03x02 - Seaside Telescope

[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.

There is a real pleasure in bringing
people's pieces 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...

Oh! Oh, yes!

..back to life.

Oh, my God!

In The Repair Shop today,

an intriguing object from far-flung
lands reveals a hidden trick...

There's actually a secret panel
on the back,

that was almost invisible
to the human eye.

How on Earth did you...?

It's pretty incredible.

..while Lucia strives to get

a 180-year-old portrait
picture perfect.

This is like cosmetic surgery
for paintings.

Literally, a bit of filler
for her luscious lips.

This morning, furniture restorer
Will Kirk,

and silversmith and metalworker
Brenton West,

are awaiting the next arrival.

Why are you wearing a checked top?

I told you I'm wearing a checked
top today. And black jeans!

No, it's my turn for black jeans.

Anyway... Anyway, here he is.

Julian! Hi.

Will. Very nice to meet you.
I'm Jules, hi.

Hi, Jules. Nice to meet you.

Julian Kilburn is from
Newcastle-upon-Tyne,

and he has a very special item that
has just come into his possession.

So, what have we got?

Admittedly, it's not in very good
shape, but it's a seaside telescope.

Brilliant. Oh, right!

I've been trying to track
one down for years.

I finally got hold
of a pretty battered one,

so it needs a bit of love.

It's an echo of the British seaside
holidays I used to go on.

This is this was the thing you saw
when you knew you were there.

Yeah. You know, "Are we there yet?"
"Yes, you are!"

What are you going to do with it?

It's going to go back to a place
called Robin Hood's Bay,

where I holidayed as a kid. OK.

It's the only place we ever went
on holiday, just near Whitby,

on the Yorkshire coast.

I bought a property there, so I can
put it in a place where it can be

seen from the village
and enjoyed again.

So, any 20p that makes
it through the mechanism

will go to the RNLI... Brilliant.
..forever. I'll hold you to that!

You can do, yeah!

So, what's wrong with it.

Well, it doesn't work,
and it's missing a door,

and you can't see through it.

But, apart from that... It's fine.

What colour would this
have originally been?

I can see sort of reds...
Mainly red, isn't it?

It's like that sort of pillar box.
Yeah.

So I think I think that's...
That's what you remember?

It is, yeah.

So, how does it work? You sort of
just put in the 20p piece?

Yeah, if the mechanism was working.

The lens should open,
so you can see.

So, the money drops down into there,
does it? Yes, I think so.

Then the man comes along with
his key... I guess so, yeah.

I think Brenton's after that 20p!

That's long gone now!

Well, it's a serious
bit of kit to restore.

You've got a lot of work there.

There is a bit of work there.
A lot of work there.

It'll be fun to do, so, yeah.

Looking forward to getting started.
Great.

Thank you very much. Cheers, Will.
Thanks, Brenton. OK! Cheers!

The telescope, it was the sentry man
of the bay, in Robin Hood's Bay,

where we would go, and it's tied up
with all that seaside imagery

of donkey rides, skimming stones,

the ice cream, and the kite flying.

I've not great expectations,
it's in pretty bad shape,

and I'm not sure
when it even last worked.

But they're such beautiful,
iconic things,

and it'd be nice to bring one
back to life.

So, what are you going to do
with it?

The case needs to be opened
up somehow.

See what's going on in there.

I suggest a chainsaw
or a blowtorch, or something.

That sort of thing. It's going to be
a lot of work to get that open.

And you've got this panel
down here as well.

What's this I can see?

What have you got?
Oh, it's my payment!

Your payment?! Thank you.

We're not paying you
for anything! Oh, come on!

I'm going to decide whether or not
to give that to you as payment,

or back to Julian. OK.
But, for now, top pocket.

So I have got to fix it then!

You have got to fix it. I'll give
you a hand. Ready? Let's go.

Good luck.

My problem is, I've never ever
done a telescope before.

I don't think I've ever broken
into anything before,

so it is a unique job for me, yes.

It will be a challenge.

So, the mechanism
is a clockwork mechanism.

It's fairly simple, depending
on... Someone's had a go at getting

in here already, and I can see
the front is slightly damaged.

