03x11 - WWII Flying Jacket

[bunniefuu]

Welcome to The Repair Shop,

where cherished family heirlooms
are brought back to life.

This is the workshop of dreams.

Home to furniture restorer
Jay Blades.

Nowadays everybody
spends a fortune on stuff

that 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 alongside Jay

will be 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.

I've always played with things,

I've always repaired things
and I just love it.

It's a real pleasure in bringing
people's pieces back to life again.

Each with their own
unique set of skills...

I can't wait to get started.

..they will resurrect...

revive...and rejuvenate...

..treasured possessions

and irreplaceable pieces
of family history.

Wow!

Bringing both the objects...

She's fantastic!

That's just taken me
back 50 years...

..and the memories
that they hold...

THEY GASP
Oh, yes!

..back to life.

Oh, my God.

In The Repair Shop today,
Steve and Kirsten collaborate

on a very fragile
19th century clock.

There we go. Can I let go?

OK. Are you sure?
Yeah. OK.

Don't!
THEY LAUGH

While expert George tackles

an antique typewriter
with royal connections.

Where's the spell check button?

Ah!
THEY LAUGH

You're 100 years
too late for that.

First through The Repair Shop doors

is John Lofting,
on a top secret mission.

Hello. Hi.

He's enlisting an expert
who's very clever with leather,

Suzie Fletcher. Nice to meet you.
What do you have here?

So this is my grandfather's
World w*r II flying jacket.

OK. Which he did actually
use in the w*r.

Really? Yeah. I believe it's an
Irvin jacket

and that was designed
specifically

for the Coastal Command,
as part of the RAF. Right.

They don't all have
the yellow hoods.

Oh, right. What is this?

If they were unfortunate enough
to have to ditch in the sea

they could put this up
and it was easily visible

from any of the search planes.

He was a navigator,
air gunner in a b*mber.

Coastal Command was
the maritime arm of the RAF.

Their role was to patrol and defend
the home coast from attack

and to spot down airmen and
stricken ships in British waters.

During the Second World w*r,

the heroes of Coastal Command
sank 366 German vessels.

But the cost was heavy.

Nearly 6,000
Coastal Command personnel

lost their lives in combat.

John's grandfather survived

and continued in the
Air Force after the w*r.

I never met my grandfather.

Unfortunately,
he died before I was born.

So it's my father's.

He was given it or inherited it.

It's pretty important to us
because it's one of the few things

that my father still has of his.

What is it you would like me
to do this?

Well, I actually smuggled it out
of the house without my dad knowing.

How on earth did you manage that?

I did collude with his wife.

Why didn't you feel that
you wanted to ask?

I just thought it would be
a really nice surprise.

I mean, my dad doesn't talk
about his dad very much.

I don't know a huge amount
about my grandfather.

But I've always known about this.

I've always known about it, always
known it was Grandad's and I just

thought that would be
a really wonderful thing,

for my father to
have something restored

that belonged to his father.

But also I think it's got
historical significance as well.

You know, it was actually used
in the w*r and I think it flew

missions and what it saw, so I think
to bring it back to its former glory

would be truly amazing.

Most of the lining on all
the seams has come away.

Oh, yes. Yeah.

I guess that's one of
the more minor things,

if you start to look
at some of the holes.

I mean, up in the shoulder here.

Oh, my. Yes, right.
Yeah. I'm... Yeah.

I'm not sure how that happened.

My father has worn it,
back in his late teens

and so did my uncle, in fact.

So I think that's maybe where some
of the wear and tear has come from.

And you're clearly confident
that he will be very happy

that I'm going to
put this back together?

Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, as you can see,
it needs some tender loving care.

I am going to cherish this
while it's in my hands.

And I appreciate you bringing it in.

I'll leave it with you. Brilliant.
Thanks. All right take care, John.

Thank you. Bye.

I'm feeling quite apprehensive
that I've dropped it off,

giving it to someone else
to take care of.

It's an important part
of the family,

important item to the family.

My father means a lot to me
and to be able to give...

do this for him...

means a lot to me too,

so I'm really, really looking
forward to him seeing it

and him seeing
the finished product.

Sorry.

Now John must work out how to
lure his father to The Repair Shop,

while Suzie gets to work
on his big surprise.

Just looking over the jacket.

There's an awful lot of hand
sewing to do,

of all the leather-work
that's come away

and I have the zips to replace.
This hole in the shoulder here

is going to be a little tricky.

