The Great Pottery Throw Down Explained

Genre:Reality
Presenter:
Judges:
Opentheme:"I Can't Explain" by The Who (2015)
"Making Time" by The Creation (2017–)
Country:United Kingdom
Language:English
Num Series:7
Num Episodes:64
Location:Middleport Pottery, Stoke-on-Trent, England (2015–20)
Gladstone Pottery Museum, Stoke-on-Trent, England (2021–)
Runtime:60 minutes
Company:Love Productions
Channel:BBC Two (2015–17)
More4 (2020)
Channel 4 (2021–)
Related:The Great British Sewing Bee

The Great Pottery Throw Down is a British television competition programme that first aired on BBC Two from 3 November 2015 to 23 March 2017. It was then moved to More4 from 8 January to 11 March 2020, and has been broadcast by Channel 4 since 10 January 2021.

Format

In each episode, a group of amateur potters compete to complete two pottery challenges. In the "main make" challenge, contestants undertake a substantial multi-stage creative task: subject to given specifications, they must design a ceramic creation, build it from clay body, and decorate it, and present it to the judges for evaluation after it is fired in the kiln. In between stages of the main make, potters are given a "second challenge", a smaller-scale task testing a specific pottery skill, on which they are ranked from worst to best by the judges. At the end of each episode, the judges designate the best-performing contestant as "potter of the week". The contestant with the worst results is dismissed, and all others return for the following episode; the winner of the final episode is the overall winner of the series.

Series overview

SeriesEpisodesPremiereFinaleWinner
163 November 20158 December 2015Matthew Wilcock
282 February 201723 March 2017Ryan Barrett
3108 January 202011 March 2020Rosa Wiland Holmes
41010 January 202114 March 2021Jodie Neale
5102 January 20226 March 2022AJ Simpson
6108 January 202312 March 2023Loïs Gunn
7107 January 202410 March 2024Donna Bloye

Series 1 (2015)

See main article: The Great Pottery Throw Down series 1.

Series 2 (2017)

See main article: The Great Pottery Throw Down series 2.

Series 3 (2020)

See main article: The Great Pottery Throw Down series 3.

Series 4 (2021)

See main article: The Great Pottery Throw Down series 4.

Series 5 (2022)

See main article: The Great Pottery Throw Down series 5.

Series 6 (2023)

See main article: The Great Pottery Throw Down series 6.

Series 7 (2024)

See main article: The Great Pottery Throw Down series 7.

International broadcasts

In July 2020, HBO Max secured the rights to distribute the show in the United States, where it premiered on 17 September 2020. As of July 2024, HBO Max has not released season 6 (originally aired January 2023 in the UK with season 7 starting January 2024) and has made no mention of it being released in the future. Currently, HBO Max only indicates 5 seasons exist on their website.[1]

A Canadian version, The Great Canadian Pottery Throw Down, premiered on CBC Television on 8 February 2024.[2]

The Festive Pottery Throwdown

The Festive Pottery Throwdown is a series of one-off Christmas specials where celebrities participate instead of members of the public.

2022

Celebrity[3] Known forResult
Jenny EclairComedian
James FleetActorWinner
Jamie LaingMade in Chelsea
Sunetra SarkerActress and TV presenter

2023

CelebrityKnown forResult
Hugh DennisComedian and ActorWinner
Sophie DukerStand-up comedian
Alice LevineRadio and TV presenter
Joe SwashFormer EastEnders actor

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Great Pottery Throw Down HBO Max Trailer. www.thewrap.com. 15 September 2019. 3 September 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200903002321/https://www.thewrap.com/great-pottery-throw-down-hbo-max-trailer/. live.
  2. https://www.timescolonist.com/the-mix/seth-rogen-jennifer-robertson-join-cbcs-the-great-canadian-pottery-throw-down-7758528 "Seth Rogen, Jennifer Robertson join CBC's 'The Great Canadian Pottery Throw Down'"
  3. Web site: The Great Festive Pottery Throw Down 2022 line-up: Meet the celebs taking part . 26 December 2022 . 26 December 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221226195146/https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/entertainment/the-great-festive-pottery-throw-down-2022-line-up/ . live .