William Johnson tells us about his experience on the BBC 1 show, The Repair Shop, which airs this week! (BSL)

Hi everyone, I’m William Johnson. I come from Birmingham and I’m excited to share that on Thursday 19th January I will be on a BBC show called The Repair Shop.

My father and I had often talked about The Repair Shop as we like to watch the show. One day my father remembered about an item that we had which belonged to my great-great grandmother who was deaf. The item was not in a good state so we both agreed that we would take it to The Repair Shop.

The whole experience of being on The Repair Shop was excellent! They made sure that I got full access and asked me if I required a BSL interpreter.

They even asked if I prefer to have a male or female interpreter – to which I said I didn’t mind whoever was interpreting as long I had the access. The team also kept in touch by email which was great instead of phone calls.

To tell you a bit about the item we took in – without giving too many spoilers away – it is related to my great-great grandmother, who was deaf. I’m the only other person who is deaf in the family and I was the only deaf person in the family I knew growing up!

So that item made me feel connected to where my deafness came from as we all don’t have the knowledge of where my deafness came from. But now we are all confident that it must have come from my great-great grandmother. Once the item was repaired, I felt much more connected to this too.

It’s difficult for me to explain how exactly the experts worked on the item as I have not seen how they work on it – instead it was explained to me afterwards. It’s best if you can watch the show to understand how the expert used their experience on the item.

After the experts repaired the item I felt absolutely unbelievable! It was way better than I expected it would be! I really was lost for words.

It was overall such a great experience. We actually filmed it last year on one of the hottest days of the year – which wasn’t nice with all the heat and sweat!

The team who ran The Repair Shop, production team, sound man, camera men, runners, director, and of course the experts themselves along with Jay were fantastic. They made sure that we were comfortable at all times and it was so nice to have a little chat off camera. We even got to have ice cream at the end of filming which was bonus!

I would really recommend anyone who is thinking about going on the show, oh yes! If you have got any old items that hold sentimental value to you or your family, apply and get it repaired. You won’t regret it!

The Repair Shop is on Thursday 19^th January on BBC 1 at 3.45pm