The Repair Shop on the Road

Dom and Rich restore a storm-worn memorial in Kirkcudbright before a remembrance service, and Will learns why Lyndsey is at her wits' end trying to clean her prized cast-iron pan.

Will and Dan get a model of the world's only rotating boat lift back up and running, and Dom collects a precious toy that saw its owner through pioneering pre-natal treatment.

Dom hopes to get a tune out of an Edwardian pianola at the world's oldest surviving music hall, while Will and Kirsten team up to make a handmade chess set playable once again.

Dom teams up with carpenter Jen to save a beloved spider slide for a community centre in Dunblane. Can they make it safe for the next generation to enjoy?

In this episode, the experts lend their skills to a community project, hear the story behind a new treasure to be repaired, and visit a local crafting hero. Will and Dom are in Aberfeldy's Crannog Centre, where visitors experience recreations of 5,000-year-old traditional dwellings. After a devastating fire three years ago put the project in jeopardy, thatcher Scott is looking to the future and building a new cookhouse, using traditional techniques and local materials. It could mean big business for the centre and increased opportunities to work with the local community, but creating Iron Age dwellings in the modern age is anything but simple. Will then heads off to Scone Palace, crowning place of Scottish kings, to meet a couple with a family heirloom in need of rescue. It's a handwritten Gaelic piping music book, handed down from Ian's great-grandfather Donald, known as the Hero of Alma after his actions in the Crimean War. Now severely damaged, the music in its brittle pages might be lost forever if bookbinder Chris Shaw cannot bring it back from the brink. Ian will never play the songs it contains, as he has been battling motor neurone disease for the past decade, but he hopes if Chris Shaw is successful, the book can be passed down to his own son, also named Donald in honour of his ancestor. Always in search of a new challenge, Dom joins a Perth-based family business whose handmade sporrans are the perfect accessory to Scotland's famous kilts. It's a critically endangered heritage craft that dates back to the 12th century, and the family is turning to technology to keep up with the challenge faced by cheaper, mass-produced versions made abroad. Dom is always eager to get on the tools, so what will his hosts make of his attempts at leatherworking?

In this episode, the experts lend their skills to a community project, hear the story behind a new treasure to be repaired, and visit a local crafting hero. Will and Dom travel to Devon, and where better to find Daisy, the oversized fibreglass dairy cow lantern? She's been a fixture at Hemyock Light Parade for a decade, but time hasn't been kind to their bovine mascot. She's lost an ear, a couple of hooves, and her body is dirty and cracked. It's going to take some lateral thinking, and the skills of some exciting new experts, if she's to take her place at the head of the parade once again. In Poole, Will meets Ronnie, who has a musical instrument that reached the peak of its popularity in the 1920s and 1930s and which he would like fixed. It's a banjolele that his father, part of the Windrush generation, brought from Jamaica to England. Most famously associated with George Formby, Ronnie's mixture of banjo and ukulele is struggling to play a tune now, suffering from damage to the frets and a loose drum head. They'll need to be fixed before luthier Julyan can even think about starting the cosmetic work required to the veneer. Dom checks in on an old friend in Torquay. He's at Dave Smith's workshop, overlooking the harbour, to try his hand at the lost art of brilliant cutting before turning a newly decorated piece of glass into a Victorian-style mirror. As Dave can boast clients like David Beckham, John Meyer and Disney, it's a rare chance for Dom to get some tips straight from a master craftsman. Fish and chips by the sea are an added bonus.

Carpenter Will and horologist Steve are far from home today, exploring Ayrshire on Scotland's west coast. Their first stop is the Scottish Boat Building School in Irvine, where Tom is waiting with a very unusual vessel. It's a three-piece canoe designed in the 1930s and small enough to fit in the guard's van of a train, which meant tourists could bring their own canoes on holiday in the years before owning a car was commonplace. It represents a different kind of freedom for Tom, though. His achondroplasia means a regular-size canoe is too difficult to manoeuvre. If this folding version can be fixed, he will finally have the freedom to take his daughter out exploring the waterways of Britain. Ayrshire is the birthplace of Scotland's national poet, Robert Burns, and many of the towns and villages in the region can boast strong links to his life and works. So it's no surprise that when Will is called to Barr Castle in Galston, he comes face-to-face with a very special artefact. It's a windowpane with a hand inscription by Robert Burns himself. However, it has suffered some damage in the past, so for decades its current custodians have had it hidden away in a cupboard for safekeeping. With the help of ceramics expert Kirsten Ramsay, they hope to once again put it on display. Fixing glass is notoriously difficult, and Kirsten definitely feels the pressure of getting such an important object looking back to its best. While in the area, Steve takes the chance to visit Kays in Mauchline, who have been crafting curling stones for over 170 years. Using a dense granite quarried from a single Scottish island, these dedicated craftspeople hone stones of unparalleled quality for use in the winter Olympics. Steve gets the chance to help with the process, but will it be gold, silver or bronze for his efforts?

