The Repair Shop star Dom Chinea is to make a guest appearance in one of the BBC’s longest-running soaps as part of a milestone episode and has called the opportunity a “pinch-me moment”
The Repair Shop’s Dom Chinea is to make a guest appearance in one of the BBC’s longest-running soaps for a special anniversary.
The TV star, 40, will make soon be heard on The Archers for a 75th anniversary episode of the BBC radio soap, and listeners will be able to tune into all the action as he arrives in the programme’s fictional village of Ambridge.
The metal expert will appear in the Radio 4 show in Sunday’s episode where he will stop off at the village’s annual Flower And Produce Show, while an upcoming episode of The Repair Shop will also see the team work on an Archers item.
Ahead of the guest appearance, said: “This was quite the pinch me moment being part of The Archers – it’s such an iconic show.
“Having only worked on factual TV series, I found it fascinating to be involved in the recording of a scripted drama, it’s the first time I’ve ever played a cameo scripted role. I’m not going to lie I was a little out of my comfort zone and I hope I did The Repair Shop team proud.”
The show will see one of its characters, Leonard Berry, ask Chinea to help fix Robert Snell’s broken toaster without realising he is famous for fixing things.
Chinea will then meet Tony Archer, who shows him a toy tractor that used to belong to his son, John, who died at the age of 22, and Chinea agrees to help Tony fix it.
During discussions about the episode, editor of The Archers Jeremy Howe also suggested that there was a production item that was in need of some real-life Repair Shop attention, in a doorbell board.
The item, which is a sound board of 12 various doorbells used in the long-running drama only has two bells still functioning, and Spot FX producer Vanessa Nuttall and Louiza Patikas, who plays Helen Archer, took the board to The Repair Shop barn.
Howe said: “As huge fans of The Repair Shop, we thought we would give them an unusual challenge from the huge array of oddball props we use to make our Ambridge sound effects.
“Without giving too much away, I think The Repair Shop geniuses – Mark (Stuckey, electrical expert) especially – rose to the challenge and some. We are delighted with our good-as-new gizmo.”
A Repair Shop episode featuring the doorbell board will be shown next year, while the episode of The Archers featuring Chinea will air on Sunday at 7pm.
The Archers was first broadcast in 1951, some nine years before Coronation Street hit screens on ITV and more than three decades before the BBC launched their own television soap in the form of EastEnders. Others to have made guest appearances over the years include Queen Camilla, Dame Judi Dench and Sir Terry Wogan.
The late Patricia Greene was the soap’s longest-serving actress having starred as matriarch Jill Archer from 1957 until September 2025, and Felicity Jones voiced the role of Emma Carter for a decade before going on to find success in Hollywood.
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