The Repair Shop: Fixing Britain

Original version

BBC One West Midlands

Factual: Antiques

Jay Blades delves into the stories behind the items restored in the Repair Shop.

Jay Blades delves into the stories behind the items restored in the Repair Shop, and finds out more about the show's team of craft experts.

Series 1

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Jay Blades

Paula Fasht

David Sayer

Rob Butterfield

Emma Walsh

Ricochet Limited

The Repair Shop: Fixing Britain: Series 1: Episode 5

Episode 5

BBC One - The Repair Shop: Fixing Britain, Series 1, Episode 5

Jay Blades shows how three repairs reflect the changing face of rural life in the UK.

Jay Blades uses three repairs – a butter churn, spinning wheel and a set of ploughing trophies – and some fascinating archive to trace the changing face of rural life in the UK.

Jay Blades uses three recent repairs and some fascinating archive to trace the changing face of rural life in the UK.

The first item is a spinning wheel that once belonged to Christine's great-aunt in the Shetland Islands. Christine can remember collecting wool that had snagged on fences for her great-aunt to spin, and she would love the wheel to be working again. Jay unearths some fascinating archive that tells the story of the spinning wheel and how its role has changed between the Industrial Revolution and the present day. 

Next is Carolyn and her partner Karl's butter churn, which Carolyn's family used to churn butter by hand. The repair required expert help from master cooper Alastair Simms, one of the country’s last remaining experts in making and fixing wooden barrels. Jay reveals the amazing history of the butter churn and how it gave birth to the store cupboard staple that we continue to enjoy to this day. He also discovers some eye-opening footage about the ancient initiation rituals in the world of coopers. 

Finally siblings Liz and Sam brought in three trophies that their father won when he became world champion at tractor ploughing back in the 1950s. Jay tells the 4,000-year history of the plough and how this important farming implement developed over the centuries, culminating in the invention of the kinds of tractors that Liz and Sam’s father drove to ploughing championship glory.

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