The Repair Shop returns for its 13th series tonight on BBC One at 8pm, with the team taking on a fire station painting, a Roald Dahl gate, a World War II code-breaking cookbook, and a pair of cowboy boots linked to Elton John.
Ahead of the new series, the programme's experts have revealed some of their most challenging repairs. Horologist Steve Fletcher, a third-generation clock maker, said one of the hardest items he worked on was a clock belonging to King Charles, then Prince of Wales. 'It had been in the hands of so many clock makers and I had to work a way round of getting it going, which was really difficult and huge pressure,' he said.
Upholsterer Sonnaz Nooranvary described repairing a chair once sat in by John F. Kennedy as her most challenging fix. She opted for a conservation approach, saying: 'I didn't know how far to go with it, whether to repair it or conserve it... knowing where that line was between making it stable and conserving it was a really challenging part of that fix.'
Ceramics expert Kirsten Ramsay struggled with a severely damaged alabaster lampshade. The team also tackled a bee garden ornament that Brenton West found difficult to repair.
