The BBC presenter Jay Blades has been charged with engaging in controlling and coercive behaviour against his wife. The Repair Shop presenter appeared at Kidderminster magistrates court on Friday, West Mercia police said.
The Guardian understands that the BBC took steps to remove a programme featuring Blades from its Friday evening schedule after the charge, and that no programmes with the former furniture maker would be shown in the foreseeable future.
Blades, 54, was charged with one count of engaging in controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship. The presenter will appear at Worcester crown court for a plea and trial preparation hearing on 11 October.
In a statement, West Mercia police said: “54-year-old Jason Blades of Claverley in Wolverhampton has been charged with controlling and coercive behaviour.
“He appeared at Kidderminster magistrates court this morning (Friday 13 September) and has been bailed to appear at Worcester crown court on Friday 11 October.”
According to court documents, the charge relates to his fitness instructor wife, Lisa Zbozen, who announced on her Instagram page on 2 May that their relationship was over.
Blades has become a well-known figure thanks to the BBC restoration programme The Repair Shop, in which members of the public take damaged but treasured family heirlooms to be restored by a team of experts. A source at the broadcaster said Blades was not a BBC employee and the charge was unrelated to his work at the BBC.
Blades’ rise from furniture maker to TV celebrity has been meteoric since he first featured on the show in 2017. In August Channel 4 broadcast Dame Judi and Jay: The Odd Couple, which charts the friendship between Blades and Dench, who he first met on The Repair Shop two years ago.
On Friday the BBC removed the seventh episode of the first series of David & Jay’s Touring Toolshed, Blades which was first shown by the broadcaster in January and features Blades and David Jason touring the UK meeting master crafters and hobbyists.
In 2022 Blades featured in the BBC documentary Jay Blades: Learning to Read at 51, which followed his journey of learning to read and write, having not been taught to do so in childhood.
From a disadvantaged background, he was raised in Hackney by his single-parent mother, he struggled financially and lived in a hostel before moving into social housing.
He became a furniture maker and got his break on the Repair Shop after being discovered by TV producers who saw a short film about Out of the Dark, a charity he co-founded that taught young people how to restore and sell old furniture.
A spokesperson at the BBC said it would not be appropriate to comment on continuing legal proceedings.