Oh, there's money in there!

Will can keep that money,
I'm having this lot!

There we go.

Bingo.

Let's see what we've got here.

So, we've got that bolt
out of there.

Then, this door will open, and I can
get that mechanism out of there.

You can see that's a
15mm socket in there,

so this is going to be easy to do.

Maybe it's not 15. OK...

So, we'll try 17 in there.

That's too big now.

I've now got to find
another way into here.

We'll come back to this then.

Difficult.

Next into the Repair Shop,

Nick Jansen has brought
with him a well travelled item.

Hi, there.

I'm Will, please come in.

Look at that!
So, what have we got here then?

A walking stick with a monkey's head

that is almost like
a ventriloquist's dummy.

Hmm, interesting.

I can see that there's
a mechanism in there. Steve?

Pop over and have a look at this.

It's really cool.

Hello, I'm Steve. Nice to meet
you, I'm Nick. Hi.

A monkey stick. Monkey stick.

And the mouth opens.
Yes, there's a button on the back.

Oh, right, OK! Press the button.

Originally, the mouth opened
and the ears flapped.

Fantastic, isn't it?

Where was this made?

I assume it was made in India.

It belonged to my uncle,
my father's elder brother,

and he was in the military,
in the cavalry in India,

and he was an excellent horseman,

and he was invited by
the Maharajah of Rewa

to ride his horses, his race horses.

Apparently, this was a gift
from the Maharajah to him.

And I've always loved it.

And when he passed on,
eventually I inherited it.

And then, a few years ago,
the ear dropped off.

You haven't got the ear?
I have the ear. Do you?

I have the ear.

Ooh, ooh! That's the ear there.

I don't really know much about the
mechanism on the inside, Steve,

that's probably more your forte.

I think the problem is going to be
actually...getting into it.

So, this will be quite important
to you... It is.

..to get this repaired.
It's a connection with my family,

with my dad's only brother.

It's also important to my son,
my son loves it as well.

So it'd be a nice thing to
pass on to him, working.

If you leave that with us, I'm
sure that between myself and Steve,

we can fix this.

Fingers crossed. Fingers crossed.

Thank you for coming down.

Thank you. Thank you very much.
Thank you.

I think my uncle
probably left it to me

because I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I loved it as a child.

And it was something
that I enjoyed playing with,

and to see it in action again,

with both ears,

and the jaw working,
that would be fantastic.

The Repair Shop team will have
to work together on this one.

Clockmaker Steve is always up
for any mechanical challenge.

But first, Will has to find a way
to get inside the monkey's head.

This is really tricky.

It's almost as if the monkey's head
has been built from the outside in,

because there doesn't seem to be
any openings, apart from the mouth.

But, I can't actually get
any access, any decent access,

that Steve needs, through the mouth,
or even through the broken ear.

So there must be another way
of getting in there.

There actually seems to be a really
thin line running down the back.

That could possibly be an opening.

Oh, it's coming out.

Perfect!

Fantastic. Just popping that out,

so that was actually like
a secret panel there,

which they probably had made

before they did
all the carving on the back,

so they glued that in,

they must have then carved
in all the hair behind,

making it nearly invisible.

Hey, Steve.

Look. Oh, you've got it open!

I got it open, yeah!

Oh, the whole back's come off!

There's actually
a secret panel on the back,

that was almost invisible
to the human eye.

How on earth did you...

That's pretty incredible.

Yeah! So, I'll let you...

..have fun with the monkey's head!

OK! All right, Steve.

On the other side of the workshop,
Brenton is still trying

to break into the vandalised
seaside telescope.

So, what I've established here is
there's some weld in the hole,

which is stopping the socket
going on the bolt,

so I'm just going to try and drill
the weld out of the way.

The socket, hopefully,
will go on there.

Oh, yeah! That's going, I think.

Yeah, brilliant.

Oh, look at that.

And...

..we're in! That is a strong
piece of metal.

They didn't want you getting
in there, did they?

Right, see what we've got in here.

There's the mechanism.

There's a string that holds
the shutter on the telescope.

I'm just going to cut that
so I can get this mechanism out.

This is had a bit of a life,
I'm afraid.

