Episode 1 The Great Pottery Throw Down

We're back! It's time to get our hands dirty once again,

as ten of the nation's finest amateur potters do battle

to become the next champion.

Welcome to The Great Pottery Throw Down.

During the day,

I'm the mild-mannered person doing people's mortgages.

In the evening, I'm the mad potter.

Ten pottery-mad home potters have been selected

to walk the hallowed cobbles of Middleport,

right in the heart of British pottery's spiritual home,

Stoke-on-Trent.

I'm not sure whether it's real. Pinch myself. Maybe it's real.

'I was feeling a bit nervous on the way here.'

I was wondering if I'd forgotten how to throw pots.

In Middleport's inspirational studio,

they'll be let loose on wet clay to transform it into

unique and beautiful items for the home.

Pottery gives me a sense of achievement.

You put a bit of your soul into it.

The time constraint is the thing that I'm not used to,

because I never, ever throw to a time limit.

Everything they conjure up will be judged by world-renowned

ceramic artist Kate Malone and maverick master potter

Keith Brymer Jones.

It's like meeting potting royalty, isn't it?

Kate has been one of my heroines all my potting live.

I'm a pottery addict.

Because it's all the wonders of nature.

Earth, air, fire, water.

And you witness the transformation from clay to something of beauty.

I'm really looking for that connection between the potter

and what they've made.

I want to see a lot of passion.

As you know, I get a bit emotional.

My main aim is to make Keith cry.

If I do that, then I'll be happy.

So, are these potters ready for 24 brand-new challenges?

-I can do this.

-You can feel the intensity in the room!

SHE STRAINS

'And who will go one to be named the champion...'

You've got to make your decision, James,

you've got to make your decision!

'..of The Great Pottery Throw Down?'

SHE YELPS

Oh, I like James's. Nice.

A bit busy, isn't it?

# Making time

# Shooting lines

# People have their uses

# People have their uses... #

It's fantastic to be once again

walking on the very same cobbles where our pottery forefathers trod.

You can almost feel the history seeping up into your feet.

Middleport is Britain's oldest surviving pottery,

and it's still using traditional skills

dating back to the 1700s.

What better place to inspire our brand-new potters?

And what better way to get things revved up

than to get back behind the wheel?

The potters have three long days ahead of them,

involving three tests of their skill and creativity.

But whose hands will craft the pot of the week,

and who will Kate and Keith decide

should be the first to leave the pottery?

-Good morning, potters. ALL:

-Good morning.

Welcome to your very first day here in the pottery.

Now your first challenge is your Main Make.

Kate and Keith would like you to throw a 16-piece dinner set.

Four dinner plates, four side plates,

four bowls and four beakers.

You can choose any design you fancy,

but it must reflect you.

And we're really looking for consistency here in the shapes.

So they must be identical.

OK, potters, so to throw your dinner service,

you have four-and-a-half hours.

Your time starts now. Potters, get potting.

Oh! Heavy, heavy!

What I'm mostly worried about is timing

because I'm not an experienced thrower.

I will move quite quick.

I'm not designed to go quick, though,

being 6' 6" and, like, 20st.

I just want them to be perfect, that's all.

So, Keith, here we are, the first Main Make.

Yes, cups, plates, bowls.

It's that consistency that we're really after.

That's showing me the skill in their throwing.

We're expecting the pieces to be fit for purpose.

We don't want any peas rolling off the plate,

we want this to fit the lip very beautifully.

This is a very practical challenge.

So the weight is very important.

And if they're finished off well,

that's what I'll be really looking for.

They've got to be aware of the profile, the functionality,

and at the same time, we want them to look beautiful.

-We don't want much.

-No, that's right.

HE LAUGHS

In this first stage,

the potters have just four-and-a-half hours

to throw all 16 pieces on the wheel

and get them into the studio's drying room.

I've never just sat down for four-and-a-half hours

and churned out 16 things,

so I actually don't know how it's going to go.

-Have you weighed them out?

-No, I'm doing it now.

The only way to guarantee their pieces are of

a consistent size is to carefully weigh out each lump

of clay for each item they throw.

