The Repair Shop: Fixing Britain

Original version

Simulcast of network BBC Two in high definition.

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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

Simulcast of network BBC One in high definition. From 03/11/2010

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Jay Blades

Paula Fasht

David Sayer

Rob Butterfield

Emma Walsh

Ricochet Limited

The Repair Shop: Fixing Britain: Series 1: Episode 6

Episode 6

BBC One - The Repair Shop: Fixing Britain, Series 1, Episode 6

Jay Blades charts the UK’s spy history through three items restored in the barn.

Jay Blades investigates the UK’s espionage history through eye-opening archive and three items restored in the barn, including a teapot linked to undercover operatives.

Jay Blades uses three recent repairs and some fascinating archive to tell some amazing stories of espionage and undercover operations. 

Francis Suttill had a moving tale to tell about the wartime relic he brought into the Repair Shop. His father was a member of the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War and worked as a secret agent behind German lines, alongside the French Resistance. They did everything from disrupting trains to trying to destroy power plants. It was a dangerous job, and Francis's father was captured and executed by the Germans. Long after the war, Francis managed to track down a metal cell that was used to drop supplies for agents like his dad, and brought it into the barn. Jay uncovers more about the amazing exploits of the SOE, their impact on the war effort and the influence they have had on the modern-day secret service. 

Matthew Brooksbank and his partner Nigel brought in a teapot that belonged to Matthew’s much-loved next-door neighbour Gladys, who told him an astonishing story of operating undercover in Germany to help people persecuted by the Nazis. She was given the teapot by one of the women she helped, but it was broken on a train journey. Jay uses archive footage to tell the fascinating story of undercover operatives like Gladys and how they paved the way for more women agents in the secret service – culminating in the appointment of the first female director-general of MI5.

Finally, a bike owned by Huw Banister's mum, one of the Bletchley Park codebreakers. The cycle’s links to Bletchley Park allow Jay to narrate the story of the undercover work done by the likes of Huw’s mum to help crack German communications and shorten the war.


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The Repair Shop: Fixing Britain

Series 1

Episode 6

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