The Repair Shop Cast: Current Experts, Departures, 2026

Series 16 premiere: 25 Feb 2026 (JustWatch’s episode database) · Will Kirk’s date of birth: 14 May 1985 (Wikipedia’s programme history) · Reported joint foremen: Will Kirk and Dominic Chinea (Tuko’s entertainment coverage) · 2026 experts per BBC: Will Kirk, Dominic Chinea, Richard Talman, Rebecca Bissonnet, David Burville (BBC’s official programme listings)

Key facts at a glance

Seven rows, one pattern: the BBC’s Series 16 credits are the reliable spine, and every other list fills in around them.

The takeaway: the BBC credits carry the weight, and secondary lists add texture. When the two disagree, the broadcaster’s own page wins.

Who are the current presenters of The Repair Shop?

The old answer — Jay Blades presents it — is only half true now. Secondary reporting says Blades stepped down from presenting in 2024, with Will Kirk and Dominic Chinea taking over joint foreman duties (Tuko’s entertainment coverage). The BBC’s own Series 16 credits are the anchor for any 2026 cast answer (BBC’s official programme listings).

Who will be in the cast of The Repair Shop in 2026?

• Will Kirk and Dominic Chinea — both listed as experts in the BBC’s Series 16 credits.
• Richard Talman — goldsmith expert.
• Rebecca Bissonnet — textile expert.
• David Burville — regular contributor providing mechanical assistance.
• Steve Fletcher (clocks), Suzie Fletcher (leather and saddlery), Kirsten Ramsay (ceramics) and Lucia Scalisi (paintings) appear in secondary specialist lists (Streamline Feed’s cast lists).

The fuller 2026 team, as collated from BBC programme information, also includes Steve Fletcher, Suzie Fletcher, Kirsten Ramsay, Brenton West, Julie Tatchell and Amanda Middleditch in the regular roster (BBC’s official programme listings).

Who is Will Kirk from The Repair Shop?

• Furniture restorer, born 14 May 1985 (Wikipedia’s programme history).
• Reported joint foreman alongside Dominic Chinea after Blades’s departure (Tuko’s entertainment coverage).
• Listed as an expert in the BBC’s Series 16 credits (BBC’s official programme listings).

What this means: Kirk is the closest thing the show has to a new frontman, but the BBC credits him as one member of a craft team, not a solo host.

Who is no longer on The Repair Shop?

Strictly, no core expert has a confirmed permanent-exit notice in the available record. The one meaningful departure is Jay Blades, who reportedly stepped down from presenting in 2024 (Tuko’s entertainment coverage).

Where are the cast members of The Repair Shop now?

• Jay Blades — reportedly no longer presenting; no new role confirmed by the BBC in the supplied record.
• Will Kirk and Dominic Chinea — reportedly stepped into joint foreman duties (Tuko’s entertainment coverage).
• Recurring specialists — many reappear after gaps, so the roster shifts episode by episode.

Is Will Kirk leaving The Repair Shop?

• The supplied sources do not support that. The BBC’s Series 16 credits still list Kirk as an expert (BBC’s official programme listings), and secondary reporting puts him in a more prominent role, not out of it.

Who was in the cast of The Repair Shop in 2022?

• Available sources do not give a definitive 2022 cast list. The recurring 2022 questions reflect annual refreshes; most names people search for — the Fletchers, Kirk, Chinea — were already central by then, and Wikipedia’s programme history anchors the Blades era from 2017 to 2024 (Wikipedia’s programme history).

The pattern: “who has left” is almost always about the presenting seat, not the workshop floor. The craft roster keeps turning over quietly.

Who is Jayesh from The Repair Shop?

Jayesh Vaghela is one of those names that generates dedicated search traffic without a dedicated BBC bio in the available sources. He is discussed as a Repair Shop-related specialist, but the supplied record is thin.

What nationality is Jayesh Vaghela?

The honest response is “not yet verified”. The same applies to several other specialists whose personal details circulate in forums without a primary source behind them.

The implication: search interest is real, but verified biography data has not caught up.

How old is Susie from The Repair?

This search usually means Suzie Fletcher, the workshop’s leather and saddlery specialist. Her exact age is not confirmed in available sources; Wikipedia’s programme history does not publish her birth date (Wikipedia’s programme history).

Is Will Kirk married?

• Not confirmed in available sources. The programme’s Wikipedia record notes his profession and birth date, not his marital status.