I'm really not good at maths.

These are going to be about 1.1 kilos.

Then each lump needs to be kneaded,

which potters call wedging...

I'm doing it on the floor because it's just

a lot easier to get your body weight on top of it.

..and then slapped into a ball shape...

Absolutely.

..before it can be thrown.

Preparation is key.

You need to wedge the clay,

to make sure there's no air bubbles,

cos that will break the plates.

While you've got dry hands, it's a lot easier

to get your balls done now in preparation, ready.

Ryan is from Ipswich and works as a model.

His gran lets him do all his potting in her garden shed.

Here you are, Grandma.

I made them specially for you this morning.

And it's staying with Gran that gave him the idea

for the motif at the edges of his dinner set.

You actually call it a pie crust edge, don't you?

-Yeah.

-Traditionally.

Yeah, and that's my inspiration.

From my grandma's apple pies.

Does she make a special apple pie?

She does, a mean apple pie.

And a million women's hearts

just swell at how lovely that is right now.

Are you au fait with playing around with plates?

No - literally, this week is my first week of making plates.

You seem very calm, Ryan - is this normal?

I'm just in my zone, which is really nice.

I'm just getting my head down and try not to talk too much.

That's his polite way of asking us to please leave now.

But we can, actually, can't we?

Right, start the wheel.

Wibbly-wobbly clay. Oh!

I hope I don't make funny faces when I'm throwing.

SHE STRAINS

It's on with the big plates first. Go big or go home.

But wrestling large lumps of clay into flat dinner plates

isn't just physically demanding.

You can make a plate in a very simple way,

but too thin and it warps, too thick, it's a heavy plate

and the judges will be like, "Are you joking?"

At 24, Freya is this year's youngest potter.

She grew up surrounded by ceramics

in her dad's London studio,

but her passion took a while to emerge.

I remember someone asking me once,

"Do you think you'd want to be a potter?"

My first reaction was like,

"No way, I don't want to be poor."

LAUGHTER

She's practised her floral dinner set at her dad's wheel,

but its design is thanks to her mum.

I got the inspiration from this top that I'm wearing.

It's my mother's top and basically I just liked

the colours and the energy,

and she used to wear it when she did her puppet shows,

performing to lots of kids and stuff, so I thought,

"Oh, that's something that will make me happy."

I'm going to do a couple just to warm up, and then hopefully

I'll get some that are actually worth keeping.

Do I have clay on me?

Let's leave it authentic.

Clover is a qualified accountant

and part-time illustrator living in London.

Pottery became a passion whilst growing up in China.

When I was 12 years old, there was one comic I read

about a girl doing ceramic, and I decided to give it a try,

and I fell in love with it straight away.

Her first plate is the start

of a Chinese-inspired minimalist dinner set.

I'm trying to make the first plate,

so this is going to be the benchmark plate.

Even if they are happy with their first plate...

At the moment, we're just getting rid

of the excess clay around the sides.

..the potters' troubles are only just beginning.

I'm just trying to get

the right thickness for the base.

Creating three more that match perfectly...

I'm going to try and get a little bit more height from it.

..requires an exacting eye for form.

-I'm not happy with the base of this one.

-Check.

-..and an obsession with size.

-Get the old measuring tool out.

And just to make life even harder,

as it dries, clay shrinks.

Just less than a quarter of a centimetre difference.

You, you naughty little monkey, are going back on the wheel.

Elaine lives in Buckinghamshire.

She has two grown-up children, two dogs, seven cats

and a family business

with her husband and childhood sweetheart, Robert.

It's their work together that's inspired

her dinner set's fruit-based design.

We import ripen bananas

and that's what I've been doing with my husband for the last

many, many, many, many years.

My family don't take much notice of my pottering,

I don't think, they just let me get on with it.

I'm their mad mother, as far as they're concerned.

My inspiration is a lake where I used to live

and it was my place of peace.

So my pieces are going to represent the whole lake.

Carole is a yoga-obsessed mum-of-two from Hertfordshire.

She's been hand-sculpting with clay for over 40 years.

