There aren’t any Bafta awards for “the nicest show on television”, but there jolly well ought to be, so that The Repair Shop receives its proper recognition each and every year. You can keep your moving dramas, searing social documentaries and World Cup finals, because there’s only one TV show guaranteed to get the audience weeping at full capacity, and especially at this emotionally charged time of year. They should probably rename it “There Will Be Tears”.
Ostensibly, the show is about dedicated craftspeople doing up bits of, frankly, tat and junk to no great commercial purpose. In contrast to the rather mercenary undercurrents on the Antiques Roadshow or all those daytime programmes featuring David Dickinson and a wad of tenners, there’s no snidey valuations “for insurance proposes, of course” and no possibility that deeply loved family heirlooms are quietly being prepared for auction to help pay for a new kitchen. Quite the opposite, in fact. This is all about sentimental value, and also about more than the restoration and renovation of material things. The Repair Shop really specialises in mending broken hearts, and melting the ones of those watching at home. Awwww.
