05x30 - World w*r II Mascot Doll

[bunniefuu]

It's in a bit of a sorry state.

..are restored to their
former glory.

Only another 40 parts to go.

Furniture restorer Jay Blades...

Now that... It's good, isn't it?

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

to just keep things going.

..and a dream team of expert
craftspeople...

Tiny piece. Oh, amazing!
That's the edge!

Welcome to the 21st century.

Yes!

..employing heritage craft skills
passed down the generations...

It's my duty to make sure
that this all goes back

in working order.

..preserving irreplaceable
heirlooms.

We're all going to go now.

Here we go!

Ah!

The team will restore the items...

..the memories...

Very good!

..and unlock the stories
that they hold.

It's touched my heart.

It's amazing.

In The Repair Shop today...

..Will shows off his exceptional
skills...

There's a chance it could all just
fall into a million pieces.

..on an X-shaped chair that's
riddled with woodworm...

Lovely. Look at that.

It's like extracting a bad tooth.

They look a bit like a bunch of
sausages at the moment.

..getting a wartime mascot
fighting fit again.

It's a painstaking job,

and something you just can't rush.

But first, from County Antrim in
Northern Ireland, Carl McKeating.

He's brought a piece of
family history

for precious metal expert
Brenton West.

How are we doing? Hiya. Very well.
All right?

I'm Jay. Carl. All right, Carl?
Pleased to meet you.

Likewise. Brenton. Carl. Hi.

All right, let's start to get
these out, then.

What is it? It's a chess set based
on the American Revolutionary w*r.

OK. So how come you've got this,
then? Well, back in 1976...

'76, yeah. Yeah, so three days after
I was born, my dad,

on the way to the hospital, was on
a motorbike. Right.

He lost his leg? He did.

Out of that, he got a bit of
compensation

and he went and blew most of it
on this chess set.

Mum wasn't too happy about it.

Oh, really? But he loved chess.

Wanted to teach us how to
play chess -

young family, end of the '70s,
early '80s.

And he comes home with
a chess set. Yeah.

Wow! He's a brave man! Yeah.

I couldn't do that. Woo-hoo-hoo!

So who taught your dad how to play
chess? It would've been his dad.

Him and his brothers all played
chess, and he's passed that down

to myself and my other brothers.

And that's followed on to
my two boys.

Oh, you've taught them? Yeah.
They know how to play chess as well.

So, we're keeping it alive.

So, how did the pieces end up in
this state that they're in now?

Well, I used them as toy soldiers.
Did you?

And crashed them against each other
and broke some of the pieces,

and lost some other pieces.

With the likes of the cannons
and so on, they're missing.

You're the reason why it's like
this. Hands up. Hands up. Yeah. OK.

Fair play. And it was just literally
packed into a box

at the back of the cupboard
and it was never seen again. OK.

And then one day, I'd pulled it out

and sort of went, "God, what's
this?" not remembering what it was.

And he told me the whole
background of it.

Did he say to you,
"You've done this to this"?

Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. "It's all your fault."

So how did you feel when you saw
this chess set, then?

And your dad told you the story?
Erm, guilty. You felt guilty?

Yeah, definitely guilty. I says,
"Right, I'll take it off you.

"We'll see if we can get it fixed."
OK.

And, unfortunately, he passed away
back in 2008,

so that promise has sort of
stayed there.

Having that promise there and not
being able to do it

while he was still alive...

I think if I was able to at least
go back to Mum and go,

"It wasn't a complete..."

"..total waste of money back then,"

it would account for something.

It's good quality, that is.
What do you think, Brenton?

Yeah. Well, it's pewter, I think.
Are they pewter? Yeah.

Yeah. They're really nice.

The trouble is, they snap quite
easily, don't they? They do.

As you can see from this little
fella here,

he's come apart from the base.
Oh, his feet are gone.

This is one of the more difficult
challenges I've been set, I think.

I totally agree with you.

There is a lot to do there,
isn't there? Yeah.

All I can say is I'm sure Brenton's
going to do his magic on this.

Jay, thank you. Thank you.
All right. We'll be in contact.

Brenton, lovely to meet you. Cheers.
All right. Take care. Bye.

