The Great Pottery Throw Down

Hello?

Hello?

Where is everyone?

Ah, hello again, Gladstone. Ah, it's good to be back.

Hmm. I've missed you.

Where is everyone?

Hello?

Anyone here? Hello?!

Oh, there you are, come on. Wake up.

Rich, Keith come on, we've a show to do.

Oh, don't forget your bucket of doom.

You're gonna need that.

Sorry about that, potters.

Come on! Come on, guys.

Right.

Who else? Ah, yes. I know.

There she is.

Yes, I've definitely remembered everything now.

We have Rose in the kilns,

we have our two lovely judges

and we have 12 new fantastic potters

and a whole load of exciting new challenges.

Welcome to the new series

of the Great Pottery Throw Down.

Yeah, yeah, I think I remembered everything. Ooh!

Whoa!

Remember, Siobhan, you never touch the pots.

I forgot.

We've dusted off the wheels,

ready to welcome 12 of the nation's best home potters

to the historic Gladstone pottery museum in Stoke on Trent.

This is the absolute mecca of pottery,

and, ah, I just can't believe I'm here.

It's an iconic scene, isn't it?

You know, stepping in there, up the steep stairs.

Round the corner, up some more stairs.

The pottery's there.

Oh, wow.

It's great, isn't it?

Each week, they'll be tasked with transforming lumps of raw clay

into stunning ceramics.

When we walked into the pottery, my heart was racing.

That might have been the two flights of stairs to get up there,

but it was racing all the same.

I keep having to remind myself that, you know,

to get here is an accomplishment in itself,

but I'm bricking it, absolutely bricking it.

And their creations will be judged

by master potter Keith Brymer Jones...

I want to see our potters bring things up to us

that shows their own story through what they make.

Are you ready?

It's one of the reasons why I get so emotional.

It's the best illustrated work I've ever seen in the pottery.

I love that man, Keith Brymer Jones.

He is the master potter.

...and ceramics expert Rich Miller.

Above all else, I get far more out of this than the potters.

Because seeing them develop and grow is so inspiring.

You know the positive energy that's generated around it,

you can't put a price on that. It's just such a wonderful thing.

There you are, Hero, you've got hair now.

The potters will face 20 brand-new challenges...

So every year you watch it on the sofa and you think,

"I could do that,"

and then you actually start practising you realise you can't.

You are a strange man. I like you.

...designed to push them...

Come on! Woohoo.

...to their limits...

Oh, no.

If I goes wrong, what's the worst gonna happen?

That's going.

No, uh, trauma like a shared trauma.

Yeah, that's no good. Oh.

...after which one will be named champion...

Stressful.

...Of the Great Pottery Throw Down.

We're going to need more clay here for Shani!

You underestimated my potters!

.

We're back for a brand-new series.

And our 12 new potters are all keen to get their hands on the clay

and show us what they're made of.

After two challenges, our judges, Keith and Rich,

will decide who is Potter of the Week

and who will leave the pottery.

Welcome, potters.

It is so good to see you all.

A very, very warm welcome.

Now, for your very first challenge

the judges would like you to make a roast dinner set.

A dinner plate, a gravy boat and saucer,

a condiment pot with sculpted knob

and a pair of salt and pepper shakers

based on your perfect Sunday memories.

We're super excited to get to know you through your work,

so really consider how you bring your perfect Sunday memories

into your roast dinner set.

And as this is a set, really think about how that construction

and decoration will bring all of the pieces together cohesively.

Now, whether you prefer throwing,

sculpting or hand building,

this is a chance for you to really shine.

So play to your strengths and show us what you can do.

Wonderful, OK, potters, you have six hours

to make and refine your roast dinner set.

And you time starts... now.

It's really good to get started.

Get my hands on the clay, get muddy.

Before the potters can make a start on their roast dinner set,

they need to wedge the clay.

What this does, it does two things, it kind of homogenises the clay,

so that it's kind of even particles throughout

and then also helps you get air bubbles out.

If you have air bubbles in it when you fire it,

it might blow up in the kiln.

Thinking about that is making me a little bit nervous.

That's the wonderful thing about clay, the jeopardy.

So here we are.

Back at Gladstone. I'm really, really excited.

Yeah, we've got 12 wonderful new potters,

and I just can't wait to see what they're gonna do in the pottery.

I know. And this first make, a dinner plate,

a gravy boat with saucer,

a condiment pot with sculpted knob and salt and pepper shakers.

What I love about this challenge is that there"s just bags in it.

Yeah. There's so many different skills that are gonna be on display.

You've got sculptural elements,

you've got elements that could be hand built or thrown

or thrown and distorted.

It's gonna be a mismatch of forms and shapes

which have to be brought together as a set,

whether that's through the decoration

or whether it's through the form that it takes.

And not only that they have to kind of tell a story.

Their favourite Sunday roast or who they'd like to spend it with,

and it's just such a wonderful challenge

to really get to know our potters, isn't it?

Yeah, we're gonna get a real sense of who our potters are

and where their strengths lie.

Hi, Jan. Oh, hi. Hello, Jan. How are you?

Oh, I'm excited. Yeah? And I'm always up for a challenge.

OK. Yeah. well, tell us about your design then.

So my favourite Sundays are when the kids come home.

When they were little, we'd have a big family dinner together.

We'd play board games, but now the kids are older

and they've all left home, it's even more special.

Back home in Llanelli, South Wales,

Jan keeps herself busy with belly-dancing classes...

Yeah!

...and potting in her shed where her dog, Hero, loves to get involved.

No, you're not helping mummy at all, are you? No.

Jan'll be using dice counters

and cards as motifs across her set.

And sitting atop her condiment pot, Hero the dog.

Hero seems to think that he's on the team.

As soon as somebody stands up,

a vacant chair is filled and Hero's in the game.

So my plate will have footprints all over it

to represent his interference.

Hi, Shani. Hello. Hello, Shani.

Hi, Shani how are you? Hello, I'm very well.

Lovely to meet you. Lovely to meet you.

Now, tell us about your design.

Well, my design is based on my Sri Lankan upbringing.

Brilliant. And I love to spend my Sunday

with my children in the temple.

After a kick-about with husband Martin

and their four energetic boys,

Shani likes to dial things down with a visit

to her local Buddhist temple.

She will celebrate her Sunday ritual

with her roast dinner set,

which will be festooned with sculpted and painted lotus flowers.

And so is it this sort of the colours and the design

that's kind of bringing the set together

more than the form, you would say or? Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Well, look, good luck. Thank you very much.

Lovely to meet you. My dream come true. Really. Wow.

I couldn't believe it when I saw you. Oh, my God.

Prepare to be disappointed.

Well, my design is based on the walkies

that used to come after a Sunday lunch.

I just love that day of the week when you all just

get wrapped up in whatever clothes you need

and just head out onto the downs and go for a big stomp.

When she isn't getting wrapped up warm for a Sunday stomp...

Come on, womenfolk, let's go.

Cadi likes to brave the cold waters of Brighton's seafront.

THEY LAUGH

Her set will feature white acorn salt and pepper shakers

and a condiment pot in the shape of the fire beacons

that line the South Downs.

We should do a sort of little competition of, like,

who has the cleanest apron by the end of this,

and, uh, I don't know, Cadi, I think...

If I'd have known that was a criteria,

I might have paid more attention.

Maybe we'll do it the other way. Who is the dirtiest one?