The Repair Shop, review: an episode that could restore the hardest of hearts
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There are episodes of The Repair Shop (BBC One) that pass pleasantly by, and there are some that get you right in the heart. This was one of the latter. All human life was here. An old childhood toy called Donkey was brought in by a lady called Lorraine. Her twin brother, Mark, had carried it everywhere as a child, holding it especially close after their mother died when they were just seven. Aged 21, Mark died in a road accident. “So Donkey became mine,” Lorraine explained. “Donkey is my connection with Mark.”
A wooden trunk belonged to Mahbuba, who had been forced by revolution to flee her home in Zanzibar when she was a girl. The family could take no belongings with them; a decade later, in a souk in Oman, she saw a trunk just like the one she remembered from childhood and bought it.
And there was an engagement ring belonging to a grandmother, who met the love of her life one night while betrothed to someone else and fell for him in an instant. Both have since died and the ring was a symbol, their granddaughter said, of how much they adored one another.
The show acts as a kind of comfort blanket, reassuring us that everything will be right with the world. Everything can be fixed, nothing is too far gone. The expression on Mahbuba’s face after seeing the trunk restored was one of pure joy.
The star item, in monetary terms at least, was a 17th-century portrait of Charles II brought in by Elizabeth at the urging of her seven-year-old son, Dylan. He was a history buff who loved learning about kings and queens, and Charles II was his favourite. Heartening news for anyone who worries that seven-year-olds are interested in nothing but Minecraft and YouTube.
Plus, there is something so soothing about watching the craftspeople at work: Lucia painstakingly cleaning and restoring that royal portrait, Brenton polishing the trunk, Amanda and Julie (the “Bear Ladies”) giving Donkey all their love and attention. If life is getting you down, The Repair Shop is a wonderful restorative.