Recreating a lake with a thrown dinner service

will involve more time at the wheel than she's used to.

I'm getting more familiar with the wheel

every second I'm doing it.

I feel more at one, I'm quite pleased with my progress.

Whether it's going to be good enough,

I don't know, but I'm trying.

Finding the consistency the judges are looking for

isn't easy.

No, this one's gone.

Oh, don't do that, don't do that, don't do that.

This one's a goner. It's wobbly.

That's not saveable.

Considerably further behind than where I should be,

let's say that!

But for some of this year's potters...

We're about there.

..knocking out identical dinner and side plates...

They're going all right, actually, so I'm quite happy.

..doesn't seem to be a problem.

HE HUMS

Richard is a pub landlord from Banbury,

but when he's not pulling pints...

For God! Liberty! And England!

..he's re-enacting England's bloody Civil War.

And his passion for history has led to

a dinner set inspired by 500-year-old royalty.

What I've taken is Richard III's Yorkist rose

and broken it down into four elements.

So we have the beaker, that's the centre,

the bowl as the inner leaf,

and then the two side plates are the outer leaves.

So this scalloped edge, is this on every piece?

It's the element of a rose,

and that's what will give it its form.

-So it's the War of the Roses?

-War of the Roses.

You're representing Yorkshire with it?

We're representing Richard III, who was a white rose,

against that usurper, Harry Tudor,

who was a red rose.

-Who was Lancashire.

-Yeah.

-Well, we don't like Lancashire, do we?

-A bit awkward.

KEITH LAUGHS

Richard's not the only potter

spending time giving his thrown plates a little more love.

I've allowed 15 minutes per item. That's the plan.

Second time lucky.

For the supports, I'm using kitchen towel and clingfilm.

I am the kitchen towel and clingfilm queen.

But rather than supporting his plates...

I'm not happy with the lip totally.

..Daniel has started attacking his with a knife.

What I'm trying to create is a petal shape.

I've seen this before. I'd like to say, "Yeah, my own design."

But I'd be lying.

Daniel is a mortgage adviser from Hampshire.

He's had to practise his dinner set in the garage,

which he shares with his daughter's rabbits,

Bella and Benny.

For the design, he's drawn inspiration

from his wife's love of flowers.

There comes a point when you have to say to yourself,

"Just stop - clay doesn't like to be overworked."

I just need to get rid of that edge slightly.

If they're happy with their finish,

the potters face a nerve-racking final stage

for everything they've thrown.

Wiring off.

Unless the clay is separated

from the wooden bat that it was thrown on...

HE EXHALES

..it won't be able to move as it dries and shrinks,

and it will crack.

-Oh!

-And if they don't keep the wire tight and steady,

the bases of their dinner sets could be ruined.

-Oh!

-We've got to wire it off,

and pray that we get a nice finish to the bottom.

I have the wheel moving very slowly,

and then I just wire through a couple of times.

Oh, my God!

-Oh!

-It's like a birthing scene, isn't it?

You've got a beautiful baby dinner plate.

I'm nervous about this one.

HE LAUGHS

I've thrown them way too thin.

I could race around and get frustrated,

but if something doesn't go right, it doesn't go right.

25-year-old James recently graduated

with a degree in glass and ceramics.

He now works as a tour guide

in the National Glass Centre in Sunderland.

Cool.

His dinner set is a love letter

to his hometown's proud manufacturing heritage.

I'm all about clean angles and industrial shapes,

straight edges.

Sweet!

Potters, we are approaching the halfway mark time-wise.

I've made a plate! Yay!

With their time at the wheel running out...

Oh! Oh, there we are.

..some potters have yet to get anything in the drying room.

Oh, no.

SHE LAUGHS

You've done about ten plates.

Have you got four that you're happy with yet?

Not yet. I'll do one more.

Because you have still got the four side plates, the four bowls...

I know, don't remind me.

-The quest for perfection has to end at some point.

-Yeah.

I've now started my first bowl,

so this is going to set the ones for the other three,

so I'm just trying to determine the shape and size of it at the moment.

