The Repair Shop leaves fans feeling emotional after BBC show shares heartfelt father-son story surrounding a small wooden boat

The Repair Shop left viewers in tears when a guest shared a heartwarming father-and-son story surrounding a small boat model.

The heartwarming series returned for its ninth year earlier this month and fans admitted they felt overwhelmed upon hearing the backstory.

Jon Keogh from Glasgow brought a miniature shrimp cutter ship into the shed.

He revealed to the show’s host, Jay Blades, that it was a replica of a ship he and his father worked on and owned.

He further explained that his father built the model from memory, calling him a craftsman who could “fix anything.”

When asked if his father was still alive, he told the show: ‘No. Unfortunately he passed away in 2007.

“My father started fishing with a fisherman during the summer holidays.”

He revealed that his father first stepped on a boat at the age of 15, where he worked in the merchant navy for many years.

His father, also called Jon, then met his mother and wanted to settle down, so he moved to the Clyde shipyards – the birthplace of the Queen Mary – as a shipbuilder.

Over the years in the 1960s and 1970s, his father built many impressive and essential ships, including frigates, POPVs and offshore patrol vessels.

The repair shop then showed a video to explain that demand for ships had fallen in the 1970s and 1980s. After the war, international competition from foreign manufacturers made life difficult for shipworkers and depleted jobs in the industry.

Jon revealed that his father had been laid off from the shipyards due to declining demand, so he bought the shrimp trailer for himself.

‘It was his dream to one day own a fishing boat. And then me and my dad went fishing for it, for prawns, in the Clyde,” he added.

He said his father just wanted a memory of his boat and that it was his dream.

The Scot was shocked at the extent to which the mini replica was revived, saying the repair was ‘perfect’ and looked like the ‘first day’ they got it.

He said: “It has deteriorated over the year. I have had many memories of that boat that only me and my father shared. They are always with me, always close to my heart.’

Jon plans to pass it down through generations of his family to keep the memory of his father’s hard work alive.

Viewers were touched by the story, as many previously called the show their ‘weekly cry’ after tuning in to the new series.

One wrote: ‘The boat is beautiful. It’s so nice to see it light up again. #TheRepairShop’

‘Every time #therepairshop (crying emoji)’

‘A fishing boat makes me emotional #therepairshop’

‘The boat is beautiful. It’s so nice to see it light up again. #TheRepairShop’

‘That’s a good one, very good’

In six new episodes, Jay and his highly experienced team of experts undertake a range of fascinating and heartwarming solutions.

The latest series will also feature one of the show’s biggest challenges ever: an attempt to save an armchair, which tells a gripping story about the AIDS crisis of the 1980s.

Host Jay said: ‘If you’re super excited about the return of The Repair Shop, you’re not alone.

“We work really hard to make people’s dreams come true, so it’s so exciting to be able to show you what we’ve done.”

He added: ‘The show is going from strength to strength, and I think that’s simply because we’re talking about community, it’s all about working together as a team and achieving a common goal for someone.’

Jay, 54, and the BBC One program’s experts have rescued more than a thousand valuable objects and historical artefacts since it launched in 2017.

Some of the most memorable repairs over the years have included the rocking horse, a Jewish prayer book that survived the Theresienstadt concentration camp, a handle used to travel on the Windrush ships, and a 2,000-year-old Chinese statue.