"I FEEL like a phoenix rising out of the ashes."

These were the words of master carver Joseph Hemingway after a TV company offered to make a programme about the fire which destroyed his workshop.

And the Armitage Bridge man could go on to make a whole series of shows based around his carving expertise.

It's quite a turnaround for the 64-year-old whose two-storey workshop behind his home was gutted by a fierce blaze on January 23.

Mr Hemingway, whose Skoda has been repeatedly attacked outside his Wood End Road home, believes the fire was started deliberately.

He is well-known for his exact replicas of 18th-century furniture maker Thomas Chippendale's work.

He received a PhD from the Cosmopolitan University in Missouri two years ago to honour his work carving two highly ornate wooden chairs - replicas of designs by Thomas Chippendale.

The chairs were known as "impossible chairs" - because they were so difficult to carve.

On Wednesday, Barbara Govan, executive of Leeds-based TV production company Screenhouse, called to offer her sympathy over the blaze.

Dr Hemingway made three newel caps for Mrs Govan in October.

He said: "She said she was horrified at what had happened and how we should do a programme about the fire."

The following day a Screenhouse camera woman spent five hours interviewing him about his life story and filmed the wreckage of the workshop.

And now the company would like to make a series of shows based around his expert knowledge.

He explained: "There's more filming planned.

"The idea of the programme is that I go to stately homes to decide whether so-called Chippendales are genuine."