But we'll be able
to get that all reinforced

while I'm working on it.

I'm sure I'll be imagining
what this jacket has been through.

John's grandfather's jacket
is falling apart at the seams.

Pretty much all of these strips
of leather that are covering

the main seams that butts the two
pieces of leather together

is going to have to be re-sewn.
All the stitching is rotten.

It's very fragile.

I just need to sew every seam,
of which there are many.

With an entire jacket
to carefully re-stitch,

Suzie's calling on the help
of an old and dependable friend.

You all right? Hello.

I did offer to get you
an electric one.

This is... This is Pearl.

Nice to meet you, Pearl.

Pearl is a Singer sewing machine.

And there was an Elkie Brooks
record, Pearl's A Singer,

so I call it Pearl. All right.

But the reason I like
this hand-driven machine

is this has to be done one
stitch at a time to match up

the original stitches. And if you
had an electric sewing machine,

it probably would take up...
It does its own stitching.

It would do its own stitching.
And you can control.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So there's nothing I can do?
Well, you might want to turn handle.

Slowly.
And go very, very slowly.

Ready?

Perfect. Like that?

Yeah. Keep going.

Cor blimey.
This is going to take ages!

You're not going
anywhere this afternoon.

I'm here for rest of me life!
Yeah. Keep going.

You've got to do the whole jacket
like this? The whole jacket.

Keep going.

Next into The Repair Shop,
Jane Prechter from Maidenhead.

Hello. Hello.

She has a treasured possession
in desperate need of some

very specialist attention.

What have we got here, then?
It's a Meissen porcelain clock.

That is beautiful.

Kirsten, we've got one here for you.

Kirsten Ramsey to the rescue,
with her years of experience

restoring ceramics
from around the world.

This looks nice. It's very nice.

Can I take it out? Yes, please do.

Lovely. Ooh! Rattling.

Right.

Wow.

That's absolutely fabulous.
It's beautiful, isn't it? Yeah.

So what's the story
behind this, then?

My grandfather collected antiques.
He had a good eye for it, I think.

My father wasn't interested
in antiques but my mother was.

So when Grandpa died, he passed
this on to my mother

who was his daughter-in-law.

She encouraged me
to take an interest.

I remember her telling me
it was the four seasons

that this spring with
the garland of flowers,

summer has the sickle
and the sheaf of corn.

Autumn has the wineglass
and the vine.

And winter has a blanket and a
little bowl of hot soup.

Oh, right, OK!

Or coals, or... Something warm.

Perhaps when we clean it,
we'll find out. Yeah.

It's a broth. It's a broth.

I remember it working and being
on Grandad's mantelpiece.

So what's wrong with it?

My friend came to visit me
about eight years ago.

I was poorly and she came to help me
and she took it off the mantelpiece

to dust, put it on a stool and then
promptly knocked it over.

Wow.

Are you still friends? Yeah, we are.

Well, we've known each other
a long time.

Are those bits lost, then?
She Hoovered them up. Oh, no!

Wow.
Goodness.

I mean, it's a lovely clock.

It's Meissen, it's turn
of the century so it's...

I mean, they are beautifully made.

It is really good quality porcelain.
OK.

That's nice. If Kirsten likes it,
it must mean it's good.

It is very well made.

Very skilfully made.
So much work, so much detail in it.

Absolutely. And I feel it does
connect me to Grandpa and to Mum.

They both treasured it.

And the clock, is the clock...?

It used to ding every so often.
Oh, really?

Well, we could ask Steve to have a
look. Yeah, Steve's the man.

Steve? If you don't mind,
come and have a look at this one.

I've been itching to come over.

Hi. Hello.

Right, let's have a look.

When was the last time it worked?
About nine years ago.

Oh, right, OK. I reckon it hasn't
been looked at by a clockmaker

in about...25, 30 years.

Yeah. And I can tell that by the...

the colour of the brass.

I don't remember it ever being
seen by a clockmaker.

So, right!
That would explain it, then.

So, Steve, what do you reckon,
can we get this working?

Oh, yeah, we'll get it working.
That would be great.

Team effort, then. It is.
Absolutely. Cool.

So thank you for bringing it in.

Yep, thanks. Nice to meet you all.

Nice to meet you too.

Carefully!

THEY LAUGH

It's nice.

It's going to clean up beautifully.
It's a quality piece, isn't it?

Absolutely, yeah.

