04x19 - Mary the Doll

[bunniefuu]

Welcome to The Repair Shop, where
much-loved but broken treasures...

This is amazing.
It's absolutely brilliant.

..are brought back to life.

Welcome to my universe.
It's pretty marvellous.

Furniture restorer Jay Blades...

It's so nice that we can be part
of that kind of history

to just keep things going.

..and a dream team
of some of the country's

most skilled crafts people.

I'm having a lot of fun, and I'm
really liking the end result.

Sounds like teamwork.

..bring their talents to bear on
beloved pieces of family history...

Look at that. I'm liking what I see.
Yes.

It's working. You beauty!

..utilising expertise passed down
the generations...

I'm going to teach you how to do it
the old-fashioned way.

..transforming priceless pieces
of family history.

Oh, my goodness me!

The Repair Shop team will resurrect
the items... Oh, gosh!

..the memories...
I'm going to have to hug you.

..and the stories behind them.

Look at that!

Oh, thank you so much.

I can't see it
because of the tears in my eyes.

This is a very emotional job to do,
but incredibly worthwhile.

Hey!

In The Repair Shop today...

If you could do the
forceps... I will.

..a delicate operation,
as Amanda and Julie battle to bring

a 70-year-old patient
back from the brink.

Well, I've got them tight.

OK. I'm purposefully not
doing her too tight.

We really don't want to crack
the composite body.

And the hidden enigma...

I'm quite excited, actually.
..in a seafarer's treasure chest.

If I pop my finger through
that hole,

this fake panel here
should pop out...

..revealing the hidden drawers
on the inside.

I think it's quite fun.

But first, the weird and wonderful
brainchild of a remarkable inventor.

Mervyn Selleck from Exeter is hoping
the fantastical imagination

of The Repair Shop experts
can help him in his quest.

Hello. Hello. Hello. I'm Steve.

Hello, I'm Mervyn. Hello, Mervyn.
I'm Jay.

Mervyn. Right.

What have we got in the boxes,
then? Well, a train.

A train, OK. And a couple of
carriages. Oh, right, OK.

Wow! These are amazing.

There we go.

Now, this does look quite wonderful.

Can you tell us anything about this?
How have you got it?

Well, the train is by the very
famous cartoonist Rowland Emett.

He started off as an engineer.

And he's been involved
in w*r planes during the w*r,

and he then became a cartoonist.
Oh, right.

He also made all the wacky machines

for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Oh, really?!

He designed all the machines
for Caractacus Potts.

So, the vacuum cleaners
and the plate machine that came

down. And so that was the big
publicity thing for him.

And so because of all that,
he was exceptionally well known.

Then this was made
sometime afterwards. Yeah.

And was part of
a massive railway layout.

OK. And this was called
the LSSR Railway,

the Long Suffering to
Smuggler's Reach Railway.

THEY LAUGH

Traffic control is notoriously
efficient on the LSSR.

You know, the Long Suffering
to Smuggler's Reach Railway.

Exhibited at a London store,

this branch line takes you
right out of this world

into that very improbable country
known as Emett Land.

It's a land that never was,
yet faintly reminiscent of places

you half remember. Of course,
nobody reads or sleeps on the LSSR.

They look out of their windows
all the time.

It was a travelling exhibition
of his work,

and so it was touring America.
Right.

It used to go around to toy shops
and department stores

and all sorts of other places
to show his quirky work, basically.

So the layout was about 6ft by 12ft
when it was fully operational,

which was then given
to my cousin John. Right.

Rowland Emett was his uncle
by marriage.

That's a wonderful gift to get,
though, isn't it?

Well, it was more bizarre
than that because, when it arrived,

the instructions that came
with it were to destroy it.

What?! Sorry?
Because it was past repair. Oh.

But he felt that he ought to save
something, and saved this. Yeah.

And then I got it
by ulterior motives. OK.

So I could then get it repaired
for John.

Yeah. Because he's been worried
that it's deteriorating

and falling apart. OK. And then
we want to present it back to him...

Yeah. ..fully restored.

So what does John think of this?

Oh, he loves it.
It's his pride and joy.

You know, always talks about it.

He's 79 now, and I think it'd give
him a bit of a boost and, you know,

it'd be really nice for him
to have it back... Right, yeah.

