On Boxing Day, 26th December 2025 at 7.30pm on ‘The Repair Shop Christmas Special featured the retirement home, Denville Hall, after Dame Helen Mirren took a 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 cello is finally played at their Christmas concert just before the end credits. Dame Helen Mirren is an ambassador for the charity, which was set up to care for elderly actors nearly 100 years ago in 1926. 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 about thirty years ago when she played an endlessly grieving mother in the long-running detective series Prime Suspect. It is good to see the tears replaced by laughter in the touching story of the cello that somehow survived WWII.
You can read more about The Repair Shop Christmas Special on the BBC Media Centre and in The Radio Times
Daphne Neville 