Bye-bye.

I've been feeling guilty about
the chess set for roughly about


at the back of the wardrobe.

And my dad, at points whenever
we talked about chess

or played chess, he would always
mention that it was my fault

that I broke the chess set.

Having it completed would definitely
take some of that guilt away.

It's just, there's so much to do.

Tell me what you've got to do,
then. OK.

I've got to put this chap
back on his feet.

Yeah, put him back on his feet
again.

And basically get it
all back together.

Listen, you don't
have to worry about the painting.

I'll have a word with Lucia and see
if she can... That's a good idea.

..do a little touching up.
That'd be helpful. OK.

Can't have you worried. No, no.
Thank you. All right.

Well, we've just got to take them
over to your area now. OK.

Let's march on, then. March on.

That was a good one.

Almost every one of the 32 pieces
of this chess set needs repair.

And Brenton's tackling
the easiest job first.

The simplest thing I've got to do
is to reattach these ones

that have come unglued
from their bases.

So I'm just scratching the bottom
of this to help the glue

to stick better.

My brother used to always beat me,

and then I taught my sons.

Next to arrive are Danielle and her
partner Gilli from East London.

They've brought a well-travelled
and well-loved artefact

for the expert attention of
furniture restorer Will Kirk.

Hey there. Hi. Hi.

I can't shake your hand.
Nice to meet you.

What on Earth is this?

This is my great-grandmother's
Syrian armchair.

A chair? It's a folding chair.
Doesn't look like a chair to me.

It goes something like...
Oh, I see. ..this.

Oh. Slide that back. And then
the arms fit...

..over here and the back actually
sits on the arms like that.

I can see there's... Oh, gosh.

There's a lot of broken pieces. Yes.

It's done a lot of travelling,
this chair.

Where has it been?

Well, it's a story about
Jewish migration.

her husband in Marseilles.

That would've been about the turn
of the century.

So that was your great-grandmother?
Great-grandmother.

And her name was...? Elfriede.

Elfriede. Yes.

And, eventually, Hitler was
in power.

And in the kind of late '30s, it was
getting more and more difficult

to live in France, so she
and the rest of family

moved to Morocco, to Casablanca,
where they lived for 50 years.

OK. And so, the chair followed my
great-grandmother to Casablanca.

Gosh, it's really been around. Yes.

So this chair...
So, Morocco became home?

And so, as a result, I was very
close to my grandmother.

It's really tough to lose your mum
at ten. It was very difficult.

It was very difficult. But I was
surrounded by

this very loving family,
and I suppose that, you know,

that saved me. And I can still hold
on to Morocco

as this idyllic childhood.

It's still a really important
part of me.

And that's why this chair is so
important to me,

because that represents that part of
my childhood. A happy time.

A happy time, yeah. Yeah.

Well, it has definitely had
a bit of a journey.

It has quite a history to it.
And, you know, I can see

my great-grandmother sitting
in this chair.

The chair stayed in Morocco until
after my great-grandmother died.

And then my grandmother and my aunt
passed away.

So it came to London.

It's really nice that it sort of
stayed down the female line

kind of wrapped up. It's been
sitting like that for...

In the cellar. ..quite a long time.

It's been in the cellar.
It's been in the cellar.

For how long, would you say?
Ten years.

Well, looking at this now, I mean,
even feeling that piece of wood...

Yes. It feels lighter than
it should. Yes.

And that shows that hungry
woodworms from either Morocco

or France... Or Syria. ..or Syria
have chewed their way through that!

See you very soon. OK.

Thanks, Will. Bye. Bye-bye.

This chair represents my childhood,

my loving family,
and I want to hold on to it.

It would mean everything
to have a bit of my family history

living with me. A bit of my
childhood living with me.

This chair has seen better days.
There's more woodworm holes

than there is wood. It's looking
more like Swiss cheese than a chair.

The fact is they've really gone
to town on a lot of these joints

here, and that's where all
the glue would have been,

so I think that the glue
might have attracted them.

They've had a nibble around there,

and all the joints have pretty much
broken off.

The way that this chair works,

this X frame chair, it's made of
loads of slats and they will take

the weight of the person
sitting on the chair.

