Catch up TV

Beyond the Barn: Episode 1

The Repair Shop experts hit the road, leaving their workbenches behind to witness the results of their skill and dedication, visiting the people who have been reunited with cherished mementos and discovering how these once-broken objects are being put to use again.\n\nFirst into the barn is Steve Price with a remarkable homemade replica of Doctor Who's robotic companion K-9. Built as a GCSE project in the mid-1980s with help from his father Bert, the remote-controlled robot inspired Steve's lifelong interest in engineering. Decades later, K-9 is battered, unreliable and missing some of the features Steve always dreamed of adding. Since losing both of his parents in 2014, the model has taken on even greater significance, representing their encouragement and support. Electronics expert Mark Stuckey takes on the complex circuitry hidden inside the machine, determined to restore K-9's movement, improve its controls and finally complete the childhood project Steve never quite finished.\n\nNext to arrive are Christine and her grandson Shaun from Wales, carrying an attaché case that once belonged to Shaun's great-great-aunt Pauline, a cook who catered for Winston Churchill during the Second World War. Pauline worked at both Downing Street and Chequers, helping prepare meals for some of the most important figures of the era, including Churchill and Eisenhower. The bag accompanied her everywhere and still houses treasured mementos from her extraordinary wartime experiences. After decades of use, the case is dirty, worn and falling apart, with broken straps and damaged corners threatening its future. Leather expert Suzie Fletcher carefully restores the historic case, preserving a unique family connection to one of Britain's most iconic wartime leaders.\n\nColin and Trish Dunmore bring in the shattered remains of a ukulele that belonged to their son Cameron, who tragically died in a motorcycle accident aged just 29. A gifted musician and teacher, Cameron carried the ukulele everywhere, including on his travels and teaching adventures in Thailand. After an accident left the instrument smashed and abandoned outdoors for months, it seemed beyond repair. Yet when Colin and Trish were clearing Cameron's belongings, a chance discovery in the undergrowth reunited them with the precious instrument. Luthier Julyan Wallis faces the enormous challenge of rebuilding the ukulele while preserving the marks and memories left by Cameron's hands, hoping to return a cherished reminder of their son to playing condition.\n\nFinally, John Cambridge arrives with a battered cowboy hat that played a small but fascinating role in music history. In 1970, John performed alongside David Bowie, Mick Ronson and Tony Visconti in The Hype, the short-lived group widely regarded as the first glam rock band. Worn on stage during their earliest performances, the hat is believed to be one of the last surviving costume pieces from that groundbreaking era. Decades spent crumpled in storage had left it misshapen and fragile, with damaged wiring and a deteriorating sweatband. Master hatter Jayesh Vaghela undertakes the delicate restoration, determined to bring this unique piece of rock ‘n’ roll history back to life while preserving its authentic character and remarkable connection to the rise of David Bowie and glam rock.

Source: BBC 2