JAY Blades’s role fronting The Repair Shop is hanging in the balance with the BBC barring him from any new shows after he was charged yesterday.
The Repair Shop star, 54, appeared at Kidderminster Magistrates’ court on Friday morning to face one charge of controlling and coercive behaviour against estranged wife Lisa.
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The Repair Shop, which he has presented for seven years, is made independently by Ricochet and sold to the Beeb.
A BBC insider said last night: “Decisions on who does and doesn’t feature in shows made by indies is entirely up to them.
“But it can’t be clearer – the Beeb won’t feature any new shows in which he appears, until it is clear how legal proceedings conclude.”
The usually-dapper star, who presents in flat cap and glasses, wore a pink puffer jacket, hoodie and joggers to attend Kidderminster magistrates’ court yesterday morning, where he was supported by two pals.
Blades was arrested on May 3, the same day his wife Lisa Zbozen made public her decision to end their 18-month marriage.
Dad-of-three Blades is accused of physical and emotional abuse towards her between January 1, 2023 and September 12, 2024.
A spokeswoman for West Mercia Police said: “54-year-old Jason Blades of Claverley in Wolverhampton has been charged with controlling and coercive behaviour.”
Keeping his head down, Blades got straight into a car before being driven away.
He was bailed on the condition he does not contact Lisa directly or indirectly.
Blades will next appear at Worcester Crown Court on October 11.
The star, of Claverley, Shropshire, was charged under his full name Jason Blades.
The charge sheet claims he “repeatedly or continuously engaged in behaviour which was controlling or coercive, namely physical and emotional abuse”.
Blades was bailed to appear at Worcester crown court on October 11.
He and Lisa wed in November 2022 in Barbados, a year after their engagement.
Photographs of their intimate beach-front ceremony were published in Hello! Magazine.
They said their vows in front of 15 guests and exchanged rings designed by Blades’ Repair Shop colleague Richard Talman.
Blades said after the wedding: “One word sums up the day: perfect.
“We had our closest family there, the weather held out and everything worked out so well.”
Speaking to Hello! he continued: “I think the thing that was most emotional for me was actually saying the vows.
“It was almost like I had tunnel vision and I could only see Lisa there.
“And honestly, that’s when it really hit me. I was like, ‘We’re really getting married now!’. That’s the only time I really got emotional.”
He was previously married to Jade, mum to one of his children.
They split in 2015 and he had a four-year relationship with Christine Goodman before meeting Lisa.
Blades took a break from filming following his arrest.
Sources said the decision was also linked to the death of his uncle Richard Braithwaite, 72, in North London in March.
A neighbour has been charged with murder.
Blades became one of TV’s best-known faces after The Repair Shop launched in 2017, with the public bringing him treasures to fix.
He was appointed MBE in 2021 and a year later he featured in a special episode helping then-Prince Charles restore a clock made for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee.
Following his arrest, Blades returned to filming The Repair Shop on June 4.
He was last seen on screen in August when he appeared in Channel 4’s Dame Judi And Jay: The Odd Couple.
The BBC insider last night said its shows starring Blades would not necessarily be abandoned if he could be edited out.
They added: “Nor will he, at present, be removed from old episodes of shows in which he features.”
In June, The Sun revealed that he was to star in spin-off The Repair Shop On the Road.
It’s understood he was in the middle of filming the show, which was due to air next year.
Channel 5 had also commissioned him for Jay Blades: A Country House Through Time.
Read more on the Scottish Sun
It is not clear if that will go ahead.
The BBC said it would “not be appropriate to comment on ongoing legal proceedings”.
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