I'm glad I've dropped the clock off.
I'm feeling quite relieved

it didn't get more broken
on the way here.

The clock is the link across
the generations of my family

and it reminds me of my
grandparents, it reminds me of times

in their house and it would be
lovely to be able to pass that

on to my boys as well.

I'm just itching to get going.

It's going to it's going
to come up so beautifully.

And your clock, you think you're
quite confident?

Yeah, the clock is a very standard

but very good quality
French movement.

And I've worked
on hundreds of these.

They're all good quality.
Right. OK.

So you need to get
the clock out first

before Kirsten can work on
the actual body. Yeah. OK.

So it sounds like you're both
excited about this one.

Absolutely. And it's a team effort.
Yeah, absolutely.

So can I leave you to it? You can.
You sure?

Yeah. All right, thanks, Steve.

Meissen porcelain was developed in
Germany in the early 18th century.

It was the first porcelain
to be produced in Europe,

the Chinese having had a monopoly
on the process up until then.

Renowned for its whimsical style
and delicate rococo detail,

it has become extremely
sought after by collectors.

So I'm just going to start
taking it apart now.

Just pop the dial off.

The strike has completely seized
up, which I'm very surprised at.

It might be just because
it's years since it was used.

On the time side,
it looks fairly seized up as well.

I'm going to have
to take it fully apart

to actually find out
what the problem is.

Hi, Steve.

Hi.

Just coming for the Meissen clock
case. Yeah, take it away.

I'm terrified of it here.
SHE LAUGHS

Absolutely terrified. OK.

Just the sort of thing that
you'd swing around and knock.

Take it away!

Have you got it? Yeah, I've got it.
Sure? Yeah, absolutely. Definitely.

All right. Thank you, Steve.
All right.

Leather restorer Suzie is
on a covert assignment

to restore a precious piece
of family history.

A World w*r II b*mber jacket
that is succumbing to age.

The hole here is actually
in the shoulder area.

It's a very significant repair

and I want to stabilise
this whole area.

In order to do that,

I'm going to be trimming off
the wool

that's on the inside of the jacket

and I'll then be gluing some
aviator leather on the inside.

It has the wool
still attached to it.

It's beautiful and soft

and the leather is
a decent thickness.

So I'm going to shave
all the wool off down to the skin.

I'm just going to take my time
doing this

as I don't want to cut
the leather itself.

After preparing the ribbed area,
Suzie can attach the sheepskin patch

but the heavy-duty adhesive means
she's only got one shot.

It's a case of that balance
between taking your time,

but also you can't hang about
while you're doing it.

So now that I flip the jacket over,

I'm making sure that
those tears are joined together.

Where we've got these
little flaky bits sticking up,

they'll actually cover over some
of the tears, which is quite nice.

Already I can feel that new piece
of leather has really stabilised

this whole section
that was incredibly weak.

So I'm very pleased
with how this has gone.

The years on combat duty

haven't just taken their toll
on the leather.

The zip on this jacket is
actually very badly damaged.

It's lost many of the teeth.
It's not the original.

I can see it's been repaired
in the past.

A zip on a jacket like this,
it's so important that it works,

and it's easy to attach and do up,

particularly on
those cold, wet days.

Things to bear in mind
when you're putting a zip in

is making sure that
when you've taken the zip apart,

you sew the right side on.

Otherwise you'll find out
when you go to put

the side with the slider on
you've got it inside out

which isn't going to work.

Machining went very well.
Very happy with it.

So it just leaves me to test
the zip out for the first time,

and hopefully I've got it right.

Nice.

As Suzie breathes new life
into the aviator jacket,

more items are coming in
to The Repair Shop.

Next, it's Lucy and Chris Smith
from Exeter in Devon.

Here we are. Yes.

Hi, there.

They've brought in
an historic family heirloom

with a regal connection.

Let's have a look.
Or let you have a look.

Look at that.
It's a typewriter, I can see.

It's an Underwood 5. Is it? Yes.

The Repair Shop has called
on the expertise of

vintage typewriter restorer
George Blackman.

It belonged to my grandfather
who wrote these memoirs on it

of the Boer w*r and First World w*r
and his time in The Army...

OK. ..and during his distinguished
military career.

And the really interesting thing
we think, is that he was

godson to Queen Victoria.

Queen Victoria? Queen Victoria.

So, my great grandparents

and Queen Victoria and
Prince Albert were friends.

