I work it out.
Process of elimination. I've worked it out.
I think I've worked it out. But it's... But it's soft.
It's suspiciously soft. Oh, my God. Come on, let's see it.
Ooh! I'm really confused.
I've got no idea.
It can't be one of the... No.
Who's done that, then? Don't look at us. We've done ours.
There's only one person... Dom.
You didn't make this, did you? I did, yeah. Yeah.
Really? Honestly, yeah. Are you being serious? Yeah.
You're such a liar! Did you? Honestly?
Yes. Did you really? Yeah.
Did you really? Honestly, it's taken ages. It's taken so long.
Thanks, Dom. Dom, how do you know how to knit?
My mum taught me years ago.
I'm completely shocked.
Dom... Oh, no, don't start, because you'll start me off.
Well, I am speechless. Thank you, Dom. Good.
Let's make a toast. Yeah.
First of all, to Dom's knitting.
ALL: To Dom's knitting. Cheers. Thank you.
Well done. Everybody, well done. Yeah. Been a brilliant Christmas.
Thank you. Thank you all. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas. And to many more. Absolutely! Yeah, many more.
Cheers.