..in a much better state than
he's seen it over the last

20, 30 years. Yeah. Yeah.

And it'll make his day.

That's good, yeah.

I can see that the station master's
leg... Is missing. ..is missing.

Yeah. Some of the axles
are a little bit suspect.

I think... Is that?
One of them is sheared off. Right.

So they need repairing.

And under here...
Oh, it's an electric motor.

So it's an electric motor,
but we've never seen it working.

OK.

Wow.

I just love it to bits.
I think it's fabulous.

And I do feel very privileged
to work on something

from such a famous cartoonist,

artist... Engineer as well.

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So thank you
very much for bringing it in.

OK. No problem. OK.
Thank you. Thank you very much.

OK. Thank you. Bye-bye. Bye-bye now.

I think John would be absolutely
amazed if this fantastic Emett train

was working for him, which
he's probably never seen working

in his whole life.
So it'll be amazing for him.

This train...
I love this train so much.

What a great-looking item.
This wheel has had a bash,

because it's bent,
so it would be working like that

if I don't straighten that out.

We don't want any derailments.

Certainly, there's damage here,
on this wheel of this carriage.

This wheel here is loose.

And I'm not sure how the electric
actually gets to the train,

whether it's a battery inside
or some other device.

So there's quite a lot of work,
really, but it's all very doable.

The station master, he's legless.

So I think that this is probably
a job for Kirsten.

Kirsten,
this is an unusual one for you. Mm!

Let's see. This is a station master.

He looks lovely.

Obviously, he's had a few drinks
because he's legless. All right?

Ha-ha! Ha-ha! And his foot...

If he was stood up, he'd be at
an angle like that.

And, actually, if he's had
a few drinks and he was just...

It was very windy? Yeah!

Can you make a new leg? Yes, sure.

Leave it with me. OK.

Outside, the next hopeful visitor.

Barbara Newman from Seaford,
in Sussex,

has brought a beloved position
imbued with childhood memories.

Hello. Hi.

Here to help are toy restoration
duo Amanda Middleditch

and Julie Tatchell.

Who have we in here? This is Mary.

She's very old. Right.

She's 71 at least.

Oh, no, look! Oh, look at her.

Bless you! There she is.

She's a good snooze in that box.

Yes, she has had!
So, what can you tell us about Mary?

Well, my dad bought her for me.

It was Christmas 1947.
Here's where I get a bit... Aw...

And...

I remember that very well
because it was the last time my dad

was at home.

He'd been injured in the w*r and
he was suffering from shell shock,

but what they now call
post-traumatic, I guess. Right.

And he came home for Christmas.

There was my sister, my dad,
myself and my mum,

and we'd all squeezed
in the double bed

to open our stockings,
and we'd got to the bottom of that.

And we thought that was it.

And then my dad said, "Well, if...

"Don't forget the other present."

And out she came with this box,

and she put it on my lap,
and I remember looking at my dad

and my sister, and he said,

"Go on, then, open it."
I'd wanted a doll for so long,

but just after the w*r,
those things...

BOTH: Take your time.

I opened the box,

and there she was,
and she was lovely.

I just couldn't believe it.

I thought I couldn't be so lucky
to have a doll.

And I was aware he was very quiet
and watching me the whole time.

Yeah. And then he said,
"What are you going to call her?"

I thought, it's Christmas.

And I said Mary.

And it just seemed
the right name for her.

Definitely. Yeah.

And he seemed happy about that,
so...

And then my dad,
he had to go back to hospital

after Christmas and...to have
an operation,

to make him better,

but it didn't work, it went wrong.

And after that,
he never recognised me ever again.

He never came home.

He died in there, in 1986.

Oh, that's awful. So sad. Yes.

This is all I have of him.

Mary holds that really special
memory. Yeah.

And that's why I kept her. Aw.

Oh, wow.

She's been through the wars herself.

She's got no knickers on, so...
Mary!

There we go. OK.

She's all there,
but she's in a right old state.

Right, yes. That's her vaccination,
I say.

When a neighbour tried to put
her arm back for me.

Do you think you could do anything
with her?

I'm sure we can do something
to help her. She wobbles everywhere.

And she was wearing a little dress.

But I don't know
what happened to that little dress.

I feel you're really trusting us
with something very, very precious.

I am. I was so frightened.

Don't worry, she's in good hands.