Oh, I mean... Just as you do! Yes!

As he was friends,
within the memoirs,

he records the fact he was at
Sandhurst, training to be an officer

with Winston Churchill.
Well-connected, then. Yes.

And one of the most
fascinating things that he records,

he was on attachment to
the British embassy in Berlin

and he was there
at that very point

Britain had declared w*r on Germany.

And that's also... The accounts
are in there, in the memoirs,

written on the typewriter again.

So it's got a very interesting story
behind it, this typewriter.

I always say, if only things
like this could talk.

I know. The stories, well, the
stories are here. Yes, they are.

But it would bring it to life
even more, wouldn't it?

So it must mean quite a lot to you,
then. It means a great deal to me.

I'm sort of very family-orientated.

So, although I only knew
my grandfather for nine years,

my family are very important

and I want to pass it on
to the next generation.

It's, you know,
it's a family heirloom

that I want to keep
in the family forever.

So this isn't working at the moment?
No, no.

Probably never been used for
60, 70 years. Really?

Yes, I would say that's right.
Yes.

What happens is they used to use
an old type of oil years ago

and it congeals.

And it sucks in all the dirt
from everywhere,

and it just seizes everything up,
so we can't move it. Yeah, yeah.

All these keys here are all stuck.

Let's see if we can get some moving.

LUCY: A bit sticky.
They are very sticky, yeah.

I've never worked on one
with royal connections at all.

But it'd be a pleasure
to rebuild it

with all the history
that you've told me.

Well, excellent. Excellent.

It'd be great to have it
in working order

so it can go back in pride of place.

Well, we'll certainly try to.
Thank you very much, George.

Thank you for coming down.
Thank you, will. Thank you, George.

Bye-bye. Thank you, bye-bye.
Bye-bye.

I'm feeling very excited
now I've dropped the typewriter off

because, with any luck,
George will be able to restore it

and then it can be passed on
to the next generation.

I'm sure it's more than
a possibility.

George is going to do it, I know.

So, George, this is such a nice
piece into the workshop. It is.

And it's the first item we've had
that has a link to the royal family.

That's right, yeah.
I've done several like this

but never known their history.
Whereas this one, I do

and it's very interesting.
Very interesting.

The main thing we've got to do,
is the most important part,

is the carriage movement. It's not
moving. We've got to sort that out.

And all the keys at the front,

which actually bring up
and type on the paper... Yep.

..are just not working.
Seized.

Seized up with years and years
of neglect.

And then all these
have got to come out.

Now, this is a big job.
What! You've take them all out?

We're going to take them all out.

There's hundreds and hundreds
of parts in this machine.

Possibly nearly a thousand.
It looks like you've got

a lot of work to be getting on with.
It's a lot of work.

George's first job is
to dismantle the typewriter

so he can give its myriad parts
a deep clean.

Normally, a machine of this age
would be thrown away,

just scrapped all over the place.
It's just a shame.

That's the scale off.

Now, we should be able
to get it off.

Here it comes.

Waggle, waggle, waggle.

There we go.

But you can now see
all the gunge all along here.

That's been there for
a long, long time.

It's one of the worst
I've ever seen, ha!

Very bad.

Steve and Kirsten
have combined forces

to restore an ornate
19th century Meissen clock.

It's picked up a lot of dirt
over the years

so I'm going to give it
a really good clean.

Porcelain like this, when it
comes to me,

it does tend to be quite, erm,

quite dirty normally, quite dusty.

I think people are quite intimidated

by cleaning things like this.

Going to use my steam cleaner,
which is absolutely brilliant job.

Bit like washing a car. All the dirt
kind of runs down.

Steve has his own clean-up
operation on the go.

The clock mechanism hasn't worked
for almost ten years

and its parts
are in need of some TLC.

I've taken the whole movement
apart now and there's

nothing actually broken.

What I have found is that it's just
completely seized up with the oil

that has gone absolutely
hard on all the pivots.

It's just like glue and so it's...

That's just the reason why
the clock wasn't working.

I'll pop it in the clock cleaning
fluid now

and leave it there for a little
while, then I'm going to clean it

all up and polish it all.

This is a great, old-fashioned clock
cleaning fluid that my grandfather

used to use most of his life.

Leave that to cook for a little
while,

about half an hour,
three-quarters of an hour.

Hopefully put the clock back
together

and it's going to work
all right.

Kirsten is ready to tackle
the trickiest part of her repair -

rebuilding the missing
porcelain parts.

