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The Repair Shop viewers left sobbing over poignant fix for emotional guest

Fans praised the 'incredible' repair

repair shop bbc one
Nicky Morris
TV and film writer
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The latest instalment of The Repair Shop left fans "sobbing" after the team restored a very special item on the show that left one of their guests in tears. 

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Guest Gary Fischer was welcomed onto the show, bringing with him a Jewish prayer book that belonged to his Jewish grandparents, who lived in Vienna during the outbreak of the Second World War.

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Gary revealed that in 1938 his father was evacuated to the UK, while his grandparents were taken to a concentration camp in Czechoslovakia, named Theresienstadt. He explained that because Theresienstadt was a "show" camp, which aimed to show outsiders proof of fair treatment towards Jewish people, his grandparents were allowed to keep their prayer book.

However, just a mile up the road, his great-grandparents, his grandfather's sister and a 10-year-old nephew were all kept in a separate concentration camp and killed in a gas chamber. Gary held back tears as he showed the experts a page of signatures from campmates in the book and read out a poem his grandfather had written. 

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Book-binder Christopher Shaw got to work and managed to restore the prayer book, prompting Gary to break down in tears. 

prayer book

Viewers were in tears over the poignant fix

Viewers were left emotional by the reveal, with one person tweeting: "The prayer book has to be one of the most special repairs ever. Sobbing - May we never forget," while another added: "I honestly don't know how they keep theirselves together, I'm in tears …every show! The prayer book tonight, just incredible."

A third person commented: "An especially moving episode of #therepairshop this evening," while another praised the incredible repair: "#TheRepairShop really upped their game this series. That prayer book was outstanding. Radio and horse game also great stories. All three could be made into films I'd watch!" 

repair shop gary guest

Guest Gary was moved by Christopher's repair

Even Pointless star Richard Osman was moved by the special moment, tweeting: "Oh man, #TheRepairShop has me in floods of tears once again," prompting a fan to reply: "Richard is absolutely right. Most #TheRepairShop stories are emotional but today's prayer book was an order of magnitude above."

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