UKTV Orders Restoration Workshop for Yesterday

Restoration Workshop, a ten-part series centered on upcycled antiques, has been commissioned by UKTV for its factual channel, Yesterday.

Produced by Middlechild, the series sees antiques dealer Gary Wallis and his team turn tired and unloved antiques and objects into bespoke items for the high-end interiors market. At their restoration yard in Henley on Thames, they upcycle furniture, lighting, war and car memorabilia and more.

Restoration Workshop will air on Yesterday in 2020 and will also be available on UKTV Play. Drive will distribute the series.

Phillip McCreery, commissioning executive at UKTV, said: “Restoration Workshop is full of great characters and they’re all experts in their field. It’s the perfect show for Yesterday, and at a time when everything is mass-produced and easily discarded, seeing Gary’s team of craftspeople lovingly restore, reuse and recycle a whole host of objects and ornaments is a real treat.”

Middlechild’s David Sumnall said: “Restoration Workshop is the antidote everyone needs for today’s throw away, single-use, society. To have witnessed Gary Wallis and his incredible team transform the unloved and unwanted into bespoke, handcrafted treasures has been awe-inspiring. Gary is a legend in the restoration world, and I can’t wait for the UKTV viewers to witness his talent.”

Gerald Casey, Yesterday’s channel director, said: “Yesterday’s loyal audience love to see real British experts at work, so they’ll love watching Gary and his team find, restore and repurpose a whole wealth of objects with end results we’d never expect. This is truly a restoration show with a difference.”

Ben Barrett, managing director of Drive, said: “We’re very excited to be taking this show to the international market. It’s an exciting, topical and original format, with great talent at the forefront, and a show we expect to be a big hit with buyers globally.”