I've got a couple of missing areas.

I've got this wheatsheaf here.

There's a finger and a toe
and a few leaves and things

so I'm going to make up
the missing areas.

I'm going to
do a finger here on this cherub.

If you look at the original
fingers,

they've got some rather sweet little
fingernail details.

So I'm going to put that back on it
as well.

So this is actually quite fiddly
work.

Having said that, I quite enjoy it.

Fingers fixed, Kirsten moves
on to the larger broken pieces.

So the biggest challenge
on the Meissen clock is going to be

making up the missing wheatsheaf.

I haven't actually ever made a
wheatsheaf before.

I've made all sorts of things -

flowers and bushes and leaves
and feet and hands

but I've never made a wheatsheaf.

Fortunately there are quite a few
sort of references

and I've got an idea of
what it should be looking like.

I think my approach is going to be

to actually make up a sort
of central column.

Then make the wheat ears...

..sort of around the outside of it.

I think making these individual ones
and actually applying them

to the central core that's already
on there seems to be the way to go.

Over on Steve's bench the
now gleaming components can be

transformed back
into a working timepiece.

I've cleaned it.

I've pared some of the wear. It's
just all ready to put together.

First job is getting the mainsprings
into the barrels.

While Steve puts the mechanism
back together again,

Kirsten is painting her repairs
to seamlessly blend

into the 19th century ceramic.

So I'm just doing the part of this
that I really love, actually,

which is the painting.

It's just a real pleasure.

Looking at all the sort of colours
that have been used when this

was actually manufactured you've
got these really rather sort of

sweet little vignettes
actually within

the ceramic case itself,

and of course you've got this

sort of extraordinary detail
in the flowers and cherubs.

It's just lovely to sort of see it
come back to life again.

Leather specialist Suzie
is on a secret mission to restore

this World w*r II aviator's jacket,

colluding with the owner's son,
John.

After hours of meticulous
work, the end is in sight.

I'm now cleaning the leather and I'm
being careful because in some areas

the surface is quite flaky
and I don't want to pull off pieces

so I'm just gently doing it.

I'll let it dry and then
I can go over it again.

I'll be conditioning it
as well and then

cleaning it again with some saddle
soap.

In working on this jacket
I have such a deep appreciation

as to what conditions
they were working in whilst...

..doing a very, very difficult
and important job.

It's incredibly emotional.

Imagining a member of your
family having done that.

And so I really hope that
John and Graham

have a favourable reaction
to the work that I've done to this

very important jacket.

John and his uncle Michael have
arrived at The Repair Shop

where they have a surprise planned
for John's father, Graham,

the owner of the jacket.

I've had to spin a bit of a web of
deceit to get my dad here today,

ably assisted by my uncle here.

Erm, he thinks he's coming down for

the Small Visitor's Centre
of the Year Award

with his wife, for a buffet lunch.

And he's going to be extremely
surprised when he sees us, I think!

That's quite interesting, because
you don't live very far from here.

THEY LAUGH

Hello. Hiya. How are you?

I'm absolutely fine, thank you.
Good, good, good, good.

Hello. Hello there. How we doing?
We're doing fine, thank you.

You are? I'm Graham. Graham.

How we doing, sir? John. How we
doing, John? Mick. Mick.

Don't be shy, come in, come in.
Thank you.

So, Graham, you don't know
why you're here, do you?

I have no idea.

John, how you feeling?
Pretty nervous.

Yeah? May be in a bit of trouble
afterwards.

LAUGHTER

Erm, but, yeah - really excited as
well. Really excited. Yeah, OK.

You ready for this? Yes.
OK, yeah.

Wow.

Absolutely amazing. Terrific.
It just looks stunning.

It does. Beautiful.

So, Graham, do you know why you're
here now?

I've got a pretty good idea
why I'm here now, yes.

So, is John in trouble now?

No more than usual!
No more than usual.

Well, it's all down to Suzie,
really.

This was a really wonderful
job to work on.

And there wasn't a moment that
I didn't enjoy it.

I haven't let it out of my sight.

And I'm not sure I want
to let it go, actually!

SHE LAUGHS

It just looks amazing.

I just hope Dad's happy and Uncle
Michael's happy. Yes, delighted.

Fantastic.
It's a bit nostalgic, actually.

We haven't got many things
left over from our father,

and that's one of them that sort
of epitomises what...