And once a few of those have broken,

it puts more stress
on the surviving pieces.

There are two of these slats here
that have been broken at some point

But first of all, I need to get
this chair apart.

Then I can look at each
individual broken slat

and work out my plan of action.

Also attacking his assignment
with military precision, Brenton.

He's setting about getting
the broken-legged soldier

standing to attention again.

Just drilled the feet of the poor
soldier who is broken,

and I've drilled his legs, and I'm
now going to put some little pins

in his feet, and these just will
strengthen up the joint

OK, so I push that on there,

and I think that soldier
will stand by himself.

Of course, that's not going to be
strong enough to play chess with,

but it is strong enough to hold it
in position while I solder it.

Now I'm going to use a very low
melting temperature solder

on this because this is pewter,
which itself melts

at a very low temperature,

and I don't want to mess it up,

so I'm just going to be
really, really careful.

Wow, that's gone really,
really, really...

..really, really well.

It looks fantastic.

Put that with the rest of the chaps.

Brenton's next move is to replace
the broken cannons

that represent the rooks.

For this, he's going to use
a process called sand casting,

a method dating back hundreds
of years -

so widespread at one time,

Ford Motors used it for
the production

of millions of car parts.

I've removed the barrel
of the cannon,

and I'm going to cast it
in two pieces and then put

the cannon back together, and that's
how it was originally made.

So...

..what I do is I fill this bottom
container with the sand.

Then we hit this in here.

This sand is slightly greasy.

It's mixed with some sort of oil,

and that holds the sand together,
binds the sand together.

It's a very fine sand
and allows it to hold a shape

when you push a shape into it.

So the reason I'm hitting
this is to make it

really compact so that
there's no gaps

when I push the item I wish
to cast into it.

So I'm going to have a go
at the barrel first.

So I push the barrel halfway
into the sand.

So I've got to put something on
there to stop it sticking,

and what one normally uses
is some sort of chalk dust.

So I'm now going to put
the top half of the mould on.

Right, now is the moment of truth.

So I'm just separating the two
halves of the mould now

so I can remove the cannon.

I've got to be really careful
doing this.

I don't want to disturb the sand,
otherwise I'll have to do it again.

That's it, it's come out
really nicely.

And then I can make a hole
in the top half of the mould

to allow the pewter to come in.

Now I've got to heat some pewter up
and pour that in there.

And this needs to be flowing
so it'll pour down into the mould,

hopefully recreating the shape
of a cannon.

So, I really like watching
the molten metal set,

and it goes from that shiny
sort of mercury look

to like a lake freezing over,

and it happens really quickly.
It's pretty cool, isn't it?

And when it goes cloudy
and crystalline-looking, it's set.

So we've got a cannon in there.

Yeah, I'm really pleased with that.

So I've got to make another two
of those barrels

and then I've got
to make three carriages.

Once these are all painted up,
you won't be able to tell

the original cannon
from my three cannons.

Brenton may be winning with
the chess set,

but new items are constantly
arriving.

Geoffrey Holdsworth and his daughter
Sara are here to see toy restorers

Amanda Middleditch
and Julie Tatchell

with a special something

that's been a part of Geoffrey's
life from a very early age.

Hello. How are we doing?

Very well. Welcome.

Hi, Jay. So what's in the box, then?

Can we get it out? Yeah.

It's Tommy. He's a bit worse
for the wear but he was a soldier.

He still is a soldier!
He still is a soldier, yeah.

Still is! Mm!
Tell us about Tommy, then.

Well, the first time I saw him,
I was only about three years old

or even maybe less than that.

I was woken one dark night - it was
in the middle of a blackout.

Right. And it was my father.

I'd never seen him before. Oh!

He went away just after you were
born, didn't he? Oh, yes, yeah.

And brought him Tommy.

Tommy represents the first time
that he saw his dad. Right.

And not many people can say that.

Yeah. I think it does mean
a lot to him.

So Tommy's been with you
for a very long time, then?

All my life.

I've never been without him,

except when Sara and her sister
came along

and they played with him
incessantly, as you can see.

Oh, OK. Yeah.

Who's responsible for writing
"Tommy"? That's my sister.