Obviously, the front of the box
is very strong,

and whoever's tried to break into it

has used a big lever
and a big hammer,

and pretty much destroyed
this mechanism.

It's almost beyond repair, I'd say.

Oh, dear.

However, the Repair Shop has
a wealth of skills to call on,

and, if anyone can get the coin
operated timer working, it's Steve.

All right, Steve? Yeah.

This is out of my seaside telescope.
Right.

That looks a bit of a contraption.
Lovely, isn't it?

So, you wind that, that ticks away,
moves that mechanism.

OK. First of all, the 20p
doesn't go in very well.

It goes in and turns,
but it doesn't always drop through.

Do you want me to reshape the 20p?

If you could, that'd be good!

Secondly, once the 20p has
dropped through,

it's got to open the telescope,

just by pulling on that,
and then it slowly goes away,

and then lets go. Oh, my goodness!

Have you ever seen anything like it?
No.

Leave it with me.

Good luck! All right.
Phew, got out of that one!

LAUGHTER

With Steve on the mechanics,

Brenton tackles the aesthetics.

So, I've got years and years
of paint on here.

There's probably four or five
layers.

Brenton's using a fast-acting
paint stripping gel

to soften the old paintwork.

It's always good practice to take
the old paint off, if you can.

It'll make a much smoother finish,

rather than being all lumpy
and bumpy, as it has been before.

How are you getting on?

It's hard work. Is it? Isn't there
an easier way to do this?

We could sandblast it.

But, this has been galvanised,
which is zinc plate. Right.

That stops it rusting. OK.

Because it's by the seaside,

we want to keep that galvanising
on there. If we sandblast it,

it'll take all the galvanise off,
and then it'll rust in a few years.

You're going to be out here
for years, aren't you?

Not if you do that for me.

I'll get this done, you do that.
Got any goggles? Behind you.

There we go.

Nice one.

This'll be done in no time!
Bit of elbow grease, look. Good!

Hold on, why am I wearing glasses
and you're not?

Because I've got a bit
of an issue with my glasses.

I can spend some... Oh, wow.

So, my glasses have got a bit of
an issue, so.. Cor, blimey. Yeah.

They need fixing then. I'm going to
take them to a repair shop later!

It's just down the road!

Lucky, isn't it? It is!

Back in the barn,

Steve is currently devoting time
to the monkey walking stick.

It was a gift from a Maharaja.

Basically, the mechanism in here
isn't that complex.

It takes a bit of setting up,
it's quite difficult,

it's a bit like doing some...brain
surgery, basically,

through a small hole.

The ear that had
already broken off,

there was a steel rod going through,

which would have held it
so that it would pivot, like that.

The problem is
that the wood has rotted away,

in an area that should have
held the pivot.

So, what I'm going to do is
put a brass bush in there,

basically a brass bush is...

..a clock bearing,

which is a sleeve to push
a new piece of steel in,

and then, hopefully,
it'll work all right.

The bush, that fits in there
nice and snuggly.

I just need to drill it out
to the right size,

so that the steel will fit
through it, and will swivel on it.

Right. Putting the bush in
was successful.

What I've done is also
I've put some filler over the top,

I've just carved it
the same as the ear,

and I'm going to leave it for Will
to colour up the same as the ear.

I've just actually glued
the pivot...

..onto the wood there,
and this is the moment of truth.

See if it works.

Finished?

Yes, I have!

No way! Yes!

THEY LAUGH

That's all right, isn't it?

Oh, hours of joy with that.

It's really good. Great job.

So, yeah, it works.

Is it ready to hand over
to me yet, or...?

It is. It is!

Oh, my gosh.

I don't think I'm going
to get it finished,

I'll be playing with it! I know!

Great stuff. Brilliant. Well done,
Steve. Cheers. Thanks a lot.

The back head plate needs
to be glued back in place,

and it has to be done in such a way
that it almost looks invisible,

as it was made to look in the
beginning. Seamless.

So...making sure that there's
not too much glue there

that gets into the mechanism that
Steve's lovingly fixed.

That on there.

Perfect.

I'm going to mix up some filler.

I'm going to fill
some of these gaps,

where you can actually see that
the original wood has split out.

