On Boxing Day, 26th December 2025 at 7.30pm on ‘The Repair Shop’ on BBC One the retirement home, Denville Hall, is featured after Dame Helen Mirren takes cello they own in for restoration. You can catch a preview of the first section that explains the project here.
Daphne Neville has been resident at Denville Hall since the end of September. See if you can spot her in the audience when the repaired cello is played at their Christmas concert. Dame Helen Mirren is an ambassador for the charity, which was set up to care for elderly actors in 1926, nearly 100 years ago. Details of how you can become a Friend of Denville Hall and take part in events can be found on their website here.
Daphne worked with Dame Helen Mirren when she played an endlessly grieving mother in the long-running detective series Prime Suspect about thirty years ago. It is good to see the tears replaced by laughter in the touching story of the cello that someone survived WWII.
You can read more about The Repair Shop Christmas Special on the BBC Media Centre and in The Radio Times
Daphne Neville 