Yeah, I can see that.

It was lovely to meet you.
And you.

We will look after her. OK.
All right? Yep. Thank you.

Bye-bye. Bye.

If they can...

..make her look as she did,

it would be fantastic. To have her
back as she was at that time

will make that memory a lot sweeter.

And if anything, I'll be able

to sort of close the door
on that memory

as something nice.

It's just amazing, really,
that what people went through

during that era. And the more
she was telling us,

the more I was thinking, "Gosh,
we've got such a responsibility."

We can do this. We can.

Yeah, I think she'll look lovely.
I do.

So let's get her back to the bench
and get her looking how she...

Absolutely. ..how she should do.
Yeah, come on, Mary.

Can you bring her clothes? Yeah.

I'll carry her,
you carry her clothes.

Right, then.
Should we start taking her apart?

Definitely. Yeah?

This one should easily unhook.
This is the damaged one.

So there's one... And then I think,
if we're worried about her head,

let's take that off.

So as soon as we remove that,
then the elastic will go

and we'll be able to gently...

..take out the others.

So first thing, then -
choose your body parts.

I'll do the legs. OK.

So we need to sort of gently pick
off any big flakes

and sand back anything else. Yeah?
Yeah. OK.

So, OK? Shall we get on with it,
then? Yep, let's go.

As Amanda and Julie begin work
on the doll,

Steve is examining the mechanics
on the train.

Just going to remove
this bottom section,

which is actually the drive section,
the motor of the train,

so that I can work on it.

Good.

There are no battery compartments,
so it's not a battery-run thing.

And I've seen on here that there's
little connectors that just run

round on the wheels, which means
that the track was electric.

So I'm just about to use my new toy
that Jay's got for me.

It's a variable transformer,
and what it's going to do

is allow me to find out how much
voltage is used in this motor.

What I'll do is I'll start
off with a low amount.

I hope that it's going to go.

That's really good.

I'm going to just pop the voltage
up a little bit more.

Let's see.

MOTOR WHIRS

Good, that's one problem
off the list.

Over on her workbench, Kirsten

is putting her modelling skills
to the test

on the legless station master.

OK, so I think that's probably
the shape that I was hoping

to achieve with the leg
and the foot.

And now it's just a question
of allowing it to cure.

Hi, Steve. How are you getting on
with his leg?

Yeah, he's got two now, so, yeah.

What have you got for me here?
Don't panic.

SHE LAUGHS

You know how you're doing
a marvellous job on the leg...

Your flattery, Steve, makes me think

you're going to ask me
for something. No, no, no...

I'm just lining them up, that's all.
Just parking them, are you?

Watch this.

Could you just give it
a quick clean?

I'd be very happy to clean it.

I mean, I don't know about you,

but I think it's absolutely
charming, delightful.

I think it's fantastic.

I think Rowland Emett stuff
is just amazing.

Did you know that I used to live
next door to his house?

Get away!

Really? No, I did. Really, really?
Yeah, no, really, really.

Yeah, so it'd be
an absolute pleasure.

That's going to look great.

Thanks, Steve.

So I'm just going to make a start
on cleaning,

and I'm just going to use

a really weak solution
of ammonia and water.

See what happens.

So you can see
there's a lot of dirt coming off.

When you're cleaning objects,
you get this wonderful opportunity

to look at things
in really minute detail.

It's just full
of intricate little levers,

pulleys and even these sort of
little baskets and these bits here.

I just love it.

Now that I know that the motor
is working, I need to do

some repair work.

This wheel has had a real bash.

I can't leave them wonky
because the train's going to go side

to side all the time, and actually
it could derail it as well.

I'm going to try and just bend
the wheel back to shape,

and I'm hoping it's not
going to snap when I do that.

Just check and see how true that is.

That's...that's as near as, I think.

Next into The Repair Shop,
Gerard Wils.

He's hoping wood restoration expert
Will Kirk can rescue

a much-cherished family heirloom.

Hi there. Hi. I'm Will.
Good to meet you, Will. I'm Gerard.

Very nice to meet you, Gerard.

What do you have here?

Well, this is a ditty box.
Have you ever heard of a "Ditty Box"

before? A ditty box...

Is it something to do with sailors,
or...? It is, that's right.

Yeah, sailors.

And this box was
my great-great-grandfather's box.