In this episode, the experts lend their skills to a community project, hear the story behind a new treasure to be repaired, and visit a local crafting hero. Joining Dom in the Highlands is Inverness-born traditional building conserver Rich. They are on the way to Nairn Museum, where renovations have revealed some unusual wall decorations – artworks painted directly on the bare walls of the museum's attic. Left behind by Polish soldiers stationed there during World War II, this art will be lost forever if it can't be removed. However, removing century-old plaster is a delicate business, so there is no guarantee the artworks will survive the process. Dom then travels to North Kessock to collect another precious item to be repaired back at the barn. He meets Carole, whose unusual clockwork ship in a glass dome evokes happy memories of childhood holidays in the Wester Ross village of Plockton. However, the paper sea it once sailed on is brittle and torn, and the tune no longer plays. Will David Burville be able to get this family heirloom - handed down from Carole's great-aunt Elsie - making music on the high seas again? While Dom and Rich have their hands full at the museum, Will is in Beauly to meet Alan MacPherson, who has gone from keen shinty player to shinty stick maker. Now producing more than 1,400 shinty sticks each year from his Highland workshop, Alan instructs Will in the intricacies of creating equipment to stand up to the rigors of this hard-fought game. Once the woodwork is over, it is time for Will to test his sporting prowess.

In this episode, the experts lend their skills to a community project, hear the story behind a new treasure to be repaired and visit a local crafting hero. York Minster is one of our most magnificent cathedrals, boasting the world's largest expanse of medieval stained glass. But the stonework of this glorious gothic monument is crumbling away on a daily basis. Will and Dom join the new generation of stonemasons being trained to save it, harnessing modern technology while still using centuries-old skills. Will's Yorkshire odyssey continues in Cawthorne, where Elwin presents him with a huge drum that has been owned by the local marching band since the 1850s. The damaged paintwork, ill-fitting skins and loose cords aren't befitting such a magnificent instrument, so percussion expert Pete Woods takes on the mammoth task of getting it back into a playable condition. Dom heads further south through God's Own Country to visit occasional Repair Shop expert Jonathan Reid in his Sheffield workshop. Here the master putter, or scissor-maker, is keeping the endangered craft of making scissors by hand alive, and he's eager to share some secrets of the trade with his fellow craftsman.

In this episode, the experts lend their skills to a community project, hear the story behind a new treasure to be repaired, and visit a local crafting hero. Will and Kirsten are in Dumfries and Galloway, in the Scottish Borders, to help with a project close to the hearts of the local community. Firefighter Rodger was one of the first responders to the Lockerbie bombing and was tasked with collecting photographs of the event and its aftermath for a report. These photographs have since lain undisturbed in Rodger's attic, and he would now like them collected and preserved in a book for the new memorial centre planned at Tundergarth Kirk. Hoping to get a beloved childhood toy back on track, Will is joined by Scotland-based automata expert Michael. Sheila has brought the pair a clockwork train set that was her father's pride and joy until it was damaged during a fight with Sheila's siblings many years ago. Now, a gummed-up mechanism and twisted tracks mean this is one train that will never run on schedule. However, between Michael's mechanical know-how and Will's paintwork, the train might just be brought back into service. Ceramics expert Kirsten is used to fixing broken jugs and vases but until now has never actually had to make her own. She is in Corsock to learn the secrets behind slipware from potters Doug and Hannah, who are preserving this medieval technique, which uses liquid clay known as slip, to decorate pots, jugs and anything else for the home. However, it's a messy business, so Kirsten's white jacket may not make it through unscathed.

In this episode, the experts lend their skills to a community project, hear the story behind a new treasure to be repaired and visit a local crafting hero. The boys answer a distress call from Swindon, where a plane-shaped bench paying tribute to the town's aviation history is no longer fit to fly. A local woodworking group have taken on the task of fixing it, but they're in need of some assistance from master carpenter Will. Meanwhile, Dom meets Tulsi, who has a Hindu holy scripture passed down from her grandmother that's now so fragile it can't be opened without further damage. It will take every trick in the book if paper conservator Angie is to get this beloved tome back to a state where the family can use it once again. One of the great joys of leaving the barn is the chance for our experts to meet some of the passionate makers around the country keeping heritage crafts alive. And few are as passionate as Chris, who is buzzing to teach Will all about the traditional way of making skeps, surprisingly strong, traditional bee hives made out of willow.

