Telly pair show you can get a bargain

Charles Hanson checks out Anita Mannings paintings in Hawick.

As well as the intrepid pair visiting shops in Hawick, Innerleithen, Kelso and Melrose, pleading with owners to give them bargain buys, they also did segments on Hawick motorcycle ace Jimmie Guthrie and Selkirk tartan manufacturers DC Dalgleish.

As far as their buys went, canny Scot Anita beat her opponent hands down on their Borders buys, but poor auction prices elsewhere meant neither really bathed themselves in glory.

In the show broadcast on Tuesday, they visited the Borders Antiques Centre in Hawick, where Anita bought a pair of paintings for £35, knocked down from £65, but they made a £9 loss at auction in Dumfries.

Charles rolls up his trousers in a filler segment.

Meanwhile, Charles bought a pair of fairly knackered looking Chinese bowls from the 1700s for £30, which sold for £42.

However, the tables turned as Charles mucked about in the river, trying to “guddle a salmon” for Anita’s tea, while the good lady herself visited Lou Lou’s Vintage Emporium and Keepsakes Antiques in Innerleithen. A ceramic budgie bought for half price at £12 made £32 at auction, and her star buy, a silver photo frame, made a £30 profit when it sold for £50.

In Thursday’s programme, Anita was well in the lead as the pair travelled back to the region.

Anita visited Eptas arts in Kelso, where a 9ct gold amethyst pendant and a battered copper plate were bought for £25 each. She made profits of £5 and £11 respectively on them when they went to auction in Stirling.

Anita blows her entire kitty on a bagatelle table in Old Melrose.

The pair then took in Old Melrose Antiques and Tea Room, where Charles bought a joint lot of silver sugar nips and a vesta stand for £32, only to make a further loss of £12 at auction.

Anita managed to keep herself in front by giving Greg Frater every penny she had left in her pocket – £140 – for a bagatelle table. Luckily, come auction, the item “wiped it’s face” by making exactly that amount.

Each week, the show sends two antiques personalities out on the road with £200 each to spend.

Any profit they make goes towards Children In Need.

Charles attempts to strike a deal on a vestas stand with Old Melrose owner Tim Hodgson.

However, Charles’s Scottish adventure saw him make a loss over the week of £6.80, while Anita made a profit of £225.78, having lost a good whack of her early successes.

They both had a fair bit to go to equal Paul Laidlaw’s record win in the programme, buying a rare antique camera for £60, which went on to sell for £20,000.

However mediocre the profits made in last week’s shows, it’s fair to say the programme did show the region at its beautiful best.