The Repair Shop Catch up, Series 16: Episode 1 on BBC 2

The Repair Shop

Series 16: Episode 1

First into the barn is former serviceman Mike Webb, with an extraordinary piece of exploration history: a model Range Rover commemorating the first successful vehicle traverse of the American continent, all the way from Alaska to Cape Horn. At the age of just 21, Mike was part of a six-man military team tasked with driving two brand new Range Rovers 18,000 miles through some of the world’s toughest terrain. Their greatest challenge was the notorious Darién Gap – 250 miles of dense jungle, swamp and mountains between Panama and Colombia – which no vehicle expedition had ever successfully crossed. Mike’s model was awarded to him to mark this historic expedition, but it has been left battered and broken by years of family handling. It is now down to toy restorer Charlotte Abbott to get it back to its best so it can once again stand as a fitting tribute to the incredible achievement it represents.\n\nSecond to arrive is former ballerina Julie Felix, with the tan pointe shoes she wore during her landmark performance at the Royal Opera House. She tells Lucia and Dean how she became Britain’s first professional Black ballerina, driven from childhood by her mother’s unwavering belief in her talent. After being denied a contract in London because of her skin colour, Julie found opportunity with the pioneering Dance Theatre of Harlem, moving to New York for seven years. When the company later performed in London, she wore these shoes in her first professional solo role on a UK stage.\n\nAs Dean begins restoring the fragile, 40-year-old satin shoes, he struggles to achieve the precise skin-matched tone. He recruits textile expert Rebecca Bissonnet, whose deep knowledge of colour chemistry helps bring the delicate dye work safely back to life, preserving a symbol of Julie’s groundbreaking journey.\n\nGail Nesham arrives at the shop with a fragile 1917 scrapbook documenting the rise of the groundbreaking Dick Kerr Ladies, the munitions factory football team who became global pioneers of the women’s game. As Gail explains how the team raised wartime morale, dominated the sport and defied the FA’s 1921 ban that sidelined women’s football for nearly 50 years, bookbinder Chris Shaw discovers the volume is on the brink of collapse – loose pages, torn articles and no spine. Determined to preserve this rare record, he begins the delicate task of dismantling and repairing the scrapbook to safeguard its legacy.\n\nLast to arrive is Fenella Haffenden, with a cherished clockwork birdcage once treasured at her grandmother’s home in Jersey. Born profoundly deaf, Fenella grew up mesmerised by the bird’s movements but unable to hear its song. After receiving a cochlear implant 20 years ago, she longs to finally experience the sound she missed as a child. But the once-gold cage is shabby, and the mechanism no longer sings or moves correctly. Mechanical expert David Burville takes on the delicate task of stripping the cage, restoring the brass, and repairing the intricate clockwork so the bird can perform beautifully once more.

Source: BBC 2

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