That's her sister, Linda.

That's because she's not here
and you can say that. Yeah!

And she did the stitching as well.

Yeah. OK.

And he did... I think he used to
have a bright red nose, but she's

put some pearlescent nail
varnish on him.

Oh, that's what it is! That's why.
OK.

He did have hands at one time
so she painted his nails as well,

but they've long since gone.
I'm sure he loved that!

Who owns Tommy now, then?
Who does Tommy belong to?

He's lived at the bottom
of the wardrobe...

Well, since you were very small.
Yeah. OK.

My wife doesn't like him.

She thinks he's creepy.

But he doesn't mind!
He's still smiling. Look at that.

But you know why he's smiling
like that?

It was the joy of being liberated.

Because they were rejoicing...
They were happy.

..their liberation.

The British soldiers were
called Tommies. Yes.

That's the kind of name that they
were given.

That's where the name Tommy doll
comes from.

That might change her
opinion. I hope so!

He is absolutely lovely,
and this is all original.

Yeah, it is. Why have you kept it?
It just reminds me of my dad.

They are. Yeah, he was
a great fella.

So, what would you like the ladies
to do to Tommy, then?

Let's get him fit for action again.

Back on parade.
Back on parade, yeah?

Back on parade, wow.

We'll do our very, very best.

Thank you for bringing Tommy in.
Thanks so much.

Bye-bye. Take care. Bye-bye.

Tommy's been part of my life
for all of my life,

so I'm just hoping he's going
to remember me when he returns.

He's really rather gorgeous,

but he's obviously got
quite some issues.

So we're going to split the work,

so you're going to do head
and hands... Yeah, OK.

..and I'm going to do the fabric
work. Yeah, all right.

Shall I do the first
delicate snip?

Yes.

I'm actually excited. Are you?

Yeah!

My main thing I want to do here
is get this head off for Julie.

Then I can spend absolutely ages
working at getting all this off

without causing it any damage.

Here we go.

Oh, my word! Look at the colour
he would've been.

I love him. He is adorable.

So I'll get on with this
and leave you mulling over his head!

I'll just sit and look at his head,
shall I? While you're doing that.

Now I've got Tommy's head
in my hands, I can start to clean.

I can't begin to explain
how exciting it is

when the cotton bud comes up
so mucky.

Look at that. Wow!

Isn't that wonderful?

Makes you want to do a little
woohoo, doesn't it?

It's going to take years off him,
isn't it?

Wood restorer Will is battling
with his own historic task,

saving as many of the fragile 33
pieces of the woodworm-ridden chair

as his skills can muster.

So I'm just tapping this pole out
as gently as I can

because I don't know how damaged
those bits are on the inside.

I don't want to rush and take
everything out all at once

and too quickly
because there's a chance

it could all just fall
into a million pieces.

Lovely. Look at that.

Like extracting a bad tooth!

Now you can see how that glued
slat is seriously wobbly.

That dust is woodworm dust.

It might be old dust, but I think
on the inside

of a lot of these slats,
they're really damaged.

And just how damaged,
I'm not too sure yet.

Is it beyond repair?
I just don't know.

I'm going to get this further apart
to be able to find out.

You can actually see on the inside
how bad the woodworm is.

And it feels really spongy as well.

Such extensive internal damage
to the wood means the chair

will never safely support
the weight of a sitter,

but Will can make it look as
beautiful as when it was first made.

so I'm going to use some wood
hardener... Soak everything.

Once it's hard again,
then I can get a nice glue bond

between the broken pieces.

This classic X-shaped design
was in use as far back

during the Italian Renaissance

and its clever design led to its
nickname -

the scissors chair.

All of that soft, crumbling wood
is now hard

so what I intend to do is glue
this together temporarily

in order to keep the lovely shape.

Then I can splice on
two new pieces of wood.

They will act as sort of two
splints and give the slat

the strength that it really needs.

I need to chisel out all
that waste wood there.

I can see that there's quite a lot
of woodworm damage on the inside.

So now that I've replaced all the
damaged, chewed-up wood

on the inside of the slats
with this lovely new wood,

the next thing I need to do

is replace these damaged joints
on the end.