He was born in 1843. Right.

And in 1881, his ship,
the SS James Harris, went down.

He lost his life,
and the box was recovered,

and it was then returned
to my great-great-grandmother.

So I'm really intrigued
to see what's inside the box.

Yeah. Are we going to have a look?
Yeah, sure. Great.

We've got...

..a fob watch. Pocket watch.
Oh, right.

Used to put it in the waist jacket.
OK.

And did that belong to him? Yeah.

And it's very precious.
And that's still working -

I wound that up last night.

Really? Yeah, seriously.

There's an old photograph
of my great-great-grandfather.

So that's him there.

He looks really young.

Yeah, well, he was.
He was young when he left home.

He was in his early 20s.
And he was 37 when he died,

when the ship went down in 1881.
37? Yeah, yeah.

So when did you first receive
the box?

I was probably no more than
about 13,

and I was down
at my grandfather's house,

and he mentioned to me that
my great-great-grandfather's box...

Sorry, I'm going to get emotional
now.

I was very close to my grandfather.

And...

It's all right, me too.

This is a link to your past
and has a lot of meaning,

and it takes you back
to when you were younger.

Yeah, I mean, so the first time
that I received it

was after my grandfather's death.

So it's... Yeah, it's very important
to get this repaired.

Much more than just a box, Will,
it's huge memories.

What would you like me to do
with the box?

Well, Will... I can see
it's in lots of pieces. Yeah.

You know, it's a tragedy
to see it as it is.

The internals...

I mean, I'd love it if you could
just try to resurrect

three little compartments

so I could put his little bits
and pieces in there.

That looks like the tip of a
fountain pen right. That's right,

yeah. So I think this would be
originally used as a writing slope.

So there would be leathered panels
there.

Probably be around there,
or something,

and that goes there, and your
ink wells and everything else.

So it would've been originally
a writing slope

that's sort of been turned
into this treasure chest

of family history. Yeah.

You're missing a lot of components.

Yeah. Whatever you do
is greatly appreciated.

I hope that I can work some wonders.

Thank you.

Thank you very much
for bringing it down.

Thanks ever so much, Will.

The box is much more than just
a ditty box, a sailor's box.

It's a time capsule, it's a memory.

It's something
my great-great-grandfather touched

before he passed away. Memories that
will hopefully go forward

and be shared by the rest
of my family in the future.

A "Ditty Box" is the nautical term
for any box used by sailors

to hold their most prized
possessions whilst away at sea.

Boxes contain keepsakes and letters
from their loved ones as well

as everyday personal necessities
like combs, razors

and writing materials.

Although Gerard's box survived
a shipwreck, the ravages of time

have laid waste to the interior.

There's a lot that needs doing
with this box.

Trying to sort of work out...

..what goes where, basically,

because it looks
just like a box of bits. Um...

Each writing slope that I've seen,
there's usually a hidden compartment

so I'm just trying to work out

where these hidden drawers
would have gone.

I would presume that these
drawers sort of sit in there.

So I'm missing one panel
that goes across the top,

the hidden flap that goes
on the front,

and then maybe a few
of these dividers that go there.

I'm sure there's a lot more,
but that's a good starting point.

On the outside, the woodwork's
not in bad condition,

but missing bits of brass,
snapped bits of brass...

I know that this box means a lot
to Gerard. It holds so many sort

of treasured memories inside.

So it's my aim and my duty to make
sure that this all goes back

in working order, to contain
those treasures once more.

Amanda and Julie are working
on their own treasured assignment,

meticulously picking loose paint
off the 70-year-old doll

before sanding the surface back,

ready for the next stage
of her repair.

Now I want to continue with
the building up of the priming

of the under surface, and there
are some very little sort of pocks

and divots around her
which I need to fill.

And I used for this a very fine
filler.

We're trying to achieve
as smooth a result as we can.

When the filler is dry,
it's then sanded to remove

any bumps and lumps.

How are we doing, ladies? Hi.

Oh, what have you got? Oh!
Got this, what you ordered.

Oh, fantastic. Good.

Perfect! Is that all right?

Yeah. That's lovely.

Wow, now, that is a transformation,

because you've got rid
of the cradle cap, let's call it.

Yes! That is really smooth.

OK.

And what is this made of?
Because this looks like cork to me.