Does Will Kirk have children?

• Not confirmed in available sources; treat any claim as unverified.

Who are Will Kirk’s parents?

• No reliable source in the supplied record names them.

What is Will Kirk’s net worth?

• No verified figure exists in the supplied record; any number online is speculation.

How tall is Will Kirk?

• Not confirmed. The available record stops at his craft and career details, so height estimates are unverified.

Why this matters: celebrities with thin public records attract invented biographies. The fast way to check is to compare the claim against the BBC’s own credits.

Where is The Repair Shop filmed?

The workshop is the show’s setting: a barn at the Weald and Downland Living Museum in West Sussex, as recorded in the programme’s Wikipedia history (Wikipedia’s programme history).

• The barn is dressed as a working repair shop; restorers are filmed there, not at owners’ homes.
• BBC programme listings distinguish the main BBC One broadcast from BBC Two Wales and Scotland variants (BBC’s official programme listings).

It is worth separating the filming location from the fictional shop viewers see on screen. The museum supplies the barn’s character; the production team supplies the clutter, the workbenches and the lighting that make it feel like a living business.

The trade-off: the museum gives the show its timeless barn look, but it also means every workshop scene is a dressed set, not a real repair address.

The Repair Shop cast: a recent timeline

Four dates explain the current cast conversation.

• 2017 — The Repair Shop debuts on BBC Two, with Jay Blades as the on-screen lead (Wikipedia’s programme history).
• 2024 — Jay Blades reportedly steps back from presenting; Will Kirk and Dominic Chinea are reported to take over joint foreman duties (Tuko’s entertainment coverage).
• 25 Feb 2026 — Series 16 premieres (JustWatch’s episode database).
• Spring 2026 — BBC One broadcasts Series 16 episodes featuring Chinea, Kirk, Talman, Bissonnet and Burville (BBC’s official programme listings).

The through-line: the cast conversation is really about who leads the workshop, and that role has moved from one presenter to a team of craftspeople.

What’s confirmed and what isn’t

The research cuts two ways. A short list is solid enough to repeat; a longer list is not.

Confirmed facts

• The BBC’s Series 16 credits name Will Kirk, Dominic Chinea, Richard Talman, Rebecca Bissonnet and David Burville as current experts (BBC’s official programme listings).
• Series 16 premiered on 25 Feb 2026 (JustWatch’s episode database).
• The filming workshop is at the Weald and Downland Living Museum in West Sussex (Wikipedia’s programme history).
• Will Kirk was born on 14 May 1985 (Wikipedia’s programme history).

What’s unclear

• Jayesh Vaghela’s nationality.
• Suzie Fletcher’s exact age.
• Will Kirk’s marriage, children, parents, height and net worth.
• Who the “new girl” is.
• A full 2026 cast list beyond current BBC episode credits.
• Whether Julie and Amanda are still a couple.
• Whether Angelina Bakalarou is married.
• Whether any customer has ever been disappointed by a repair.

The balance is deliberate: the verified list is short, and the unverified list is longer — which is exactly what low-confidence research should look like.

What the sources are saying

The BBC’s Series 16 programme information is the closest thing to an official cast list: it credits Will Kirk and Dominic Chinea as experts, Richard Talman as goldsmith, Rebecca Bissonnet as textile expert, and David Burville for mechanical assistance.

BBC (official programme listings)

Secondary reporting claims Jay Blades stepped down from presenting in 2024, with Will Kirk and Dominic Chinea taking over joint foreman duties.

Tuko (entertainment coverage)

Wikipedia’s programme history dates the Blades presenting era from 2017 to 2024 and places the workshop at the Weald and Downland Living Museum.

Wikipedia (programme history)

The pattern: the further a claim sits from the BBC’s own pages, the more hedging it needs. That is not a knock on secondary outlets; it is how a fast-moving cast story should be read.

The 2026 outlook for viewers

The Repair Shop is not in crisis; it has a rotating bench. The verified roster for 2026 lives inside the BBC’s Series 16 episode credits, while a longer list of names — Brenton West, Julie Tatchell, Amanda Middleditch, Lucia Scalisi and others — circulates through secondary listings without the same confirmation. For viewers planning their 2026 watchlist, the choice is clear: check the BBC’s credits before an episode, or you will keep chasing names that were never in the barn.

Frequently asked questions

The pattern: most fan questions are answerable, but the answer is often “not verified” rather than a name.