Feel-good telly is called for right now - and The Repair Shop is just that. Presenter Jay Blades chats to Georgia Humphreys about the show's success.

Jay Blades was 40 when he first got into furniture restoration.

Five years later, the former community worker - who grew up on a council estate in Hackney, east London - landed a job presenting The Repair Shop, in which family heirlooms are restored to their former glory by a team of craftsmen and women.

Now aged 50, Blades has five series of the show under his belt and has become a household name because of it - especially since it's moved from daytime to primetime on BBC One (it first aired on BBC Two in 2017).

It was drawing in more than six million viewers when it aired in the spring, and there's no doubt that's largely down to Blades' warm, gentle, friendly manner.

Here, we catch up with the father-of-three, who also presents BBC series Money For Nothing, and has his own furniture company, Jay & Co.

WHY DO YOU THINK THE REPAIR SHOP RESONATES WITH VIEWERS SO MUCH?

It deals with community. The community of experts we have - about 500 years of experience combined - come together and do something for somebody else's family.

And the people that bring the items in are just normal people. We don't have actors, we don't have people that are primed; these are people that just have genuinely beautiful stories.

IT'S OFTEN A TEAR-JERKING WATCH, AS PEOPLE REALLY OPEN UP TO YOU...

When someone brings an item in, and they're talking about something that is so personal to them, sometimes it's quite raw. We've had family members come in whose children have passed away as close as two or three months ago. And when they start talking about these items, they're actually talking about a family member.

When they receive the repair, it's almost like you can see these people resort right back to being a child again - or right back to the age when they received that item, or when they remember that item. And that, to me, is unbelievable.

WHAT IS THE MOST CHALLENGING PART OF YOUR ROLE ON THE SHOW?

My job is basically to get people to feel comfortable, welcome, and not notice the cameras in, let's say, 30 seconds. And that can be quite hard if you've got six cameras pointing at you, and you're coming to a repair shop you've seen on TV; you can get a little bit star-struck with it all.

So, it's just making someone feel comfortable, to express their feelings around the item, and then open up. I just feel totally honoured that they do that, every time.

THERE'S A NEW REPAIR SHOP BOOK TOO. CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THAT?

We're chuffed to be doing another book, because there is so much that The Repair Shop has to offer. The TV show is one element, but the book adds a different dimension to it.

When you're able to read the stories and have a little bit more about it, it's almost like a behind-the-scenes sort of thing.

DID YOU FIND YOURSELF DOING LOTS OF RESTORATION AT HOME DURING LOCKDOWN?

I'm very fortunate that my workshop is about seven minutes' drive away from my house, so I could go to my workshop, lock the door, and just be in there, finishing off work.

The only problem I had at my house really was I had some squeaky doors. I would get up at like five o'clock in the morning, and I'd open the door, and it would sound like a horror movie. So I went around fixing all the doors, making sure they don't squeak anymore. I'd put it off for three years...

YOU MUST BE GETTING RECOGNISED MORE AND MORE IN THE STREET NOW BY VIEWERS. HAS THAT BEEN OVERWHELMING?

It's been really, really nice. It hasn't been like 'whoosh', like a load of attention all at once, it's been really a gradual thing. Because we're in lockdown, there are not many people out there, so it's sheltered us a bit.

I thought the face mask would help, I thought taking the hat off would help, but people say, 'All right, Jay, how you doing?'

WHAT DO YOUR KIDS MAKE OF YOU BEING A TELLY STAR?

They think it's pretty cool, but also my youngest daughter, she gets a bit embarrassed as well, because some of her friends' parents go, 'Ooh, is your dad coming to pick you up?' when she has a play date and stuff like that. She gets a bit like, 'Really?! It's just my dad, what are you talking about?'

AS A BLACK MAN ON THE BBC, WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT REPRESENTATION ON BRITISH TELLY?

When I look at the TV I used to watch in the Eighties, with Mind Your Language, Love Thy Neighbour, all those types of shows, I think we have come a long way.

But we still have a long way to go because the majority of people like me - black guys - are either linked to music, sport, or comedy, and you don't have many people linked to craft. And when you look at the history of craft, it was really done by worker bees, and it was done by the working class. So it seems quite strange that I'm the only one.

But I often say to the young people that I mentor that, if you feel like you're the only person there, just remember that you're the first person there, so the trail and the mark that you leave is really important.

The Repair Shop, BBC1, Wednesday, 8pm.

- The Repair Shop: Tales From The Workshop Of Dreams is out now (BBC Books, £20)