The Repair Shop expert details 'tipping point' as they fear causing 'more damage'

During the most recent episode of The Repair Shop, master goldsmith Richard Talman had his work cut out for him.

BBC viewers saw a woman called Fliss enter the workshop in hopes of getting a family locket restored.

Explaining the history behind the jewellery piece, the guest detailed it once belonged to her grandmother, although it came from her great grandmother meaning it had been in her family at least 107 years.

Inside, there was a photograph of her grandfather from when he was in the Second World War. Fliss explained: "He signed up the day after war broke out, so my grandma wore it whilst he was away at war.

"A picture of my grandma that he used to keep, you can tell that he's carried it through war, it's battered. But, it's a beautiful picture of my grandma." Fliss explained the locket was given to her own mother broken, meaning she's never been able to wear it.

As it's the only piece of jewellery she has from her grandma, Fliss highlighted its importance as both her grandparents have now died.

Showing the locket to the expert, Fliss detailed that the major problem was that it was in two pieces. However, she added: "There's teeth marks from my eldest uncle chewing it when he was a baby! There's little teeth marks."

Richard questioned if she wanted the dents to be removed, to which Fliss confirmed, along with wanting there to be a photo of her grandma added onto the other side of the locket.

While inspecting the item to begin his fix, Richard touched on the teeth marks as he commented: "It could be quite a bit concerning. In order to remove those I'm going to have to push the metal back out from the inside while not wanting to damage andy of this beautiful embossed finish."

When it came to trying to remove the dents, the BBC expert detailed that it may not be as straightforward as it looked.

He said: "A key point here is to not hit it too hard, don't apply any unnecessary pressure." As he began gently punching the dents back into position,

Richard added: "It really is just a little bit of trail and error. Just airing always on the side of caution, there's always going to be that tipping point of going too far and maybe causing more damage.

"It's just a matter of being really slow and being really careful and hoping you can achieve that result before it tips it over the edge."

In the end, Richard was able to remove the dents and created a new hinge for the broken locket to be able to open and close once again.

When it was time for Fliss to be reunited with the locket once again, she was instantly overcome with emotion.

Thanking Richard and the team for what they were able to do, she confessed she's never taking the locket off now it's been restored.

The Repair Shop is available to watch on BBC iPlayer