It's quite a small object
to be working with,

and, just because it's
small, doesn't necessarily mean

that it's an easy fix.
It's actually quite fiddly.

I'm being really careful
not to put any pressure

on the monkey's ears because

the last thing I want to do
is for them to break again,

and for me to have
to explain that to Steve,

after all the work he's been doing.

So, I've filled all the cracks
in the monkey's head,

and now I'm just going to perform
a minor bit of surgery

with a scalpel.

The areas I've filled have actually
lost the detail from the hair,

so I'm just going to start
carving that back in.

It's sort of made a bit easier,
the fact that I can follow the

original carvings around the repair.

I'm kind of just following
that shape back in.

And that's helping me get
the right shape of hair grain.

Will may be making headway
with the monkey stick,

but there's a constant
stream of new arrivals.

Bill Arnold and his son Jeff
have brought with them

a cherished heirloom
in need of expert attention.

Hello. Hi. A painting!
Let me help you with that.

Thank you.
I'll put it on an easel, follow me.

They're hoping conservator
Lucia Scalisi

can work her magic.

A beautiful painting. Who is this?

This is Mary Carmichael.

My great-great-great-grandmother.

So, it's sort of like 1800s?

About 1780, I think. 1780.

She was born Mary Holyland,

and she ran away and eloped
to Gretna Green

with James Carmichael in 1775.

They went on to have ten children.

Her husband was a Fellow
of the Royal Society,

and Physician Extraordinary
to George III.

Fantastic, fantastic!
And what happened to it?

Well... Ask him!

I can see two damages. The most
obvious one is this one.

It's a terrible cold sore
on her mouth. Yes!

I shot her in the face with a...
I shouldn't laugh, it's terrible.

With a dart g*n,
as a ten-year-old boy.

I was doing target practice,
spun it round, took a shot...

Sadly, of all the places
it could have gone,

it went straight through
the painting, and her lip. So...

Oh, no, what a shame! Yeah.

How did your father feel about that?
How do you feel about that?

To be honest...
You must have been horrified!

Not at all because I didn't notice
for two months! Really?!

Despite the fact
that I walk past the portrait

at least a dozen times a day!

And it was only my brother-in-law
who pointed out to me

that she'd got a fat lip,
and it then was revealed to me.

The family had kept it a secret
from me that he'd done it.

Oh, what a shame. And what happened
here, what's this one? Same time?

I don't know.

No, I think that may have
been afterwards.

I don't know what happened there.

We moved fairly recently.
It may have happened then.

It's a beautiful painting.
Do you know who painted it?

Well, no.

There is a name on the back,
but it is just the name.

So I don't know who painted it.

OK, that's something I could
certainly find out for you.

What would it mean to you to have
this restored to its former glory?

Well, I'd be only too delighted
because, of course,

I shall be passing this on,
to probably my oldest daughter.

Not to him, I hasten to add!

Part of your history will go
with it. Exactly, exactly.

It's very much in the style
of an artist called Romney,

a Scottish artist, although
I don't think it is a Romney.

Partly because it's not
very highly finished,

but it's still quite beautiful.

But we can find out a bit more
when I have a look at the back,

and see what's on there.

Thank you very much
for bringing it in.

It's a charming picture
and a really nice story.

OK. We'll see what we can do.
Thank you very much.

Lovely to meet you.
Lovely to meet you, Bill. OK!

Lovely to meet you, Jeff.
Lovely to meet you too.

The painting's in safe hands.

Much safer than any of ours,
which is good.

So I'm quite excited
to see, you know,

the finished result,
which I'm sure will be amazing.

It is important to me that it's
passed on to the next generation,

for another 250 years.

So it'll be wonderful
to have it restored.

This painting being restored
has brought a whole new lease

of family history to us, I think.

I'm going to brush up,
I will know more.

I will know more.
Don't you worry, Dad. I doubt it.

This is the first view of the back,
so you can see very clearly

the damage again, this hole.

Can see the tear.

It's obviously being pushed through
from the front.

What's really exciting
is that, on the back,

we've got a canvas stamp, which will
help me date the painting,

and also the artist has signed it,

not only with his name, but
with his address in London.

