Jay Blades has revealed the reasons why the new series of The Repair Shop has been pushed back. Appearing alongside his co-star Suzie Fletcher on Wednesday's This Morning, the TV presenter and restoration expert explained that, despite successfully filming during the pandemic, they weren't able to put out the new episodes.
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Host Phillip Schofield asked: "You've kept [the new] series up your sleeve for a while, because looking at the [lack of] social distancing in that clip, it's 2019, pre the nightmare that we're in, so why didn't you put it out earlier?", prompting Jay to joke: "It's above our pay-grade Phillip!"
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He added: "That's down to the BBC, we've not been allowed to put things out, but fortunately we have filmed during Covid. We've kept the social distancing, and because of the items and people that bring the items in, you still have that kind of warmth. But the shows you see tonight are filmed pre-Covid."
Luckily, the new episodes were filmed at the end of last year and so fans can expect to see them in the new future. Presenter Jay spoke to HELLO! back in November about how the team behind the BBC programme managed production despite restrictions surrounding the pandemic.
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© Photo: RexSuzie and Jay appeared on This Morning to discuss the beloved show
"The beauty is that we've got the brilliant team behind the cameras. [They] worked out logistically how it would look like that we're still together but we're not together and adhering to social distancing."
He added: "They've done a brilliant job, when you do see the new series, you'll recognise that there's not as much touching, but it'll still feel exactly the same.
The only thing I would say is you can't meet people personally during these times, you have to do it either by Zoom or a phone call and it's distanced, but once you start speaking to people, they're going to open up."
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