So what I'm going to do now is cut
out a small gap on the end there.

Then I can set in a new piece
of wood.

Lovely, it's a nice, tight fit
there.

The only downside is I've got
another 31 of these to do.

This chair has had the worst case
of woodworm or termites.

There's more holes than actual wood,
yeah,

but the more work that I've done
now, with all the patching

and the repairs, I put that
strength back into the wood.

I'm so happy to see this coming
together now

cos it's taken me absolutely ages.

The last thing I need to do
before reassembly is fill some

of these woodworm holes.

so you have this sort of paste
in the beginning.

You mix that with the hardener.

This is quite a light colour,
and the wood is brown,

so I'm going to add a tiny bit
of brown pigment into the mix.

And that means when everything
is sanded back and polished,

all those woodworm holes won't
stand out as much

as they would do
if I left this white.

I remember many years ago filling
woodworm holes with a light filler.

Then, when you come to polishing,
you've got thousands of white dots.

Then you have to go round with
a tiny brush with brown pigment

and paint them all out.
It's an absolute nightmare.

I'm just using this spatula to
make sure that I get as much

of the filler into the hole
as I can.

It's pointless me just putting it
on the surface

and a really thin amount
sitting on the top,

because when it comes to sanding,
that will then be sanded back.

Then you're left with a bare
hole again.

I want to make sure that everything
is flawless.

When this chair goes back together,

the thought of woodworm holes
is a distant memory.

Lovely. That's lovely and smooth.

Everything's been filled,
sanded back,

and now it's ready for polishing.

Well, that's the final slat
waxed and buffed up.

All I have to do now
is stick everything back together.

the pewter w*r of Independence
chess set,

Brenton has left the next move
to fine art restorer Lucia Scalisi.

It'll be her job to repaint

the opposing sides' British
or American uniforms.

I'm going to start painting
this carriage on the American side.

So this is the one that Brenton
rebuilt.

So the innards of the wheel
or the spokes are a dark blue.

The undercarriage is going
to be dark blue,

and then this wheel
I'll start from scratch.

So the blue I'm going to use is one
of my favourite blues,

phthalocyanine, and I'm going
to mix that with a black.

So that's a little bit dark,

so I think let's try putting
a bit of white in

and see what happens.
The white should bring out the blue.

Yeah, that's actually not bad.

I'm using acrylic paint
because it has a good bond

to the surface, and it has a very
nice finish, and it dries quickly,

which means I can work
quite quickly.

Acrylics are modern materials.
They were invented in the States

and British artists picked up
on them.

It changed the way artists painted
forever.

It was a revolutionary thing,
and I think it was David Hockney

that said, "When I painted in oils,

"I could maybe do one painting every
few weeks,"

because you have to keep
waiting for paint to dry.

"Whereas acrylics, you can knock
a painting off in a day."

That's the initial coat on there.
So far, so good.

I'm going to go into battle,
armed with my paints.

Although they're all pressed
out of the same mould,

they've each got their own little
tiny characteristics.

How's it going? Are you bored yet?

You've done a lovely job of these.

Well, thank you. So have you,
Brenton. How are you doing, guys?

Hi! Ooh! Look what I got for Carl.

Obviously, we can't give
it back to him without a board

because it's a chess set,
isn't it?

Oh, that's wonderful.
He'll be made up with that.

These are really good.
You guys have done a brilliant job.

Back to collect his dad's
heirloom is Carl,

who broke the beloved chess set
nearly 40 years ago,

and had been unable
to keep his promise to fix it.

The chess set's important to me
because it belonged to my father.

He brought it back in the '70s

and part of a promise I made
to him before he passed away

that I would get it fixed,

so that's why I'm...
That's why I'm here.

Hi, Carl. How are you, sir?
You all right?

I'm very well, are you?
Nice to see you.

Hi, Brenton, how are you? All right.
How are you feeling?

I'm feeling nervous.

What are you hoping to see
underneath the box?

I'd love for it to be playable. OK.

That would be fantastic, yeah.
Right.

We're excited to see
what you think about this. OK.

Ready? Yeah. Go ahead.

It's amazing, thank you.

Silence says it all, mate.

Yeah, my dad would be happy.
Yeah? Yeah, he would be, aye.

