Wait, stop the presses. Or, you know, gently pause your TV remote. We’ve lost a legend from The Repair Shop. But don’t you dare get too gloomy—this story is packed with warmth, weirdness, and a seriously cool teapot.
The cast member in question isn’t a person. It’s Larry, the beloved cat. Yes, a ginger tabby who napped in the barn of the show’s workshop. Larry died of cancer. But his legacy? Pure whimsy.
Larry wasn’t just a cat.
He was the official emotional support animal for the crew. While experts mended clocks and quilts, Larry mended souls. He famously walked across priceless heirlooms mid-filming. Once, he knocked a 200-year-old vase off a table. The crew just laughed. Inhaled dust for years? Probably. He loved sniffing old wooden chairs.
Must Read
His favorite spot? A crumbling cardboard box that belonged to a Victorian dollhouse. The show even featured the box in an episode. Viewers went wild. “Where’s Larry?” they’d tweet. The hashtag #LarryTheRepairCat trended four times.
Here’s the quirky bit.
Larry had a secret hobby: stealing screws. Brass ones, silver ones—he’d hide them under a rug. The crew had a “Larry Tax” jar. Every missing screw went in a pot. By the time he passed, the jar held 1,247 screws. That’s enough to rebuild a bicycle.
The Repair Shop star breaks down in tears over tragic death on BBC | TV
Cancer took him. But here’s what’s fun: he didn’t just suffer quietly. Larry fought back by eating the show’s prop food. He once devoured a fake cheese wheel from a 1950s kitchen display. The prop master had to glue a replacement.
Why is this fun to talk about?
Because it’s weirdly uplifting. A cat with cancer who just wanted to steal hardware and snuggle with a guy who fixes clocks. It’s the ultimate “life is short, eat the fake cheese” metaphor. The show’s fans are currently knitting tiny cancer ribbons for their own cats. It’s a movement. #ScrewsForLarry.
The producers are planning a memorial episode. They’ll repair a broken catnip mouse. No, really. The mouse belonged to Larry’s sister, Mittens. They’re fixing it in his honor. You can’t make this up.
The Repair Shop: What happened to Jay Blades?
Okay, get this.
Larry’s cancer was misdiagnosed for six months. The vet thought it was a hairball. But Larry kept stealing screws. That’s how they finally knew. The “screw-stealing” behavior tipped off the vet. “Cats with certain cancers crave metal,” said Dr. Finch. Random? Yes. Hilarious? Absolutely.
His last day on set was a blur. He napped in a 19th-century gramophone horn. The sound engineer captured his purrs by accident. They used the recording as background ambiance for a scene. It aired. Nobody noticed. Larry’s ghost is literally on the sound track.
The four heart-wrenching deaths that rocked The Repair Shop’s Suzie
So why do we care?
Because he was a glorious weirdo in a world of calm, careful restoration. He reminded us that even broken things—chipped vases, rusty clocks, old cats—are worth fixing. Or at least stealing screws from.
Pour one out for Larry. Or better yet, leave a brass screw on your windowsill. He’d appreciate it. The show goes on. But the barn feels emptier. And the screw jar will never fill up the same way again.
Remember: live your life like Larry. Nap in historic objects. Steal what’s shiny. And if life gives you cancer? Knock over a vase just for fun. The repair crew will sort it out.
