
Repair Shop star Jay Blades appears in court charged with two counts of rape - after separately facing accusations of coercively controlling his ex-wife
Blades was listed at Telford Magistrates Court under his full name of Jason Bladess and spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth.
The television presenter appeared on a video link wearing linkwearing a blue suit, white shirt and dark polka-dock tie and animal-print spectacles.
The 55-year-old television presenter has seperately been charged with coercively controlling his ex-wife Lisa-Marie Zbozen, 43.
The hearing lasted six minutes and Blades was granted conditional bail by District Judge Joseph O'Connor.
The judge told him: 'Mr Blades this case can only be dealt with at the Crown Court.'
He will appear next at Shrewsbury Crown Court on September 10.
West Mercia Police confirmed that Blades, a father-of-thee, had been charged with rape earlier this month.
The Repair Shop star Blades was originally charged last September with a single count of controlling and coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship between January 1 2023 and September 12 2024.
Filming on the new series of the BBC One show – in which members of the public bring their treasured possessions and heirlooms to be fixed - began without him the same month.
At the time, furniture restorer Blades, of Claverley, Shropshire, said he was taking a break to 'take stock' following the alleged murder of his uncle.
The particulars of that charge stated that Blades 'engaged in behaviour' which was 'controlling or coercive which had a serious effect on her, namely that it caused Lisa Marie Zbozen to fear, on at least two occasions, that violence will be used against her, at a time when he knew, or ought to have known, that the behaviour will have a serious effect on Lisa Marie Zbozen.
She announced on Instagram in May 2024 that she had walked out of the marriage.
Blades wed Ms Zbozen - his second wife - in the grounds of a beachfront villa in Barbados on November 22, 2022, 40 days before the start of the alleged abusive behaviour.
Blades was dropped from The Repair Shop's live tour after he was charged last year, while Roman Kemp replaced him as host for the show's 2024 Christmas special.
He was handed an MBE in 2021 for services to craft and in recognition of his work promoting heritage craft and restoration in the UK.
In 2022, a special one-off episode to mark the BBC's centenary saw Blades and the repair team visit the King, when he was still the Prince of Wales, at Dumfries House in Scotland.
During The Repair Shop: A Royal Visit, a bracket clock and a piece made for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee by British ceramics maker Wemyss Ware were both fixed – and the broadcast later won a daytime Bafta TV award.
Blades also presented the BBC's Money For Nothing until 2020, and appeared on Celebrity Masterchef and Celebrity Bake Off as well as Comic Relief.

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