It's amazing the work yous have
done. It definitely is.

I wasn't expecting this,

so thank you very much. Yeah.

So you've carried guilt with
this for quite a long time,

so does it feel like the weight

thank you - erm, yeah, I can
move on a wee bit now. Yeah?

Yeah. And start to enjoy
the chess set more. Good.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

I wasn't expecting it to be
as complete as it was.

All I could think of was my dad
and what he would have said.

Yeah, it's just been
a long time coming,

and now that it's done,
I can put that to bed now.

Meanwhile, another little soldier
is on the mend.

Second World w*r liberation mascot
Tommy has been stripped

of his army uniform.

I think I drew the short
straw on this one.

There's an awful lot to do here.

I've realised there's a lot
more damage than I thought.

Underneath Tommy's uniform,
the fabric is so thin,

you could sh**t peas through it,
to be honest!

So we can't possibly put his head,
which is quite heavy,

back onto this body.
So I'm just going to carry on

unpicking now, and then I'll get
all of this washed.

He's definitely been through
the wars! Absolutely.

Julie's next task is to get some
colour back to his faded face.

It's quite surprising what colours
you have to put in

to make the colour that you require.

Looking at Tommy's hat, we're going
to require a little bit of yellow.

I've never been very good at drawing
or anything like that,

but I think that whole sort of

getting excited about spectrums
of colour...

It's quite strange, the things
we get excited about, actually.

I'm really pleased with
how Tommy doll's face is.

And I'm literally just finishing

the detail on his nose,
then he'll be done.

Meanwhile, Amanda has the mammoth
task of lining all the body parts,

and then the uniform.

Really happy that we decided
to clean this and line it,

because it's feeling
so much stronger.

To make his hands,
I'm using an epoxy putty.

I have done a little bit
of research,

they were quite cartoon-like.

They look a bit like a bunch
of sausages at the moment.

While Tommy's new hands dry,

Julie can help out Amanda
with his threadbare uniform.

So, now all the lining is done,
I'm dealing with the jacket.

Julie's dealing with the trousers.

We could have taken the easy route
here and make him a new uniform,

but we're going to do
everything we can

to preserve his original uniform.

We now have the long task
of darning and repairing

all these little tiny holes.

We have to use a very fine thread
cos it's a fine cotton.

Fine needle.
A lot of strain on the eyes.

It's a painstaking job,
and something you just can't rush.

Across the workshop, Will has been
truly tested by the Syrian chair,

with every inch of its frail timber
needing attention.

I've a slight concern

that everything's really going to go
back into place.

Some of the bits of wood
are actually quite twisted.

But so far, so good.

The structure looks great.

And, hopefully, it should just
be a case now

of me glueing the ends
and sticking them on.

Hopefully, the top armrest
should slip in quite easily.

But for owner, Danielle, it
symbolised the incredible journey

generations of her family undertook.

Now she and her partner Julie
have returned to see it

in all its newly-restored,
elegant beauty.

The chair belonged to my great
grandmother, who I grew up with.

It's important because
it's part of my childhood.

It's part of my memories of her.
And it's...

You know, everybody in my family,
when you mention this chair,

know that it belonged to Elfriede.

And I'm just hoping that
it's as I remember it.

Hello, there. Hi! Hi! Nice to see
you again, Will. Lovely to see you.

Hiya. You OK? I'm Jay.
You OK? Nice to meet you.

So, how are you feeling? Ooh!

Oh, I'm really anxious!

Um... So, do you remember

what state the chair was in
when it first came in?

It was in a terrible state. Yeah.

Couldn't even stand up. Stand up.

Yeah. It was really...

It was all splintered. Yeah.
You know, like ribs.

What are you hoping to see?
Hoping to see my chair intact.

And just... Yeah, just really
excited to see it standing.

Well, I'm excited to see
what you think of the chair.

Shall we see the fruits
of my labour? Yes!

Yes, please!

Oh, my God!

Oh! Oh, that is so beautiful!
Beautiful! Oh, I love it!

Oh! It's beautiful.
It's just as it was.

I was able to save
most of the wood.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And this was...
I remember that was chipped,

and that was... Splintered. ..split.