Which is extraordinary, really.

I've heard of... I think
it's Gilbert Stuart Newton...

I have heard of the name,
I don't know his work.

So, that's something that I shall
look forward to finding out about.

It's dead exciting!

Outside the workshop, Brenton's
been busy with some painting

of his own, applying
a red oxide base coat,

and reassembling
the seaside telescope.

Just in time for an inspection
by Jay.

How're we doing?

Yeah, good. That's come up
all right, hasn't it?

Yeah, that's the primer. OK.

So, pull this thing... What's
going on? It's not working.

No, the mechanism's
not been fixed yet,

but this little thread, if you
pull that, it opens the shutter up,

and you can see out there.
Cor blimey!

Can you go any closer? No.
What, that's it?

That's it.
Your 20p, that's all you get.

Oh, man! It's a seaside telescope,
it's not for looking at the moon!

Right, OK!

This focuses it up, does it?
It does, yeah.

Yeah, that's better. Cor, blimey!

So, are you going to paint this
as well?

Right, so this is going
to go pillar box red.

Yes. As per Julian's instructions.
Right.

And we've got to fix the mechanism
because, at the moment,

we've just got a piece of thread
opening the shutter.

We'll fix the mechanism,

and then we've got to make
a door for the bottom. OK.

So you ain't got much to do,
have you? Not a lot.

OK. Well, if you stay focused
you'll get it done! Ha-ha!

So, I'm just making the door
for Julian's telescope.

The old door was vandalised.

I've got 5mm steel here,
which is heavyweight.

That's going to fit into
the front of the scope.

When I've cut that slot
out of there,

we can put a padlock on there,

and Julian's money will be safe.

But, for Julian to collect
any money in the first place,

he'll need a working coin mechanism.

Steve's given it his best shot,

but, despite hours
of tuning and tweaking,

sometimes even the greatest
Repair Shop minds draw a blank.

Oh! I know why you gave me this.

You've fixed it for me, brilliant!
No, have I heck!

It's not nice engineering, is it?
It's really not nice engineering,

that's a really good way
of putting it.

What I've been thinking is,

because you've made such
a lovely job of the telescope,

and it's all working, isn't it? Yes,
the head telescope works. Brilliant.

So, if we could leave it
open all the time,

and just have a little
sign on there saying,

"Donations to the RNLI".

We could engrave that,
so that people can look through,

and it can be a sort of honesty box.

It'll probably make more money
than if it was 20p.

Yes, perfect. I'm sure Julian would
be really pleased with that.

Yeah, that's our solution
for that.

Excellent. OK. OK, well
I'll leave you with that then.

Thanks a lot. You're welcome!
Thank you!

With as many of the
working parts fixed as possible,

there's just one job left to do.

The restoration of the monkey
walking stick is almost complete.

Steve got the mechanism
working again.

Will's trying to make him
a bit more presentable.

I'm going to start mixing up
a little bit of polish.

I'm going to start trying to
match the monkey's hair colour.

Trying to get a really nice match.

The panel on the back was seamless
in the beginning,

so I really want to do
a really good job,

that you can't actually see
any repair.

Just as it was done before.

With a bit of polish,
and a nice clean and a wax,

hopefully I can achieve that.

When he came into the Repair Shop,
this cheeky monkey only had one ear,

couldn't move his mouth,

and was definitely showing his age.

Now, owner Nick is back to collect
his beloved companion.

I'm looking forward to being
reacquainted with my monkey stick.

It'll be wonderful
if it's working again.

Even if it's just back together with
the ear on and the face together,

so that the monkey
is the monkey again, and not...

But, if it's working,
that will be a real bonus.

That'd be fantastic.

How are you doing, Nick? Hi.
All right? Fine, you? Very good.

You've come to pick up your
monkey stick. Hopefully, yes.

Will!

And Steve, if you don't
mind coming? Nick's here.

Hi, Nick. Hi, nice to see you again.
You too.

Whoa! Here we are, Nick. Hey, hey!

Can I unveil it then? Yeah!
Oh, go on! Absolutely. Yeah? Yes.

Moment of truth, eh?

Careful.

Oh, flipping...

Wow!

