When is King Charles on The Repair Shop? Episode date and details

King Charles is heading to The Repair Shop workshop to be reunited with two newly mended royal items in a one-off special episode.

The wait is almost over, with BBC audiences about to see a special recording of beloved show The Repair Shop with a VVIP guest in tow. As part of the BBC's centenery year, the King of England took a trip to the infamous workshop where The Repair shop is filmed and spent time with The Repair Shop presenters - giving them a royal restoration project of his own.

We've seen teasers of The Repair Shop: A Royal Visit on the BBC show's social media, giving us a glimpse of His Majesty chatting to Jay Blades at a Scottish location that holds a special place in the monarch's heart. We've shared details on how you can watch, plus the two royal heirlooms that are up for a makeover.

When is King Charles on The Repair Shop?

King Charles III will be on The Repair Shop on October 26, with the episode airing at 8pm on BBC1. His Majesty invited Jay Blades, Kirsten Ramsay, Steve Fletcher and Will Kirk to Dumfries House in Scotland for an extra-special recorded episode.

In addition to a tour of the grounds and the restoration of some personal possessions, the Repair Shop team also met with some of the students on the Building Craft Programme as set up by The Prince’s Foundation. The education was originally founded by the King in 1986.

King Charles appears at ease with Jay Blades in the episode trailer - presumably because the two have met before. The Repair Shop host was given an MBE by Charles in May of this year, for his services to craft. 

Sharing details of the anticipated episode, which was announced on The One Show, Blade told the BBC, "You’ve got someone from a council estate and someone from a royal estate that has the same interests about apprenticeships and heritage crafts.

"It is unbelievable to see that two people from so far apart, from different ends of the spectrum, actually have the same interests."

The episode was filmed between Autumn 2021 and Spring 2022 when the monarch still held the title of Prince of Wales. It was recorded as part of the BBC’s 100th year celebrations.

What do The Repair Shop restore for King Charles?

In The Repair Shop: A Royal Visit, King Charles III brings along an 18th Century bracket clock and a piece of pottery made for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee by famous British ceramic maker Wemyss Ware.

In a preview from the episode, Charles can be heard telling presenter Jay Blades that the pottery piece was damaged when someone opened a window. "They didn’t own up," he jokes with the BBC star.

It seems that the clock restoration however is especially important to the King though, who asks the crew: "Have you sorted this? The suspense is killing me!"

Opening up on the treasured possession, he explains that he "just loved the sound, the tick-tock" of clocks, adding: "But also if they chime, that’s why I love grandfather clocks. I find it rather reassuring in a funny way, and they become really special parts of the house... the beating heart of it. So that’s why they matter to me."

King Charles makes the journey to the Chichester workshop to be reunited with both newly repaired pieces during the show.

BBC commissioning editor Julie Shaw said of the special episode: “People will see the former Prince of Wales as you rarely see him – and he is as captivated by the skills of the team who work on his items as any of our Repair Shop visitors.”

Will Camilla be on The Repair Shop too?

From what we've seen from the episode trailer, it looks like the Queen Consort - aka King Charle's wife Camilla will not be appearing on The Repair Shop with him. Though there's been no official confirmation of this, so a surprise cameo could still be possible.

Video of the Week