Back with a BAFTA!

JAY BLADES, KIRSTEN RAMSAY and DAVID BURVILLE on their big win and a summer of specials in the workshop of dreams...

THE REPAIR SHOP
WEDNESDAY, 8PM, BBC1 FACTUAL

Jay Blades has a smile for everyone walking into The Repair Shop barn, but TV Times is treated to a megawatt beam as he chats about the hit BBC1 restoration show’s recent triumph at the BAFTA TV Awards.

‘It felt amazing when our name was announced. I never anticipated that we’d actually win,’ says the popular frontman about special edition A Royal Visit scooping the Daytime gong at the prestigious event, held on 14 May at London’s Royal Festival Hall.

A jewel in the crown of the BBC’s centenary celebrations last year, the episode saw Jay, along with ceramics expert Kirsten Ramsay, horologist Steve Fletcher and furniture restorer Will Kirk, invited to Dumfries House in Scotland in the autumn of 2021 to meet King Charles III – then Prince Charles – to hear about The Prince’s Foundation’s work to train the next generation of craftspeople.

‘It was surreal meeting the then-Prince of Wales. You’ve got someone like me from an estate and someone like him from a royal estate – normally the two don’t mix! But we got on like a house on fire,’ smiles Jay. ‘To have won an actual BAFTA is an honour for the whole team. We’re over the moon!’

Deservedly thrilled, there’s no rest in the workshop of dreams as the much-loved team of experts are back this week to help restore more irreplaceable treasures.

With four new peak-time episodes, including two specials marking the 75th anniversaries of the Empire Windrush’s arrival to the UK and the birth of the NHS, we ask Kirsten and organ restorer David Burville what to expect…