I'll just make them quite straight up and down,

so a lot of people wouldn't consider them a bowl

cos they're not that, sort of, traditional shape.

But if they hold cereal and milk,

then it's a bowl, right?

Creating four identical bowls...

I'm not sure that will be acceptable to the judges.

..requires a whole new set of throwing skills.

I'm having difficulty bringing the clay

from the base up to the top.

No, it's going.

I'm measuring how tall and how wide it is

before I curve the side of it.

The sides of the bowls need to be pulled thin enough

to create an attractive profile.

But they still need to be thick enough to support themselves.

I think I don't have enough clay at the bottom

to support it, but we'll see.

If it's too thick,

it may crack, due to the clay not drying out evenly.

It just takes a bit more time to focus.

Nam lives in east London and is a trained cage fighter.

He's developed a passion for using clay

to recreate the forms and colours

of the toys he had growing up.

His dinner set has sprung from the first games console

he was given when he was nine.

I always wanted a Gameboy, and my father got me one.

It took him a long time cos he was saving up for it.

I always carried it around with me.

I'm fiddling around with the clay a bit, trying to push it in a bit.

I'm going for a Space Invader-shaped bowl.

I'm going to try to convey it as much as I can.

But not everyone's made a start on their bowls.

The rims are all different thicknesses,

and they're different sizes.

Right, four bowls. Do you know how long we've got left?

-We've got an hour-and-a-half left.

-Argh!

I'm going for soup and not a big dinner bowl.

While Freya and Carole finally move on...

We've got four dinner plates, and two side plates.

Every single one of them looks different!

Some are like this, some are like that.

I need to find my zen.

..Cait works at the Quaker Meeting House in Reading, where she spends

an hour a week worshipping in complete silence.

Her dinner set design came to her whilst meditating,

and is based on an old print she created at art school.

I put lavender on myself this morning

to try and calm myself down.

I think I've calmed myself down too much.

I need more adrenaline. Lavender was a bad idea!

Potters, you have one hour left.

That is...plum!

James is just flying. He's knocking 'em all out.

Don't forget, by the end, got to have everything in the drying room.

Ooh! I can make bowls!

This is actually, like, my sixth bowl.

I think I've thrown three bowls away now.

I have eight things to make. Bowls and beakers. Good to go.

Leave it alone, Elaine.

So tempted to fiddle all the time, keep fiddling.

You've got to bite the bullet

and say, "Yeah, we'll go with it."

Beakers aren't too tricky to do -

if it's clean and crisp, it can look a bit mass-produced,

so the beauty is with this,

when you're wiring it off the wheel head,

you're always going to slightly knock it off-centre.

I'm slowing it down a bit cos it's beginning to feel a bit wobbly.

I can control it. I can.

Four beakers. Trying to be arty-farty

cos I'm a wobbly sort of dude.

Is the battle being won?

-Well, we are nearly there.

-Good. Daniel?

-Two more to do.

-Like the little dent.

-It's the artist in me...darling.

This is your ten-minute call. You've got ten minutes left.

Sorry, darling, I've still got two beakers to do.

-Oh,

-BLEEP!

Two minutes, guys. Two minutes.

Two minutes.

I can do this.

What's happening with this?

You can squish that one.

Lovely!

Where's my shelf?

-Come on, James - make your decision.

-Make a decision, James.

-I know.

You've got to make your decision.

Carole's still on her beaker. Come on, Carole!

I'm going to do it.

-Come on, Cait.

-Do you want me to help you?

Oh, Clover, you're a star. Thank you so much!

Have you got everything in, Carole?

I've got two more of these to do.

Carole, what's happening?

I've just got two more beakers to do.

It ain't going to happen.

Sweetheart, you've got about a minute now, OK?

So you've got to make a call

-if you're going to get that in the drying room or not.

-OK.

-Is your bowl going in?

-Just Carole and Cait's, then.

Look at the state of that!

30 seconds, guys. 30 seconds!

You can feel the intensity in the room!

Don't throw another one!

-I've got to make four!

-She's going to the end!

Ten, nine, eight,

seven, six, five,

four, three,

two, one.