In this episode, the experts lend their skills to a community project, hear the story behind a new treasure to be repaired and visit a local crafting hero.Dom and Lucia are in Scotland's biggest city for one of their biggest, or at least highest, fixes yet. Roof works mean once-in-a-generation access to Glasgow Cathedral's weathervane, so the pair are helping blacksmith Stacey and apprentice Jameel clean and re-gild this iconic cockerel. The medieval building has a storied history, but it definitely predates lifts, so Lucia volunteers to go boldly where no Repair Shop expert has gone before – straight to the top of the 225-foot-high spire.Back on solid ground, Kaming, a member of Glasgow's Hakka Chinese community, has a Chinese unicorn head he hopes Lucia can bring back to life. The fragile bamboo-and-paper mask plays an important part in celebrations and festivities, but years of vigorous dancing have left it tattered and torn, its once-proud horn now held on with sticky tape. As he is the last person, as far as he is aware, who still knows how to do the traditional dance associated with the mask, he hopes having the costume repaired will mean he's able to teach it to future generations before it's lost forever. It's not a simple fix though, as Lucia has to contend with unfamiliar materials and balance her artistic restoration with creating a mask that will stand up structurally to years' more use in the future.As they travel the country, the Repair Shop experts love to meet fellow craftspeople, but it's not all stonemasonry and pottery. There's been a vibrant graffiti scene in Glasgow for decades, and Dom is meeting celebrated street artist Pizzaboy to discover how his large-scale works engage with the local community.

In this episode, the experts lend their skills to a community project, hear the story behind a new treasure to be repaired and visit a local crafting hero.Dom and Mark Stuckey are up in the Black Country, on the lookout for a big red bus. After being used as a mobile shelter by a homelessness charity for a few years, a leaking roof and outdated electrics have combined to keep it off the road. It's a huge fix to take on, in every sense, and the team will need all the help vintage vehicle restorer Mark Owen can provide if they're to get it back into service.In Coventry, Pauline has a curious astrological artefact in need of some repair. It's a celestial projector, once owned by her husband, avid stargazer Alan. Now the light has stopped working, and many of the constellations have worn away, so a little Mark Stuckey magic will be required if it's to light up Pauline's life once again.The siren call of another heritage craft to explore lures Will to a Victorian factory in Ironbridge Gorge. There, encaustic tile expert Chris Cox uses his own secret clay recipe to create hard-wearing works of decorative art that have seen him tasked with restoration work in some of the world's greatest historic buildings, including the Palace of Westminster. What can he teach his new apprentice Will, who is more used to carving wood than getting his hands dirty with pottery?

In this episode, the experts lend their skills to a community project, hear the story behind a new treasure to be repaired and visit a local crafting hero. Will and Kirsten are in Musselburgh, on Scotland's east coast. It's a town boasting a proud heritage that is celebrated each year with a procession led by their elected Honest Lad and Honest Lass. However, for the past few years, the antique carriage these local luminaries ride in has been off the road. Restoring the carriage is a huge job that requires the skills of local signwriter Ross Hastie and wheelwright Greg Rowland, and made more complicated by the impending deadline of this year's festival. It's a bit of a musical mystery when the team are faced with Erica's Stroviol. In the family since the 1930s, it belonged to Erica's father, who was a passionate musician who played in several local groups. The distinctive horn has become detached from this turn-of-the-century musical oddity, so it might take more than just the skills of stringed instrument expert Becky Houghton to get a tune out of it once again. In nearby Edinburgh, Will stops off at Stewart Christie & Co, Scotland's oldest bespoke tailors, to discover how their handmade tweed clothes balance modern demands with century-old techniques. Will gets an insight into every step of the process, from an initial measuring to getting on the scissors himself and cutting out his own waistcoat pattern from the tweed cloth the company built their name on.

