Pregnant Repair Shop guest breaks down in tears as late dad's portrait restored

WARNING: This article contains spoilers from The Repair Shop.

A pregnant Repair Shop guest's broke down when she saw the "stunning" restoration work that had been done on her late dad's portrait.

Ruth from Nottinghamshire showed up at the iconic BBC barn to speak to paintings restorer Lucia Scalisi about a portrait she had commissioned of her dad 10 years ago for his 52nd birthday.

The piece of art had been painted on a piece of stone she got from a hardware store but when Lucia asked why it was so worn out, Ruth explained: "He was so proud of it when I gave it to him that he put it outside by his front door for almost 12 years. It got a lot of rain, it got a lot of snow so naturally, it's just deteriorated over time."

When asked if her dad David was a professional beekeeper, Ruth replied: "It was a big hobby, so he was a reverend. When this was taken, he was a curate.

"A lot of people found him very approachable and very warm. And I think he liked the parallels between beekeeping and church, because, I guess, colonies are like a congregation in a way."

"The most rewarding part for him was harvesting the honey, because he would sell it at the front door and then he would donate part of that money to the church.

"When my husband and I bought our own home, I said to my dad 'I want some bees' and he gave me my first colony."

"Why have you chosen to have this looked at now?" Lucia asked, which prompted Ruth to get emotional.

She revealed: "Four and a half months ago, he passed away very suddenly and very unexpectedly of bronchopneumonia."

Lucia sympathetically replied: "Oh. That's really recent. That must have been quite a shock."

Ruth continued: "Yeah. It was. But five or six weeks after he passed away, my husband and I found out that we were expecting our first child. Which is wonderful.

"I want our child to be able to look at this and know it's their grandad.

"I want to remember him in all the good ways. And this is a good way.

"But yeah, it's become incredibly worn now."

Ruth asked if Lucia would be able to restore the painting so she could once again see the bees and his "ginger moustache".

"Well you've brought in a really interesting challenge. This is going to take some different skills. But yeah, leave it with me," Lucia remarked.

The big reveal then came near the end of the episode when Ruth returned to see what the expert had done.

When asked how she was feeling, the guest said: "Very nervous, very emotional. Obviously, I think about my dad a lot, every day still, so I'm really excited to see it.

"And as you know, we've got a little one coming soon. They're going to know exactly who he is and I want to be able to share with family and friends who he was."

When Lucia unveiled the portrait, Ruth quickly broke down in tears, sobbing at the sight of her late dad.

"It's so clean," she laughed, before walking off, clearly overcome with emotion.

"Oh Ruth," Lucia said, as she went over to comfort the sobbing guest.

Ruth said: "It's a great thing. It's so great. It's exactly how I remember it.

"Dare I say, it's better. Moustache looks great," she giggled before adding: "He'd be so glad it's here and it's been looked after and restored.

"It's stunning, thank you so much. That's my dad."

Lucia replied: "It was an honour Ruth, it really was. A challenge, but we're always up for a challenge.But an honour and a wonderful thing."

The Repair Shop is available to watch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.