Catch up TV

Series 12: Episode 3

The team restore a family painting that is fading fast, a lead and glass terrarium that has been completely demolished in transit, a thermometer that measured extreme temperatures during a family’s time in the Arctic, and a clay keepsake of a baby’s footprints that has sadly begun to crack.\n\nRokeya and her mother Patricia accompany the fading painting, which has been in the family since Patricia’s father had the artwork commissioned in the early 1950s. It depicts the family’s home in Bermuda, which Patricia’s father Edward built for her mother Madree. Edward was a leading figure in Bermudan politics, working tirelessly for racial equality and justice, eventually becoming Bermuda’s first black Premier in 1971. Art conservator Lucia Scalisi has her work cut out to rescue the painting.\n\nHusband and wife Emese and Luke have brought the clay imprint of the footprints of their son David, who died aged just five months. David, one of twin boys with brother Joshua, was born prematurely in February 2020 and was diagnosed with a rare heart condition just a few months later. In his final weeks, Emese and Luke made the clay imprints of David’s footprints, but now the material has cracked. It's a delicate and sensitive job for ceramics expert Kirsten Ramsay.\n\nMother and son Nick and Pat from West Yorkshire hope that horologist Steve Fletcher can diagnose what’s wrong with a thermometer that’s been in their family for over 60 years. The thermometer was originally given to Malcolm, Pat’s husband, in 1962 when the newlyweds began an exciting new chapter in the Arctic. Malcolm was a newly ordained vicar who had been sent to the Canadian hamlet of Cambridge Bay. The thermometer was a part of daily life for Pat in the harsh Arctic conditions where winter temperatures regularly dipped to -35 degrees Fahrenheit, but on a particularly hot day in the UK, it stopped working. With a few component parts to test, Steve zeroes in on the root cause of the malfunction.\n\nThe last visitor is Bekki, who has an enormous challenge for glass expert Matt Nickels: the remains of an antique terrarium that is now a wreck of shattered glass and mangled metal. The terrarium belonged to Bekki’s grandparents Derek and Barbara, who took it with them when they moved to Spain. Bekki credits them with sparking her interest in gardening and was heartbroken when the terrarium arrived broken after being couriered from Spain when her grandparents passed away. It's one of the most challenging repairs Matt has ever faced.

Source: BBC 2