It does look like cork.
It's a composite.

It's kind of like a papier-mache,
but instead of paper,

it's like a wood pulp... OK.
..bound together with a glue.

And they've got that looking
so childlike.

I really want to squeeze
the cheeks! Yeah.

Yeah, she's beautiful.

So Barbara can cherish
and have many more years to come.

Yeah, definitely.
All right, I'll leave you to it.

Thanks, Jay. All right, enjoy.
See you later. Bye. Take care.

Now that Mary's surface
is as smooth as a baby's bottom,

Julie can start to add
the base layers of paint.

I've reached the point with Mary
doll where I'm going to colour

mix this paint.

I will actually start to put on...

..her final sort of paint colour,
and her skin will come to life.

While Julie colour matches,
Amanda sets about making

a new outfit for Mary.

I'm making Mary doll's dress.

I'm really pleased
with the material.

It's really, really sweet.
And I'm going to attempt to make

it reversible,
which should be quite fun,

so that she can change her look.

I'm really pleased
with the colour match now.

I think it's as close
as I'm going to get it,

so I'm going to start painting her.

We have to remember that these dolls
would originally have been dipped,

dipped in tanks of paint.

Different body parts would've
been lined up on hooks and just such

sort of dunked. It expect it
probably looked quite gruesome.

We don't have those sorts
of facilities,

so we replicate as best we can.

Can I just show you this? Mm-hm.

Oh, wow, you.

I'm really pleased.

Perfect. Do you want to see
what I've done? Yeah.

Show me.

Oh, it's adorable!

Aw. I can't wait to see it
all finished now.

So I'm now ready with Mary doll
to begin adding her hair.

It's a little bit daunting

when we get to these sort
of final little details.

This is the sort of touch
that is the recreation

of what Barbara remembers
Mary to look like.

It's really important
we get it right.

Steve is also attempting
an authentic restoration

of the model train designed by the
celebrated inventor Rowland Emett.

He's fixed the engine and now needs
to address the carriage.

As you can see,
the undercarriage

is completely bent over that way.

I don't know how it got like that.

I'm hoping
that it's just going to bend

nicely back.

So the only way I can see
whether it's going to straighten up

is trying to straighten it up.

It is bending really, really nicely,
better than I thought.

Straightening, I should say,
not bending.

Good.

Good. That's the carriage done.

So it's all ready
to go on the track now,

and then it will all hopefully work.

Every train needs a track,
and Steve's managed to source one

from a set
of a similar age and spec.

I can see why John loves this
so much, and when Mervyn gives this

to John, I'm sure he's going to
appreciate it so, so much.

It must be very important to him.

Inventor Rowland Emett left
this wondrous machine

to his nephew John.

And now John's back to collect it,

accompanied by his cousin Mervyn,
who arranged the repair.

It was in very frail condition.

It was getting very worn
and old and decrepit,

quite honestly.
This is very special to John.

And hopefully, by it having
been cleaned and restored,

then that'll be a special treat
for him.

Come on in.

There's a nice seat for you there.

John, meet Steve. Hello, John.

Oh. Nice to see you again, Mervyn.

MERVYN: You too.

STEVE: We've done a little bit of
work to the train,

but as you can see,
this character here,

Kirsten's made a new foot
and we've stood him on that stand.

So he's...he's back
to walking again.

Can I tell you what problem Emett
had with doing this sort of work?

They had a rubber mould, and
the noses used to break off.

Oh, really?
He had real trouble with that.

THEY LAUGH

When was the last time
you saw the train working?

I'm sorry,

I've never seen this train working.

Would you like to see your train?

Oh, I'd love to see it.

Oh, yes, the cow...

Yes, and the engine driver.

Oh, look, all flashing, there it is!

Oh, yes.

You've never seen it working?

No.

In fact, I thought
this was all jammed solid.

That's brilliant. Yes.

It's the rhythm of it. I know.
And it's all working and fantastic.

Yes.

Amazing.

I didn't even know there was a light
in the carriage.

I knew there was that, yeah.

Gosh. Brilliant.

Yes, you've done a super job on it.

So, John, what does it feel like
to see it working again?

Well, obviously... You haven't
seen it working, have you?
It was a great pleasure.

A most unexpected pleasure,
and really I'm enjoying

looking at it.

What do you think Rowland
would think about it?