Splintered, yeah. It's gorgeous!
I remember it like this.

I remember it this colour.
It's beautiful!

So, this is the colour it was
originally, then? Yes, yes.

And I used to sit in it
and play with this.

That's wonderful! Thank you so much!

I love it! It's brilliant.
It's wonderful!

What you could see on the outside
is not reflected on the inside.

The inside was even worse.

So you covered all the woodworm
holes. Inside the wood.

What would your great-grandmother
think of this chair now?

She'd be really thrilled
that it was still around

and that it was in the family.

Yeah? I think she'd be thrilled,
yeah.

Yeah. I am. Thank you.

You have done an amazing job.

I'm really grateful. Yeah.

We'll give you a hand getting it out
to the car. Is that all right?

Thank you very much. Thank you
for bringing it in. Thank you.

Thanks so much. Thank you.
Is that all right?

Thanks, Will. Cool.

When I first saw the chair again,
I realised,

oh, yes, this is what it used
to look like.

This is what, you know, the colour
was, this is how shiny it was.

Takes me back to Morocco,
when I was a young person, a child,

and seeing my great-grandmother
sitting in it.

I love the chair.

It's going to sit in our living room
looking beautiful.

Toy restorers Julie and Amanda

are winning the battle to get
Tommy doll fighting fit again.

All done, looking good.
Yep, nearly there.

I'm just popping a little bit more
stuffing in his arm.

Everything's now lined and strong.

Julie's made him
a lovely pair of hands,

we've got his head all painted.

So it's just time to put it
all together now.

High five?
Yeah. A little high five there.

In it goes. Thumb to the front.

You little masterpiece!

What a difference a couple
of hands make.

What next - legs or head?

Legs. Legs. For sure.

Just wiggle.

He's going to be a fine figure
of a man!

Oh, he is! But he needs a head.

Well, funny you should say that...
Ha-ha!

Da-da! Da-da!

Aw! It's your moment, Tommy!

So I think he's looking
quite pleased. There he is!

He looks fab. Well done.
He does, doesn't he? Yeah. Yeah.

Just needs his uniform now.

Finally, after HOURS

and hours of darning,

I'm dressing him!

They fit! Yes! Woohoo!

Here we go.

So happy. Yeah.

Tommy can now be returned to owner
Geoffrey,

who, accompanied by daughter Sara,

is keen to see if the gift
from his veteran father

is once again fit for
active service.

We don't expect it to be pristine,
by any means,

but just a little bit better
than it was.

You're nervous, aren't you?
I certainly am.

We're just really looking forward
to seeing what's happened to him.

Hello! Welcome back!

It doesn't seem like yesterday.
Hello!

I bet you felt a bit strange
without Tommy.

A bit of a mess, wasn't he? Yeah.

So, would you like to see
what he looks like now?

We'd love to see him. Yes, please.

Can't wait. Are you ready?
Yes. Yes. OK.

Very exciting.

Ha! Oh, my days! Hands!

Here he is. And he's got his smile
back again. Wow! Wahey!

That's my boy! Oh, my days!

Oh, good! Yeah.

Look at him!
Oh, he's got a red nose now.

Yes.

Now the varnish has gone. Wow!

Look at that! Look at those hands!

Where'd you get the hands from?
I made them.

Wow! Really? Yes.

Good grief! Ah!

He should feel a lot stronger now.

He's all lined right through.

Oh, he does feel more solid,
doesn't he? Yeah, yeah. Wow!

That is amazing! Yeah.

Look how clean he is, too.
You can see his things now.

He certainly wasn't that clean
when he came in! No!

And we've been able to preserve
the original uniform.

That's beautiful.

I can't thank you enough,
both of you.

You're just so welcome. It's been
a pleasure. You're so talented.

Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

Bye-bye, Tom. Bye, Tommy!
Bye, Tommy!

It's given Tommy back to my dad,

as he should have
been before we broke him.

Tommy's looking good.

He's smiling again.

Hands. Yeah.

Having Tommy back,
it's like having my dad back.

Join us next time...

Oh, my word, this is really
well broken!

..for more extraordinary
metamorphoses...

..in The Repair Shop.