It's fantastic.

Oh, it's beautiful.

Well done, guys. It really is.

I think you need to see if it
actually works.

HE SNIFFS

Oh, it's brilliant.

Thank you so much.

Thank you. No, thank you.
You're very welcome.

I don't know what to say.

What memories does it bring
back then, Nick?

Brings back...memories of...

..family getting together.

I mean, there's not many
of us left now, so...

Thank you. Thank you all so much.

It's really interesting
because we were trying to work out

how to get into the monkey's head.

We found a sort of secret panel
on the back

which had been really,
really well disguised.

The whole of this section
at the back here came off.

Wow, the craftsmanship.

Fantastic.

Do you think that you'll be using
the stick to walk around town?

I doubt it.

I shall, I shall...

I ain't going to risk it, no.

No, it's going to sit there, safe!
Pride of place? Safe! Safe!

Thank you, gentleman.
Take care. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

I'm going to miss
that little monkey!

Feeling a bit churned up.

I wasn't expecting to get
quite so emotional about...

..an object,

but the memories it brought back,

it is a link back to those days,

back to my family,
and to see it working,

cos I've never seen it
working before,

it is brilliant.

I didn't think they were going to
be able to make

the mechanism work,

but this is absolutely wonderful.

CRACKLING

Art conservation expert
Lucia is busy restoring

the dark and damaged portrait
of Mary Carmichael.

She's also done some additional
detective work into the painting,

and uncovered an
extraordinary history.

I think this is a copy
because I think she had been painted

by Romney, and I think she is in
the National Gallery of Edinburgh,

the original Romney painting,

and I think that Newton went to
Scotland and did a copy of it.

He copied the painting
that was in the gallery there,

and I did wonder if it was because
it was a commission for the family

here in the south of England.

Commissioning copies of portraits
was very common

for large, wealthy families.

Gilbert Stuart Newton painted
this portrait around 50 years

after Romney's original.

George Romney was one of the most
successful artists of his day,

painting many leading
high-society figures.

It's now down to Lucia
to keep that legacy alive.

So, looking at this painting now,

I'm going to actually secure the
paint around the edge

of the dark, erm, hole,

and the same thing along this tear
as well, just to hold

all the broken, fractured paint
in that area in place.

To restore the two damaged sections
of the canvas,

Lucia's using a fish glue to
secure adhesive strips,

which will help preserve
the original paint.

This is like cosmetic surgery
for paintings,

and the fact that it's on her lips,
a bit of...

..literally a bit of filler
for her luscious lips.

She must have been considered
a great beauty.

I mean, look at her -
she's wonderful.

I'm going to turn the painting over
and start working on the back.

So, I'm just very gently introducing

moisture into all these
torn canvas threads,

just to soften them, because they've
been in this position for 20 years,

The damage happened 20 years ago,
so they've become quite rigid

in that position.

But, to be honest, I actually think
all the threads are still there.

There's no loss of canvas
in this area.

While the damp canvas dries,
Lucia can give the painting

a surface-clean -

much-needed after being hung on
walls for almost 200 years.

Look at that.
Do you know what that is?

That is nicotine.

I'll do it in the white area
cos you'll see it very clearly.

So, we can expect quite a dramatic
clean just of this surface,

without removing any of
the original varnish.

That is nicotine.

So, you can tell different dirt
on the surfaces of paintings,

where they come from,
because of the different colour,

and some of them need... I mean,
this is coming off very easily.

Look, it's just yellow,
bright yellow.

If it was city dirt,
environmental pollution

it would be grey or black.

But hopefully we'll get a bit more
contrast between the background

and her hair, which is sort of,
like, lost in it a bit.

You know what?
I never get tired of this.

I never get tired of the sort of
reveal that I get when I'm cleaning

and seeing it because it's...

Sometimes it's just remarkable.

Next, Lucia must repair
the damaged sections of the canvas.

I've put some nylon gossamer,
already prepared with

the synthetic adhesive,
and I'm just going to apply these.

as my tear repairs.

So, these little patches will
do the job of holding

that area of the canvas together.

They're very fine.

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

Having sealed the tears on the
back of the canvas,

Lucia needs to patch the holes
with acrylic filler.

