The Repair Shop with King Charles: how to watch Royal’s barn visit and what happened in special BBC episode

King Charles has starred in a special episode of The Repair Shop to mark the BBC’s centenary. The monarch was visited by the programme at Dumfries House in Scotland.

Filmed when King Charles was still the Prince of Wales, presenter Jay Blades greets him with a cup of earl grey tea in a mug which reads “HRH”, to which the King replied: “How did you guess.”

The special episode will see the team restore an 18th century-clock and ceramic piece from Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee.

Here’s how you can watch the special episode and everything you need to know about what happened.

How can I watch The Repair Shop with King Charles?

The Repair Shop: A Royal Visit aired on BBC One on Wednesday 26 October. For anyone who missed the episode, it is available to watch on catch-up on BBC i-Player.

What happened in The Repair Shop: A Royal Visit?

The one-off special centenary episode saw King Charles ask The Repair Shop’s restoration to help him restore an 18th century-clock and a ceramic piece from Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, which the King said was damaged when it fell as someone was opening a window and “they didn’t own up”.

Before the grand reveal, Repair Shop presenter Blades brings the King a cup of earl grey tea in a mug which reads “HRH”, the episode was filmed before the Queen’s death, with King Charles royal initials now reading “HM” for “His Majesty”.

As well as following the restoration team, King Charles met with students learning heritage craft building skills on The Prince’s Foundation’s Building Craft Programme. Courses on offer include blacksmithing, stonemasonry and wood carving.

BBC Commissioning Editor Julie Shaw described the one-off episode was a “a real treat”, in a statement Shaw said: “This is an incredibly special programme which has the magic that Repair Shop viewers have come to know and love.

“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. The episode is a real treat and we hope that people enjoy it as much as we do.”

What did King Charles say?

The King gave the repair team a unique insight about his love of clocks, explaing: “To me I just love the sound, the tick tock but also if they chime, that’s why I love grandfather clocks.” He added: “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.

“I’m afraid it is something I learned from my grandmother, she had great fun putting a few together and trying to get them to chime at the same time in the dining room, which made it very enjoyable because everybody had to stop talking.”

When he entered the barn to see if his 18th century-clock had been repaired he asked horologist Steve Fletcher: “Have you got the bells working again? The suspense is killing me.”

Restorations were also made to the damaged 19th century ceramic piece made for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. King Charles told the ceramics expert Kirsten Ramsay: “I fear it was a terrible challenge. I told you it would test you.”

Upon the reveal he said: “Now look at that. That is fantastic, it really is. How you do it I don’t know.” Adding: “I would never have believed that, I really wouldn’t. I was thinking as I was coming ‘I bet she hasn’t managed it.’”

When presenter Blades asked the King if he was happy with the restorations he said: “Oh God yes. I am so grateful to you.”