Who would have thought that watching people mend broken and worn-out objects would become an addictive, feel-good experience? That’s the format that The Repair Shop has created, and eight years after the first episode the items keep on rolling in to the famous barn… Ahead of The Repair Shop team’s visit to the Forum this month, Emma Clegg talks to horologist Steve Fletcher.
The Repair Shop, which first launched on our TV screens in 2017, follows an uplifting formula where broken or damaged family heirlooms are restored by a group of skilled craftspeople in a barn in West Sussex. The available specialists encompass furniture restorers, metalworkers, ceramicists, upholsterers, luthiers, paper conservators, experts in music boxes or stained glass windows, soft toy restorers, leatherworkers, hatters, master goldsmiths, and more.
With a fast promotion from BBC2 to BBC1, and the 14th series currently airing, it’s proved not only to be an engaging format but one that has captured the heart of the nation (and beyond, in Australia and Holland). Its success is based on its many connecting strands: it offers a wholesome antidote to throwaway culture and embraces the environmental zeitgeist; it has a deep appreciation of traditional crafts skills and the history of objects; and demonstrates a real sense of the power of family. It also shows the deep emotional connections we have with the things we own that are not shiny and new, which radiate heartfelt memories of those who made them, commissioned them and used them.
Horologist Steve Fletcher is one of the core team at The Repair Shop who has been there from the beginning, along with his sister saddlemaker Susie Fletcher. Often affectionately known as ‘the guy with two spectacles’, he is a watch and clock repairer who works on timepieces and internal mechanisms for the show. On 25 February Steve and a selection of the other specialists are visiting Bath Forum to share their stories from working in the barn and to answer questions from the audience, an exciting prospect for Repair Shop fans.
Steve explains how he got involved: “In 2016 I received an email from a company that I hadn’t heard of asking if I would be interested in taking part in a new show. Thinking it was spam, I nearly deleted it and would have done if my partner, Mel hadn’t stopped me.”
Within a few weeks, Steve was filming in the (now famous) Repair Shop barn within The Weald and Downland Living Museum in Chichester. “I had never done any filming or TV work at all, so I got down there, wide-eyed, not knowing what was going to happen, and I was booked to do a couple of weeks. And it was just amazing. What a fantastic experience – although it was extremely cold in January when we started filming.”
For the viewer the barn comes across as a busy hub of activity, friendship, mutual respect and cooperation, a cross, if you like, between Pa Ingalls’ workshop in Little House on the Prairie and Father Christmas’ hardworking elves in the North Pole. It never looks cold in the barn, despite any frosty January temperatures, because it’s full of smiling, skilled craftspeople eager to help anyone who walks through the doors with a battered, damaged, precious item to be mended.
Steve remembers fondly the very first piece that was shown in the workshop. “It was a clock that was made by someone who was completely blind – he had died, but his daughter brought the clock in, which had been made out of bits and pieces. It was an amazing, amazing device that showed the stages of the moon – it was phenomenal.”
Steve still remembers the impact of that first project. “That first repair was so rewarding, because none of us knew how it was all going to work and we just gelled from day one, all of us just gelled. And we’ve just stayed friends – every time we go down the barn, it’s like meeting old friends.”
Many repairs on the show involve collaboration, as one specialist’s skills often complement another’s. There might be an item with a battered leather strap or a chipped china doll’s head or a warped wheel that will benefit from another specialist’s contribution, so each endeavour becomes a labour of consultation and cooperation, and, crucially, money is never mentioned. “I’m so thankful that we don’t mention money and the value of things, really, because it’s beyond that. It’s better than that. It feels that the real value of what we do is nothing to do with money at all”, says Steve.
Steve runs his own horology business in Oxfordshire and is the third generation in a family of watch and clockmakers. His daughter, Millie, manages the business, while his son, Fred, joined as an apprentice clockmaker in 2020. “I’m really lucky to be in this family trade. I didn’t coerce my son to join us – it was completely his decision, as it was mine, and we’ve got a thriving business with 12 people working doing watch and clock repairs. Many of these are youngsters, and that is so important for me to know that at my ripe old age, I can hand over all those bits of the trade to the next generation.”
This focus on preserving traditional craftsmanship is a theme woven throughout the programme. In 2022, Steve, along with the then host Jay Blades and other specialists, visited Dumfries House in Ayrshire, now owned by the King’s Foundation, to repair pieces from the Royal Collection. There, they met students from the Prince’s Trust (now the King’s Trust), learning skills like stonemasonry and blacksmithing. “It’s so important to pass on these skills. There are fewer and fewer traditional craftspeople, and once they’re gone, the expertise goes with them,” says Steve.
[The Repair Shop] shows the deep emotional connections we have with the things we own that are not shiny and new, which radiate heartfelt memories of those who made them, commissioned them and used them
Although Steve’s expertise is in timepieces, many of his repairs involve mechanisms that aren’t time-based, such as cuckoo clocks or clockwork toys. “I’ve had to learn new skills, but clock and watchmaking involves a range of techniques. It’s not just mechanical; it’s also about finishing and figuring out how all the parts work together, and if there’s something missing, you have to reinvent what you think was there.”
As a child, Steve was fascinated by how things worked. “I was lucky enough to be brought up when there weren’t any computers, and we made our own fun by making things and repairing things. I was always taking things apart, wanting to see how things worked. I was always trying to invent perpetual motion, much to my grandfather and father’s amusement. I’ve always had an inventive mind and have continued to invent my own things.”
This inventiveness extends to Steve’s work on The Repair Shop. Early in the first series, background noise from his microphone became a problem. “My apron rustles when I wear a mic, so I put it inside a pen top and hooked it over my apron. It worked brilliantly.”
Each repair involves around two hours of filming for every minute of TV, and with each piece receiving about eight minutes on screen, a lot of footage is cut. “We don’t film a show the way it’s presented. Each episode is a mix of different items. I might fix a clock one week, and then Dom [Chinea] might repair a car two months later. The two could then be edited together into one show.”
The highlight of each episode is the ‘big reveal’, when the owners return to see their restored items. This is where the real emotional power of the show comes through. Steve admits, “I’m a big softy. It’s so difficult not to get emotional when you see the owners’ reactions. And it’s not just the experts who get emotional; it’s the whole crew of about 25 people. It’s all real, absolutely real.”
Steve emphasises the unique nature of the show: “There’s no other place that does what we do. It’s all about collaboration, and the most enjoyable repairs are the ones where we all work together.”
The Repair Shop Live – Secrets from the Barn is at the Forum on 25 February at 7.30pm where Steve Fletcher, Will Kirk, Lucia Scalisi and The Teddy Bear Ladies – Amanda Middleditch and Julie Tatchell – share heartfelt anecdotes, cherished memories and behind-the-scenes stories from life inside the barn. Tickets £36.50. bathforum.co.uk