..he was doing during the w*r
and everything else,

and so it's living, it's there,
and John, thank you.

You're welcome.

It's given me a chance to learn
a bit more about my grandad,

because I didn't ever know him,
so...

No.
Which is, you know...

That's difficult for me
that I didn't know him,

so this has brought me a
little bit closer to him.

It's a lovely little bit of history,
and we can now look after it.

Or John can, I suppose, yeah.

Is that what's going to happen
with it now?

It's going to be handed down
to John?

Yes, I think John's custodian,
unless Michael has any...

No, no, no. I think, Graham,
you should do the honours.

Lovely, thank you.
Quite.

Come here, young man.

Ooh!

It feels amazing.

Brilliant. So, John, thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Never thought I'd see the day
where it'd be restored

to the level and the beauty
that it was then,

and it makes me
just humble and proud.

It's all been worth it.

The secrecy and the scheming.

And getting everyone together.

The jacket's just amazing,
and I'm just so happy

that we've got it restored.

It's just a warm glow, that the
family are together and they've

been brought together by such
a simple piece of clothing.

If we look after the jacket,
it will be that focal point

to reflect on those people that are
no longer with us,

but with us in thought.

Susie's basking in the success
of her finished repair,

but over on George's workbench,
he's just getting started.

He's broken down the vintage
Underwood typewriter

into its individual parts.

I've taken all these bars out,
they're the type bars,

and they're the ones that
actually print onto the paper.

But they were all seized up,
so nothing could work.

60 years of non-use, it's clogged up
completely. There's 42 of them.

I've got them all the way through,
and you can see how bad they are.

Every part has to be oiled,
and very fine oil,

and then, they will hopefully work.

Unfortunately, it is a
laborious process,

but it's best if we do it by hand,

because if we use a buffing machine,
it can damage the angle

of the type bar,
and every one is different.

78-year-old George has been
fixing typewriters since 1956,

when he started a six-year
apprenticeship.

He's now a highly regarded
specialist in his field.

I don't know how good the alignment
of the typing is at the moment.

It is a worry that I haven't
been able to test it first,

because normally I'd get an idea
of what it's going to type like

on the paper, even if it's sluggish
and everything else, you could see

the alignment, and I haven't
been able to do it on this one,

because they just wouldn't move
at all, they're just solid.

The Underwood No 5 was launched
by the New York company in 1900.

It was billed as the first
truly modern typewriter.

By 1920,
two million had been sold.

At its peak, the company was
producing one machine every minute.

This is the carriage, stripped down,
and what we've got to do is

make sure it's clean,
and so when it's put together,

it'll run along
on the base of the machine,

and you'll get the correct spacing
then, of letters.

Once the historic typewriter
is stripped down,

George uses a spirit wash to loosen
the years of dust and grime.

They're so brilliantly made,
they should be preserved.

And so many have been thrown away,
but this one,

although it's not been looked after,
it's never been messed about with,

so it should go on indefinitely.

Meanwhile, Steve and Kirsten's
collaboration on the

19th century clock
has almost come to an end.

It's time for the mechanism to be
reunited with its ceramic casing.

I'm dying to see it, actually,
from the front. Wait, just wait.

Can we swap positions? Sure.
And you can hold the movement.

If you can hold the weight of the
movement... It wants to push out

at the bottom there, right?
I've got it.

OK, and I'm going to...

That looks so much better.

I'm not pushing too hard? No, you
don't have to push it hard. No, OK.

There we go.
Can I let go?

OK. Are you sure? Yeah. OK.

THEY LAUGH

Really hoping Jane will be delighted
with this.

Jane is back at the workshop
to be reunited with the clock

that holds such treasured memories
of her childhood.

The clock is a link between me
and my mother and my grandfather,

so I'd like to have it repaired,
because it would be nice

to have those memories again.

It would be wonderful to be able
to see it working and hear it

as it was before.

Hello, Jane, how are you?
I'm fine, thanks.

It's good to see you both again.
Nice to see you, too.

You looking forward to this moment?
I am.

We won't keep you waiting
any longer.

Oh, wow.

Oh, my goodness.

Oh, this is amazing.

Oh, gosh, you can't even see
where they were damaged.

Wow!

This is fabulous.

Its beautiful.
It's so clean as well.

It's really bright, isn't it?
It's looking absolutely amazing.

Polished up round the dial as well.

Yeah, it's absolutely gleaming,
isn't it? So pretty.

