The Repair Shop expert breaks down in tears as she reunites boy with only surviving toy from harrowing house fire
The toy had originally belonged to the boy's mum and held important sentimental value for the family.
TEARS were flowing on The Repair Shop last night as expert Amanda Middlemarch broke down after reuniting a five-year-old boy with a family heirloom toy, which was the only thing to survive a harrowing house fire.
The BBC show revisited a classic episode from Season 7 last night and saw guest Jody bring her damaged childhood toy to the Repair Shop in the hope that Amanda and Julie Tatchell could work their magic on it.
When Jody presented Amanda, Julie, and host Jay Blades with the “crispy” toy dog, she revealed his name was Sad Sad and that he was a beloved treasure from her past.
“He’s the toy that came everywhere with me. He came on a lot of family holidays with me as a child and he had his own little passport which I made,” she recalled.
And he’s continued to be an important part of her as she’s grown up and had her own family, too.
“He was there when I bought my children back from the hospital for the first time.”
Eventually the toy dog was passed down to her five-year-old son Noah, admitting “he’s been a source of comfort to him.”
“He’s taken him to bed when he’s a bit upset about something. He’s always been there,” she said.
However, the dog was damaged in a tragic house fire a year earlier. The family managed to save the dog but lost almost everything else. Amanda and Julie promised to do their very best to restore the toy dog, but revealed it would be a challenge.
“We know how much he means to you and to Noah, so we’ll put our thinking caps on,” Julie said, but Amanda admitted there were parts of the beloved toy that just couldn’t be saved.
Later in the episode, the experts revealed that they’d been able to completely transform the toy dog, which thrilled Noah, and brought Jody and Amanda to tears.
Seeing Noah’s reaction, Amanda started to get tearful. The expert struggled to speak as she told them: “Gosh, this has all made it worthwhile.”
While Jody shed a few tears too, Amanda couldn’t contain herself. “Oh gosh, we are all gone,” she said as she turned away from the camera.
Wiping away her tears, Amanda said: “I’m sorry, it’s just so lovely to see as we know how much [Noah] loves him and how much you love him. What we have done is brought all that back for you.
“Thank you so much for bringing him to us to do. It’s been an absolute honour to work on him.”
The Repair Shop airs on BBC One Wednesdays at 8pm.