Christmas is a time of joy, and even more so for Jay Blades this year. The Repair Shop host recently married his fiancée, fitness trainer Lisa Zbozen, in a beach ceremony in Barbados.
And as the father-of-three returns from honeymoon to The Repair Shop in a Boxing Day Christmas special, Jay tells us, ‘I’m feeling fabulous – really, really good.’
So he should be, given how brilliantly his personal and professional lives are going. He’s the beating heart of BBC1’s The Repair Shop, which has carved out a special place in our affections.
Not only is it back for a fifth Christmas special, but in March the workshop was visited by Dame Judi Dench and French and Saunders for a Comic Relief sketch, while a royal special, broadcast in October, saw King Charles (then Prince of Wales) invite the show to Dumfries House in Ayrshire as part of the BBC’s centenary celebrations.
Jay Blades revealed how he ‘feels fabulous’ as he returns from honeymoon to The Repair Shop in a Boxing Day Christmas special
‘It meant a lot to have him on,’ says Jay, 52. ‘To find out someone from the royal household has a similar interest as we do was amazing. And Comic Relief was surreal. How I kept my cool after seeing it on TV for years I’ll never know. This year has been great!’
His relatives had come back from the war to celebrate with this tree. It was so evocative of past Christmases
And it’s not over yet. The Christmas special sees the West Sussex barn in which the show is filmed festooned with fairy lights and Christmas trees, and Santa’s elves (aka the expert conservators) lining up to receive more precious heirlooms in need of TLC.
Jay is left dumbstruck by an item that whisked him straight back to his childhood in Hackney, east London – a wooden bar from the 1960s that was once the focal point of Christmas parties for a newly arrived Caribbean family.
‘Growing up, I used to see these bars in people’s houses,’ he says. His mum, Barbara, moved to the UK when she was 13 from Barbados (she has moved back there now, hence his wedding venue).
The Christmas special sees the West Sussex barn in which the show is filmed festooned with fairy lights and Christmas trees
‘They used to create bars at home if they couldn’t go out, so when a family came with this I couldn’t believe it.’ Jay hands the bar to woodwork wizard Will Kirk and restoration expert Dominic Chinea to bring the worn-out piece back to life.
As well as a vintage Santa decoration handed down by a much-missed father, also featured is an artificial Christmas tree that has been at the heart of one family’s festivities for more than a century, but is now bent and bedraggled. So Jay asks ceramics conservator Kirsten Ramsay and horologist Steve Fletcher to rejuvenate it.
‘The man who brought it in, Keith, had had this tree in his family for six generations,’ says Kirsten. ‘It was very evocative of Christmases gone by – Keith talked about his relatives coming back from the war to a Christmas with this tree. And he brought the story up to date as during Covid he’d had to have Christmas on his own, so instead of getting a proper tree he’d gone back to this tatty old family tree.’
Initially, Kirsten thought she’d just create some new ceramic berries for the tree, but she soon found herself absorbed by it. ‘It didn’t look very promising, but it turned into such an incredibly interesting and quite complicated item,’ she says.
The fesrive programme features a vintage Santa decoration handed down by a much-missed father
‘I can’t give anything away, but the reveal was really magical and very fitting for Christmas.’
The Repair Shop barn twinkles with festive magic, even though the episode was filmed back in October.
‘That was strange, although they did a great job of making it Christmassy,’ says Jay. ‘We had mince pies, gingerbread houses, tinsel, presents, candles, sweets. So many sweets!’
At the end of filming, the whole crew had a Christmas lunch together. It’s clear that the chemistry between the experts is not manufactured for the cameras.
‘We have so much fun, I call it my TV family,’ explains Jay. ‘Everyone loves their job and wants to be there, so it’s a really nice atmosphere.’
What makes The Repair Shop perfect Christmas viewing is that it reminds us that you can’t put a price on the most precious things in life.
‘A guest once described it as like having a blanket wrapped around the family on a cold day,’ says Jay. ‘It appeals to multi-generations. There are no potentially awkward moments. The worst that could happen is someone might get a splinter!’
The Repair Shop Christmas Special, Boxing Day, 8pm, BBC1.
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BEST ENTERTAINMENT SHOWS
The Christmas schedules are stuffed fuller than Santa’s sack with festive cheer. The Great Christmas Bake Off 2022 (Christmas Eve, 8.25pm, Channel 4) welcomes five stars to the tent to whip up edible baubles, a pastry tree and a tasty wreath.
Tony Robinson channels Blackadder’s Baldrick with his signature bake, while Gaby Roslin enjoys the wonder of baking for the very first time. There are tears, a Hollywood handshake and a ballet performance to mark Channel 4’s 40th birthday.
Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Christmas Fishing 2022 (Christmas Eve, 8.40pm, BBC2) sees the comedians on an angling adventure in northern Norway, wrapped in chunky knitwear and casting their lines for cod and coalfish. But the pair are also tasked with enjoying a tinsel-free time off-grid, where the best feast Bob can rustle up – tinned turkey and sprouts – leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman host the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special (pictured, Christmas Day, 5.10pm, BBC1)
Fortunately a visit from Ulrika Jonsson relieves the tension.
Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman host the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special (Christmas Day, 5.10pm, BBC1), in which podcaster Rosie Ramsey follows in her husband Chris’s footsteps as a competitor alongside Gavin & Stacey’s Larry Lamb and Girls Aloud’s Nicola Roberts. Expect lots of sparkle, and judge Craig Revel Horwood being a Grinch.
Downton Abbey always looked magical at Christmas, and Highclere: Behind The Scenes At Christmas (Tuesday, 9pm, More4) whisks us back to the stately home it was filmed in for a glimpse behind the scenes. Cameras follow the castle’s owners, Lord and Lady Carnarvon, as they turn it into a holiday haven for family and visitors.
Staff wrestle with the biggest tree they’ve ever put up, the gardens are turned into a winter wonderland and butler Luis hosts a Christmas cocktail masterclass.
Downton Abbey always looked magical at Christmas, and Highclere: Behind The Scenes At Christmas (Tuesday, 9pm, More4) whisks us back to the stately home it was filmed in (pictured) for a glimpse behind the scenes
Finally, stars reveal their festive disasters in Celebrity Christmas Hell (Friday, 10.15pm, Channel 4).
Johnny Vegas narrates this light-hearted one-off in which Katherine Ryan, Joel Dommett, Oti and Motsi Mabuse and others describe less-than-jolly holidays when their best-laid plans came a cropper.
Nightmares with tree decorating and festive baking prove that even famous people suffer Christmas calamities.
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