The Repair Shop is a British daytime and primetime television show made by production company Ricochet that aired on BBC Two for series 1 to 3 and on BBC One for series 4 onwards, in which family heirlooms are restored for their owners by numerous experts with a broad range of specialisms. Furniture restorer Jay Blades acts as the foreman.
Each episode follows professional craftspeople from around the country who restorefamily heirlooms that have sentimental value for their owners.[2] The experts are found mostly through social media, and the heirlooms' owners are not charged for the restorations.[3]
Several Christmas-themed special episodes (with the exception of The Repair Shop at Christmas 2018) have been produced, and since the 2020s have been transmitted on Christmas Eve occurring every two years and on Boxing Day occurring every two years. The earliest transmission date on record was five days before Christmas Eve 2017 and the latest transmission date on record was three days after Boxing Day 2019.
The show has been included in Children in Need events, for example restoring a teddy in 2021,[5] and a carved wooden chair in 2022.[6] In 2022, the show's presenters were featured with French and Saunders and Judi Dench in a parody of the series for Comic Relief.[7]
Episode 5 of series 1 featured a painted ceramic jug made by Picasso contemporary Jean Lurçat.[8][9]
Episode 12 of series 1 featured a painting by British landscape artist Frederick Appleyard. Brought in by Appleyard's descendant (his great-grand-nephew), the heavily damaged painting was restored by Lucia Scalisi.[10]
In episode 16 of the same series, Scalisi restored an oilportrait by Cyril James Frost, at the request of its owner, the sitter's son.[11]
In October 2022, King Charles III (still the Prince of Wales at the time of filming) starred in an episode in which a piece of pottery made for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee and an 18th-century clock were restored by the show's experts.[13] Jay Blades, Steve Fletcher, his son Fred, Kirsten Ramsay and Will Kirk were featured.[14][15]
DVD releases of the series are released by Dazzler Media under license from Warner Bros.
On 25 June 2018, a DVD release of The Complete Series 1 and 2017 Christmas Special was released on a two-disc DVD set. A DVD release of Series Two was released on 7 October 2019. A DVD of Series 3 was released in March 2020, Series 4 was released as a two-disc set in March 2021, and Series 5 was released as a two-disc set in November 2021.
In 2019, The Repair Shop received a nomination for a Rose d'Or in the Reality and Factual Entertainment category.[49] After moving to prime time for Series 6 in March 2020, it was watched by 6.7 million people.[50]
An Australian version of the show, The Repair Shop Australia, debuted on Lifestyle on 3 May 2022. It is hosted by Dean Ipaviz, a builder and carpenter, and features six repairers.[52]
A Dutch version of the show, The Repair Shop, debuted on RTL 4 on September 2, 2019.[53][54][55] It was hosted by Humberto Tan, a radio and TV presenter, sports journalist and writer, and lasted one season.[56]
A Dutch version of the show in Belgium, De Repair Shop, debuted on Eén on September 4, 2022. It is hosted by Danira Boukhriss Terkessidis, a newscaster and TV Presenter, and had its second season in 2023.[57]
^ abAn episode billed as "Series 9, Episode 1" aired as a one-off on 29 December 2021. However, Series 9 did not officially start until 14 March 2022 with a different Episode 1, and the previously aired episode is scheduled to repeat in this run as Episodes 6 or 20.
^ abSeries 10 officially started 11 May 2022 half way through Series 9 and had ended 5 October 2022 before 20 more episodes were commissioned for Series 9.
^ abcSeries 12 officially started 22 March 2023 half way through Series 11 despite 20 more episodes were commissioned. However "Series 11, Episodes 21 to 30" aired from 21 August to 1 September 2023 before commissioning 10 more episodes running between 9 and 20 October 2023, then "Series 12, Episodes 9 to 11" aired on 13, 20 and 27 September 2023 before commissioning 3 more episodes. Series 12 does not officially end until 10 January 2024.
^Series 13 originally was going to commission 40 episodes but the number of episodes for Series 13 had been decreased to 25 episodes instead due to overlapping transmissions between series 7 and series 12.