In this episode, the experts lend their skills to a community project, hear the story behind a new treasure to be repaired, and visit a local crafting hero.Since 2020, Manchester Town Hall has been undergoing the biggest heritage renovation project in the UK, at a cost of 325 million pounds. Now, Repair Shop horologist Steve Fletcher has been invited to lend a hand getting its huge clock back up and running. So how will he fare on this super-sized fix?Will is in nearby Oldham to pick up a vintage fruit machine that's close to John's heart. Inherited by him after a tragic accident, the mechanism is jammed, the paint scuffed, and he's never seen the lights working. Decades of experience mean game machine expert 'Pinball' Geoff is the perfect man for the job, but it will be a painstaking process getting it to pay out once more.Then it's from the 1970s to the 17th century, as Will gets a crash course in traditional globe-making from man of many talents Jonathan Wright. Blending cartography, carpentry and several other heritage skills, he both restores antique examples and creates brand new globes on commission, making him the perfect teacher to show Will what goes into this delicate work.

In this episode, the experts lend their skills to a community project, hear the story behind a new treasure to be repaired and visit a local crafting hero.Will and Dom visit the south coast, where East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service have an emergency even they aren't trained for. Built decades ago to take part in charity pram races, soapbox racer Babie, modelled on a fire engine, has lost a little lustre, as well as her hose and ladder. And she's gained a good few dents over the years. So the boys enlist the help of the team at Brooklands Aviation and Motoring Museum to get her racing once again, in tribute to the firefighters who originally built her all those years ago.Will's on Brighton Pier to meet PJ, who'd like a memento of his mother brought back to its former glory. It's a very special gnome, one of more than a hundred she collected, but it has broken off its base, with the paint worn and chipped. There's also a mystery piece of rusted metal attached, which Kirsten might need a hand removing before the big repaint can begin.We're staying in Brighton to learn all about neon sign making from a father-and-daughter duo that blend science and art in their colourful creations. Dom's more used to moulding metal than glass, so how will he fare when faced with the delicate task of blowing his own glass?

In this episode, the experts lend their skills to a community project, hear the story behind a new treasure to be repaired, and visit a local crafting hero.Dom and Lucia are in Dundee, where regeneration of the waterfront has sparked change throughout the city. However, in the shadow of the celebrated RSS Discovery, Britain's oldest wooden ship, HMS Unicorn, is moored around the corner and a little neglected. Beloved by many, especially the generations of the Women's Royal Naval Service who trained on it, the 200-year-old vessel is in need of immediate preservation. However, getting it into drydock is a costly operation, so the team are visiting to help with their fundraising efforts. In the past, a fibreglass copy of the unicorn figurehead went on tour to raise awareness of the project, but since it was damaged a decade ago, it has been unable to perform those duties. Despite some recent health troubles, heraldic sculptor Peter is eager to repair the figurehead so that it can go out on its fundraising excursions once again.It's all to play for when Dom picks up a Scotland Schoolboys football cap that holds immense significance for Amanda. It was awarded to her husband Frank, who became a legend at local club Dundee United, playing there for a decade. But after retirement, Frank suffered from vascular dementia, and he would cradle the cap often, a reminder of earlier days. Now the gold brocade is tarnished, and the purple fabric faded, so master hatter Jayesh Vaghela has his work cut out to restore it to how it looked when Frank first held it all those years ago.Lucia trained at the V&A in London, but this is her chance to visit to the Dundee branch of the celebrated art and design museum. She is there to learn about their restoration of a lost Charles Rennie Mackintosh-designed interior. Originally in Miss Cranston's Ingram Street Tearooms inGlasgow, the interior was painstakingly moved and rebuilt in Dundee. Bringing a work like this out of storage and back to the public is a conservator's dream, and Lucia can't wait to hear all about it.

In this episode, the experts lend their skills to a community project, hear the story behind a new treasure to be repaired, and visit a local crafting hero.We head off to the North East, where Will and Suzie unearth a true hidden gem, one of the few theatres in the country to have retained its original Victorian stage machinery. After a devastating fire, this decades-long restoration project is nearing completion, so our resident master carpenter is going to lend a hand getting the various traps and lifts under the stage ready for their big debut.In Northumberland, Suzie is meeting Anoop to pick up a backpack she'll take down to the barn to restore. It's not just any bag though - it's an emotionally charged reminder of his mother, who sent it as a gift after he had to flee apartheid South Africa. Anoop has travelled the world with this special bag, and it's starting to show its age, so will Suzie's repairs to the lining and new straps make it fit to travel once again?While in the north, woodworker Will stops by to get some tips and training from marquetry artist and restorer Victoria Walpole. It's delicate and sometimes dangerous work, involving small slivers of wood and an extremely sharp saw or scalpel, but in the hands of a master like Victoria, can yield stunning results.