Inside The Repair Shop's Suzie Fletcher life off-screen from tragic loss to US life
Ever since The Repair Shop first arrived on our screens back in 2017, the popular BBC show has been helping to restore precious treasures - and memories - much to the delight of viewers at home. From repairing beloved childhood toys to family heirlooms, priceless artefacts to timeless pieces of art - the show even had a visit from King Charles back in 2022 when a piece of pottery made for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee and an 18th-century clock were restored by the show's experts.
Now, the popular show is once again returning to our screens for a festive edition of the show on Christmas Eve, with a whole host of experts once again sharing their valuable skills with viewers in need of their help.
Among those experts is Suzie Fletcher, a renowned leather expert who first joined the show in 2018, who also works alongside her brother Steve on the show.
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Well known for being a Master English Saddle Maker, Suzie specialises in restoring leather goods and furniture, with the star even running her own workshop in Oxfordshire.
But what exactly is her life like off screen? Here’s everything you need to know about Suzie’s life so far.
Early Life & Career
Originally hailing from Oxfordshire, Suzie Fletcher first started her career with Master Saddler Ken Langford, all the way back in 1975 after initially falling in love with all things equine at a young age.
“I have been nuts about horses ever since I can remember and can vividly recall from a very young age making saddles and bridles for my rocking horse and Cindy horse,” she previously explained in a BBC interview.
“With the influence of my mother, who was very skilled in designing and making clothes and my father being a watch maker, it’s no surprise I found a way to combine my interests in design and horses to become a saddle maker.”
After training with Ken, Suzie later went on to study at the Cordwainers College in London, with one of her most notable accomplishments after graduation being appointed harness maker to Queen Elizabeth!
New life in America
Despite the royal seal of approval, Suzie decided to take her skills overseas and later emigrated to Colorado in the United States of America.
It was while working here that she met her late husband Rob, who sadly died of cancer in 2013. According to the star, the couple first met just three weeks after Suzie had made the move to the USA - with the sparks swiftly flying between the couple.
Despite initially only planning on staying for two years, the star was so smitten she stayed in the country for 22 years thanks to her relationship with Rob, however it wasn’t quite the picture perfect life she had initially envisioned.
Difficult Marriage
Opening up to Lorraine Kelly on an episode of her morning show back in June 2023, Suzie said: "It's really difficult with some people as everyone has their faults, but as I got to know him better I realised he was massively traumatised as a child.
"With that, brought on some coping mechanisms which are not exactly healthy and he was using alcohol to help numb the pain, and I did learn as time went on how massively damaged he was.”
During the emotional interview, Suzie went on to delve deeper into Rob’s “bad treatment” of her, which she explained came from "his insecurities and his inability to cope with life”.
"We all struggle from time to time and we have choices to make, but for him, I think he was just caught up with a lot of negative feedback within certain groups that he had grown up in," she added.
Suzie continued: ”I think sometimes if you can keep an open heart and love unconditionally, there's always hope and I'd rather have hope and try and help a person than necessarily run away."
“My circumstances were quite different as well because I'd moved to another country, I didn't have the support of old friends and the family and things like that which can make a huge difference.”
In a further interview about her relationship, this time with the Mail on Sunday, Suzie also revealed some of the abuse she had been subjected to, which included being choked by her husband and lifted off the carpet with his forearm beneath her throat.
"I honestly thought I was going to die," she explained. "He was choking me and could easily have killed me. I don't know why but eventually he let go."
"I was profoundly shocked. I'd always thought it could never happen to me. Not that. He would never hurt me. Now I knew what my husband was capable of."
Rob died after losing his battle with throat cancer in 2013.
Return to the UK
Following Rob’s death, Suzie later went on to return to the UK where she once again settled in her home county of Oxfordshire and continued her craft from a new workshop.
In addition to her handiwork, Suzie has also extended her talents to including book writing too, with the leather expert now also a bonafide author following the release of her book The Sun Over the Mountains: A Story of Hope, Healing and Restoration.
The book charts Suzie’s life from England to Colorado and back again, and also touches on the places, people and experiences which have helped to shape her into the person she is today.