Oh, he'd love it.

He had a tremendous sense of humour.

So you must feel proud as well to...

Oh, I'm immensely proud
that it's been cleaned

and restored and working,

and it's a great joy
to see that John's

enjoying it and, yeah,
it's something special for him.

Oh, it's a wonderful day.

Yes, I thoroughly enjoyed myself
looking at it again.

It gave me a great kick.

It's fantastic
that he can now see it running

for the first time
in all these years.

It'll be his pride and joy now.

I really enjoyed it. Good.

Thank you very much. That's
no problem. No problem at all.

Another successful repair job
for Steve.

But Will has some way to go
on his restoration.

He needs to build a new secret
compartment for the ditty box.

Just making some templates
for the ditty box.

They're not as squared off
as I'd like them to be.

I mean, it's an old box,

so everything's sort of twisted
and moved over time.

Everything needs to be constantly
trimmed off, measured back up,

making sure that it's tailor fit.

Once that's done, then I can go
to the band saw

and I cut up my new panels.

Putting some finishing touches
to the secret compartment door

here. I'm quite excited, actually.

I've got this top piece here.
On the inside, I just need to drill

a hole, just in there.

If I pop my finger
through that hole,

this fake panel here,
it should pop out...

..revealing the hidden drawers
on the inside.

I think it's quite fun.

There is evidence of the original
grooves from the divider,

so that sort of has given me an idea
of where things go.

Now that they're in, it sort
of proves the fact that that lid

there should fit in there.

That there fits in there.

And that there fits in there.

So all the loose pieces of wood
have now finally found their home.

Everything that was missing
has been replaced.

All I need to do now
is get staining to match.

So I really need that secret
compartment panel to blend in

with the original old interior.

I'm just mixing up a little bit
of walnut stain here with a bit

of shellac polish.

I don't want to go on too heavy
with the colour all at once.

You kind of want to build up
the colour gradually.

If you go on too heavy,
it can look quite artificial.

To recreate the missing brasswork
adorning the box, Will's enlisted

the help
of silversmith Brenton West.

Will's given me this box to make
new brass straps for.

And I'm going to cut some pieces -
one for here, the three corners,

these two missing pieces here -

out of a sheet of brass.

That fits in there
absolutely beautifully.

And then I've got to make
quite a complicated corner piece.

I now need to bend that over.

Fabulous. I've soldered this corner
up. I'm going to use silver solder

rather than lead solder.

Lead solder might burst apart,

where silver solder
should stay together.

It's looking good.

With the brasswork completed,
it's back to Will's bench

for the next step.

Brenton has done a fantastic job
with this metalwork.

All I need to do now is glue it on.

There's something nice about working
with hot pearl glue.

It's reversible, which is great
because, if you make any mistakes,

it's kind of...it's a lot easier
to undo and it's what would have

been traditionally used to make
the box as well.

The only downside is
it's rather stinky.

Now I'm going to wait
for the glue to cure.

I've done so much work
on the inside of the box,

it'd be nice to make sure
that the outside looks just as good.

Toy restoration experts Julie
and Amanda have been carefully

mending a 70-year-old doll,

and now they must work together
to rebuild her.

I'm concerned that if we pull
her too tight...

..we're putting tension
on her little composite body,

and the whole thing -

and I've seen it before - the whole
thing is under so much pressure,

that it just sort of pops. Yes.

And we're going to end up with a
broken doll, and we don't want that.

I'm going to pull the tension up.
If you could you do the forceps...

I will.

Well, I've got them tight.
They're not going anywhere.

That's fine,
I can see what I'm doing.

Before I cut the ends off...
We'll test it. Can we test it?

Of course. Got her leg? Yeah.

Better! There you go.

If we can get hold of these elastics
and pull them this way,

will that help her head...

Dum-dum-dum! ..stop rocking?

OK. Do you think that might be
what it is? Ready? Yep.

It's on.

There you go.

So the next big thing is,
does the dress fit?

I was going to say...
And over to you!

The dress is reversible.

We've decided to go with
the pattern side

for her to meet her mum.

But on other days,
when she's feeling like a change,

she can simply turn it through

and have a little lacy version.

It's all ready for Barbara now.
All ready for Barbara, yes.

High five. Good job. Teamwork. Yes.