It sort of acts as a seal, but it's

going to be the ground layer that

I can paint on top of.

I'm just putting the base colour in,
in the lips, and I'm doing it

with watercolour, and it just
blocks out the white filler,

and that's because, erm,

I'm going to retouch with the
synthetic resin and dry pigments,

but they tend to be
much more transparent,

so I do need to have
a base in place.

It is a tiny damage, but it was...

It was very...

It's in the centre of her
beautiful face, so there was

no way you could ignore it.

Across the workshop, Brenton is
putting the finishing touches

to the seaside telescope,

hoping to recapture some childhood
holiday memories for owner Julian.

Polishing -
that must mean you're finished.

It's done, isn't it?
JAY GIGGLES

Looks good, doesn't it?
Are you happy? I'm happy.

Does it work?

Sort of.

Sort of? How does it work?

We had a bit of a problem
with the mechanism... OK.

..where we couldn't get the rather
nasty mechanics to open the shutter,

so what we've done is we've tied
the shutter open... OK.

..and then we've made this
sign that goes on here,

saying "20p donations to the RNLI".

And then the money's going to...

The money's going into...
A good cause. ..the lockbox at

the bottom, and then it can go off
to the lifeboats. Yeah.

Well, if you've got a 20...
Hold on, let me see if I've got one.

I have got a 20p, actually.
I might have one as well.

Oh, no. I haven't got one.
I've got one here. There you go.

You can put 20p in towards
the lifeboats.

COIN CLINKS
It's a nice sound, that.
Good, isn't it?

You've cleaned up the lens as well,
haven't you? Yeah.

Can you see them all working over
there? Yeah, everybody's working.

Yeah. Good, isn't it? It is good.
Yeah. So...

And it looks a little bit...better
than it did before, doesn't it?

It looks a lot better,
not a little bit - a lot better.

Well, cheers, mate.

When the traditional seaside
telescope arrived at the workshop,

it was broken and vandalised -

a ghost of a bygone era.

Now, resplendent in pillar-box red
and brass trim,

serving as a collection point for
owner Julian's charity of choice,

the RNLI, it's ready for him to take
back to the North Yorkshire coast,

where it belongs.

All right, Julian? Nice to see you,
Brenton. It's nice to see you again.

How are you doing? All right?
Jay, nice to see you. Likewise.

So, what are you expecting
to see underneath here?

A telescope in better condition
than I left it with you, I hope.

Show him? Shall we do it, then?

I'll do the bottom one.
You do the top one.

OK, let's take that off.

JULIAN GASPS

Wow.

Are you happy? I'm delighted.

Yeah? It's unbelievable.

It's just a new lease of life
for something that was dead.

Yeah, yeah. So, fabulous.

You've done good. Well done.
Thank you.

Well done, Brenton. Thank you.
You're an artist.

Thank you, thank you.
I wasn't on my own.

I did have...I did have help from
various colleagues.

That is marvellous.

New door.

METAL CLANGS
Yeah, with a padlock on there.

And you didn't give a spare key to
Will, did you?

No, no, no, I wouldn't give Will
a key. God, no.

He'd have all the money out of it.

So, this is like an ultimate
kid's toy, isn't it?

Cos this can take you right back.
Isn't this what you wanted?

Yeah.
For me, it's going to the seaside.

The telescope was the first,
sort of, thing that you'd see. Yeah.

You knew you were looking out
over the sea at that point,

so it's the iconic guardian
of the sea.

Erm...

So, yeah, I've been looking
for one for a very long time.

We had a slight issue
with the mechanism.

Right. OK? Yeah. So, we had the best
minds in the business on it...

Yeah.
THEY LAUGH

..and the bit inside that makes the
telescope open was not repairable.

OK. OK? So, we put a new money bit
in there,

so that goes kerchink. Oh, wow.

I've got you a whole heap of money
out of it. OK.

So, you have a little go,
and it makes a lovely ch*nk.

And what you've got is
an honesty box, I think,

and I think people will
put their money in. Yeah.

That's it? Yeah.

Yeah, and turn... And turn? Yeah.

COIN CLINKS
Oh...

Thank you, Brenton.

