The Repair Shop's Will Kirk on sharing Christmas with his fiancée for the first time... after being together for 11 years!

Will Kirk Christmas Repair Shop 2020

Will Kirk tells us how he'll be spending Christmas this year and how it will be different from previous years

Will Kirk, who shot to fame as one of the experts on hit BBC series The Repair Shop, says he’s looking forward to Christmas this year as it will be the first one he and his fiancée will be spending together.

In an exclusive interview with What’s On TV, furniture restorer Will, who's about to be seen on The Repair Shop Christmas special, said: "This is going to be my first Christmas with my fiancée. We’ve been together for 11 years but every year she goes to her parents for Christmas and I go to mine. This will be our first time together, the two of us at home in London."

The couple were due to marry this summer but have rearranged it for 2021 instead.  Will, who rarely talks publicly about his private life, said, "Because of Covid we decided to postpone it to next year."

Christmas Repair Shop 2020

Will Kirk with the rest of the team in The Repair Shop Christmas Special (L-R  Mark Stuckey, Dominic Chinea, Kirsten Ramsay, Jay Blades, Suzie Fletcher, Amanda Middleditch, Steve Fletcher and Julie Tatchell (Image credit: BBC/Ricochet)

Will, who lives in South London and who has amassed an army of fans from his regular Repair Shop appearances since it first started in 2017, said he is looking forward to Christmas in the capital.

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He continued, "I love London at Christmas. Normally we’d do something festive and go and see something like The Nutcracker and have a walk in the park. This year it will just be the walk in the park but it will still be very festive; wrap up warm, mulled wine, happy days!"

JUST THE TWO OF US

Asked who will be doing the cooking on Christmas Day, Will said, "I think it will be the two of us. My fiancée is vegan so  it will probably be a nut roast and lots of veg. It can’t be too hard can it? Pop it all in the oven. I hear you get can vegan pigs in blankets so we should be fine."

Although he joked he might have to have an emergency stash of non-vegan food just in case saying, "I can have a pack of ham in the fridge for midnight if I start having meat-cravings."

Christmas Repair Shop 2020

Will Kirk with fellow Repair Shop expert Mark Stuckey  (C) Ricochet - Photographer: Kenny Valaydon (Image credit: BBC/Ricochet/Kenny Valaydon)

Meanwhile he usually likes to kick off Christmas Day with a glass of bubbly. Will continued,  "My one Christmas tradition is a champagne breakfast. My future mother-in-law thinks it’s very funny that my mum and I will always have glass of champagne at about 8am. The other thing we usually have is smoked salmon on muffins for breakfast but that might be different this year."

IT'S GOING TO BE EMOTIONAL

Will said he was very excited to be part of the special Christmas episode of The Repair Shop being shown on Boxing Day. Among the items being brought in to be restored by the team of experts are a rocking horse with a very special story, a vintage Christmas ornament and a stereogram that’s stood silent for years.

Christmas Repair Shop 2020

A very special rocking horse is among the treasured items being brought into The Repair Shop barn this Christmas.

"There are some very emotional stories" said Will. "I think we all shed a tear." He continued, "The Repair Shop barn looks amazing. We have a huge Christmas tree, decorations everywhere, we’re all in our Christmas jumpers, it’s super-festive. They definitely stepped it up a gear this Christmas and it was really very special to be there."

The Repair Shop At Christmas, featuring Will Kirk, will be shown on Boxing Day, 6.45pm, BBC1 (see our TV Guide for more shows to enjoy).

Tess Lamacraft
Senior Writer for What's On TV, TV Times, TV & Satellite week, Whattowatch.com

Tess is a senior writer for What’s On TV, TV Times, TV & Satellite and WhattoWatch.com She's been writing about TV for over 25 years and worked on some of the UK’s biggest and best-selling publications including the Daily Mirror where she was assistant editor on the weekend TV magazine, The Look, and Closer magazine where she was TV editor. She has freelanced for a whole range of websites and publications including We Love TV, The Sun’s TV Mag, Woman, Woman’s Own, Fabulous, Good Living, Prima and Woman and Home.