When Barbara brought Mary
to The Repair Shop,

her paintwork was cracked and
chipped and her limbs were loose.

But hours of careful work
have restored her beauty.

I'm absolutely scared, really,
to go in and see how she looks.

I'm hoping that she looks
as she did,

because it'll bring
the memories back.

And Mary is so important to me
because she's the last

present my father ever gave me,
when I was four years old.

And I'll always treasure her
for that reason.

Welcome back.

Lovely to see you.

How are you feeling?
I'm fine. I'm very well.

I hope we've done you proud.

Are you ready?

Uh, yes and no, but...

Yes. OK.

Oh!

This can't be her. Is it?

Oh, my word.

Oh, oh!

SOFTLY: Oh, my goodness!

It as she was, you know.

You're amazing!
How the devil did you do it?

Look, little nose.

A dress on, a party frock.
Oh, yes. Oh, bless.

I think that's the first thing
I did when I got her,

see if she'd got knickers on.
She had... Look, knickers on.

Her modesty.

She's 71.

She can't look bad. She's looking
really good, isn't she?

Yeah. She is absolutely gorgeous.

I can't thank you enough.

You're so welcome.
You're welcome.

I'll pop her in a box for you.

Oh, bless you, thanks.

To carry her out safely.

Thank you so much. Thank you.

Bye, Barbara. Bye, Barbara.
Thank you.

Bye.

She looked just like she did.

Absolutely gorgeous. And I'm
all welled up inside because

I just couldn't believe
they could do it.

It just all came flooding back.

The last memory of my dad
was at Christmas in 1947,

and that always sticks in my mind

as the last time things
were near enough normal.

But now, seeing her like that,
it just makes everything go OK.

And it'll be a good memory now.

Over on his bench, Will
is applying the finishing touches

to the nautical ditty box.

He has secured the new leather
on the inside panels and has taken

the shine off the new brasswork
so it blends

in with the aged exterior.

The more that I work
on this ditty box,

the more I think about
what it's been through.

I mean, it looks like
it's had such a rough time.

I'm just thinking about 135 years
ago, when the ship sank,

and so many men lost their lives,

and this is one of the only things
that sort

of floated to the surface
and was managed to be saved.

There's so much history
that could have been lost there.

Now that the ditty box is shipshape
again, it's ready to be reunited

with its owner, Gerard.

The ditty box was something
very, very treasured for me

and my family, so the inside
was quite badly damaged.

No writing board any longer
that used to exist.

I hope he will bring it back
to what it could have looked

like when my great-great-grandfather
had it, before he sadly drowned.

Hi there. Hello, Will.
Nice to have you back.

Lovely to see you.

This is it, is it? Yes!

This will be brilliant to see.

Yeah?

Well, let's have a look.
Ready? Yes.

Oh, wow.

That's great.
EMOTIONAL: That is great.

Thank you, Will.

That's all right. Thank you.

Cor, look at that!

That is spectacularly good.

Can I have a look inside?
Please do.

I'll let you open it.

Ah!

HE EXHALES

You all right, mate?

Yeah, yeah.

Just can't believe it.

Gah, Will, you're an artist.
Bless you.

You really are.

So how does this work, Will?

This right here? So these little
leather tabs that open up...

Space for all your photos
and the letters that go back

into. Yeah, yeah.
So, if we turn it around...

If you put your finger
just inside there and you push

through that hole there...

Oh, wow.

Good grief!

I tried for years to find somebody
that could restore this.

And nobody had a clue. But you did.

God. What do you think
your grandfather would think

if he could see the box
in the condition that it is now?

Oh, I think he would have been
as emotional as I was.

This was something very special
to him.

And he had that joy of bringing it
out, you know, and showing family.

I am pleased that I could play
my part in getting this back

to how it would have been
in the beginning and making it

a treasure chest once more.

I couldn't have imagined
you could have ever done

something like this.

Thanks ever so much.
It's been brilliant. Brilliant.

Thank you. Cheers, thanks.
Bye-bye. Bye.

The quality of the workmanship -

way beyond my expectations.

If my grandad was still alive,
he'd have a big grin on his face,

and I'm sure he'd say, "Well done."

Join us next time...

Let me tell you something,
you are... It's cool, isn't it?

..one clever bunny. ..as history
is brought to life...

Oh, lovely! ..in The Repair Shop.