Can I look at the back?
Of course, it's yours.

Oh, yes. Oh, it's so clean as well.

And will it strike?

Are you ready?
Yes.

CLOCK CHIMES

Oh, that's so pretty, isn't it?

Wow!

It's a long time since you've
heard that.

No, I haven't heard that
for a very long time.

Takes me back to Grandpa's house,
and hearing it chiming

in the sitting room.
That is so gorgeous.

Thank you both so much.

You're really, really welcome,
actually. It's been a nice project.

I'm very impressed. I really thought
it was going to end up in the bin,

which is where my friend thinks it
probably should have gone.

Julia, you know who you are.

She's going to be able to see it.
She will, yeah,

if she comes to visit, but she won't
be allowed to touch it. No!

Right, well, I'll wrap it up
safely for you.

Or WE'LL wrap it up safely...
I'LL wrap it up. You wrap it up!

Kirsten will wrap it up very safely.

You can take it home with you...
Wonderful.

..and put it somewhere...
Put it somewhere very safe.

Yeah, very safe indeed.
Thank you very much, both of you.

Thanks. You're very, very welcome.
It's been a real pleasure. Thanks.

I feel ecstatic. I can't believe
how beautiful it looks.

I can't believe how dainty
the repair is.

You could barely see
where it was ever broken.

It's so bright and beautiful.

I feel it's nice to have something
to pass down that has a link

with my family over the generations.

After hours of meticulous cleaning,

George is now rebuilding
the antique Underwood typewriter.

I'm just going to put the carriage
on it for the first time,

and we're hoping we'll get
a good result,

cos I couldn't type on it at all
before.

We wiggle it on.

It'll gradually go.

There we go.

It's looking great.

Yeah, I'm very pleased with it.

So is this the final stage?

This is the last screw to put in
of about 50.

All different ones.
Yeah.

It looks a lovely piece
of engineering. It is.

And are you confident it's
going to work?

I'm hopeful. It's not worked
for 60 years, I know that.

You know, it's years and years since
I used a typewriter.

Course it is, yeah.

But they're highly fashionable now.

Do you want to have a go?
Go on, then. Yeah.

We're just hoping the impression
is going to be good.

You've got to give it a little bit
of welly.

It's a really nice feeling when you
hit the key. Yeah, it is.

Very different to a computer.

Where's the spell check button?
Ah!

You're 100 years too late for that!

Fantastic.
Yeah.

I think you've done an amazing
job, George. Thank you.

And it's a lovely thing to see.

It's taken George's expert touch
to breathe new life

into the vintage Underwood.
It's now as good as new,

when it recorded historical memoirs
with exclusive royal connections.

150 miles away in Exeter,

owner Lucy is waiting to be
reunited with the typewriter,

along with husband Chris
her sister Camilla,

and great-niece Lily.

I'm really excited,
I'm sure Camilla is as well,

to see the restored item,

and it can be passed down
through the generations.

It's really important to Lucy,
this typewriter,

because it's a link back.
in her family history,

which is a tangible link,

something that she can actually
reach out and touch.

It's like Christmas.

This is a present from the past.

I'm shaking.
Are you? Yeah.

Have you got it?
Yeah.

Look at that!

Look how sparkling it is.

It's like brand-new.
That's incredible.

Look at that, look how...
What a job he's done.

Camilla, shall we put some paper
in it?

Is it working?

Doesn't it look brand-new?
I know! It's incredible!

I'm so thrilled. Thrilling,
isn't it? Yeah. Really thrilling.

To actually think that my
grandparents...

Used this typewriter.
..used that typewriter,

and their hands were on here.

The typewriter is a way
of connecting to her grandfather,

because it's a big piece
of his life.

I think if somebody has kept
something and passed it down

to you, it's your obligation to
pass it on to the next generation,

and you're just sort of custodian
of it for a few years.

Would you like to have a go?
Look, look, very clever!

Isn't that lovely?
Press the keys.

Shall we do it together?
Do it together.

I'm going to pass it on to my son,
who lives in Australia, Ben,

and the extraordinary thing
was that my grandfather was

very well travelled, but the one
place that he regretted

that he didn't get to was Australia.

So maybe the typewriter
will eventually get there,

even if he didn't.

Join us next time,
as the team gets to grips...

There's something actually really
satisfying about this.

..with more precious pieces
in need of restoration...

It's better than it was before!
..in The Repair Shop.