And another...and another boat
gets rescued.

JULIAN CHUCKLES

Seeing the telescope for
the first time

just made me feel like a kid again.

It reminds you of the end
of the journey of, erm,

"Am I there yet, Mum?"

It just means you've arrived on
holiday

and so I'm really pleased to
be able to finish the journey.

It's like a dream come true.

The final item in the Repair Shop
is nearing completion.

Lucia is putting the finishing
touches to her makeover

of the Mary Carmichael portrait.

I'm just retouching the damage to
her luscious lips.

I'm hoping that Bill and Jeff,
when they come to see her,

will be very pleased and...

I mean, she is beautiful.

She was a society beauty, obviously,

with all this wonderful auburn hair.

I'm just putting a few
finishing glazes on,

and she'll be...she'll be finished.

Actually, this is quite sweet
retouching, because it really,

sort of, pulls the whole, sort of,
form of the lips together,

so I'm hoping that they'll
see her with renewed eyes.

Where the dirt can damage
a thing of the past,

the painting's owners, Bill and son
Jeff, are back at the Repair Shop

to collect the revitalised portrait
of their ancestor.

I'm used to seeing it
and, for the last 18 years,

I've been used to seeing it
with a hole in it...her lip.

Yeah, and not having her
in the house

for the past few days
has been quite odd.

It could be quite nice to see her
back in true form again,

without the...without the fat lip.

Hello, Bill. Hi.

Welcome back. Lovely to see you.

Hi, Jeff. Hi, Lucia. Lovely to see
you again. Welcome back.

Welcome back. Thank you.

Are you ready to see her?

We are. Yes, please. Yes, please.

THEY GASP
Look at that!

Absolutely perfect.

She has a lip!

And you can't tell...
No, you can't tell at all, can you?

You really can't. She's beautiful,
though, isn't she?

I know! Absolutely brilliant.

Pity it didn't rub off on me,
isn't it? Yeah, I know.

Yeah, where did it
all go wrong, Dad?

Oh, no, you're beautiful, Bill,
but, erm...

I did a surface-clean...
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

..and there was a lot of nicotine
on there.

Oh!

I wonder where that
could have come from!

I wonder where that could have
come from! Really?!

it was obvious that somebody
had been smoking a lot.

Yeah. Well, it was definitely
my grandfather.

JEFF LAUGHS
Couldn't possibly have been me.
Really? Really?

Of course not. Oh, dear.

I think it's easier to see
her hair now,

this beautiful auburn hair.
Oh, yes, you can.

You could hardly see it at all.

So, I found out a little bit
of information

about when this was painted. Oh.

I think this is a copy,

because I think she had been
painted by Romney,

so the time it was painted...

Oh? ..well, it was a very narrow
window of time

between 1832 and 1834.

Oh, I think she would have had
some of her children by then.

Oh, no, she died. She died in about
180... She died in 1806.

Yes, yes, so... So, this is
definitely post, erm...

Post, yeah. Right. So that sort of
lends into the whole idea of

it being a copy of the Romney.

Yes, yes. Mm-hmm. So, that's, erm...

Yeah, but you can do
more research maybe,

and look at the Romney painting,

and see why it may have come to...
If it still exists.

It does. It's in the
National Galleries of Edinburgh.

Oh, it is? Yes. Ah.

So that's a really
interesting thing.

Well, I'm delighted.
It's been brilliant, yes.

And will you start to look at it,
Bill, every day?

I'll look at it every day,
I promise. Yeah?

And he promises not to
sh**t it again.

I won't...
Yeah, I won't sh**t her in the face.

Well, I hope you enjoy looking
at her for many years and...

I'm sure we will. Yeah.
Thank you very much.

Pleasure.

To see the whole thing now
as this amazing, gleaming,

well, lipped painting is incredible.

Yeah. We'll still keep the story
alive, though.

I think we'll tell the grandchildren
all about their naughty Uncle Jeff.

I don't think Dad will ever
stop talking about it. Will you?

No, I won't.

Join us next time,
as more treasured heirlooms...

We've had to make things worse
before we got better.

..are brought back from the brink...

Oh, my lord!

..in The Repair Shop.