Time's up. Well done!

Burnt some calories, then, that last couple of minutes.

Oh, my word!

-Not broken 'em yet, have we?

-I hope not.

Four-and-a-half hours.

BOTH TALK AT ONCE

Well done, guys.

I had James right behind me, and he was really, really fast,

and he was knocking out plates like nobody's business.

Well done, mate.

I never sit that long and throw. I'm really easily distracted.

And it was worse than I expected, to be honest.

Throwing a plate under those conditions was a lot harder.

Normally, three or four pulls and you're done.

I would have liked the clay to have been a bit firmer.

Obviously, on the day, you can't control what comes out the bag.

It was a nice way to end that I actually did get them in.

They were shocking! Oh, my word!

Dinner services at Middleport are being crafted around the clock,

and to look after our potters' sets while they dry...

..we've got our very own kilnman, Rich.

Everyone's work needs to dry completely before it can be fired,

and it's Rich's job to make sure that it does.

Cait might have problems with her beakers.

I'm surprised the wire hasn't gone through the base of that.

The base just looks so thin.

Carole decided to leave these plates on these.

There is the potential for it to dry onto those and just crack.

James just hasn't finished his bases.

It's the attention to detail.

I mean, this one, he's just gone right the way through the base.

During the long process of their Main Make,

each week, the potters will face two further challenges.

They'll have no idea what pottery skills they'll be tested on,

and for the first in this year's competition,

that's not the only surprise.

Hello, potters. Welcome along to your very first Spot Test.

Now, this is the challenge where the judges want to test you

on a particular pottery technique,

and this week, it is - drumroll, please...

IMITATES DRUMROLL

..sponge decorating!

You are going to be sponge decorating

in front of one of the best in the business,

as we have got a very special guest.

Give a big Pottery welcome to Emma Bridgewater.

-Welcome to the Pottery.

-Really exciting to be here!

Emma Bridgewater is the first lady of British homeware.

Back in 1985, she couldn't find a fun piece of crockery

to give her mum for her birthday,

so she started her own business.

30 years later,

she's producing 25,000 sponge decorated items every week.

So the potters each have a small jug and a large jug.

What are you hoping to see?

They've got to relate to each other nicely,

and I want you to express yourselves.

I really want to see what surface design is to you.

You can be innovative.

You can rip and tear if you want to make some more abstract shapes.

The point is to make something that really says,

"This is what I like about pattern."

OK, potters, best of luck with your very first Spot Test,

in front of Emma Bridgewater - no pressure!

You have 90 minutes to sponge decorate your two jugs.

Best of luck. Time starts now.

To have Emma Bridgewater here is just inspirational for me.

So exciting! That was amazing!

Emma Bridgewater, man. That was a treat.

I saw spongeware as a way of making colourful, mismatched,

relaxed pottery for an everyday life.

I haven't done this before.

Probably did this at school, with potatoes.

This is tougher than it looks.

People think, "Oh, you know, cut sponge, blob it on."

It's harder than that.

I want to see some really lovely, original surface decoration.

I love trying new things and this is amazing.

We've got a nice plate here that we can practise on.

Got to put it on there, though!

I've just got to go for it, haven't I?

If there's too little glaze on the potters' sponges,

the design will lack definition,

but overloaded sponges will run.

No!

Oh, that's so effective. Look at that!

Well, I'm going to be basing it on sea themes

and underwater themes.

The trick I've got is to try and get this sort of graffiti technique

that I would normally use with brushes, but instead,

doing it with a sponge.

Just trying to get this to run a bit.

I just saw North African-style tiling.

My theme at the moment is '70s, '80s video games.

I might want to use a rabbit,

cos my daughters have rabbits at home.

I'm not a big fan of hearts or bunnies.

I'm trying to keep it quite geometric and quite simple.

When I decorate, I tend to go full-on,

so that less-more thing is rubbish.

I've used this organic sponge, so less pressure here,

and more pressure up at the top here for emphasis.

I am going for a galaxy theme. On the small pot,

I'll have more abstract galaxy from a distance,

and for the big pot, I hope to get a bit of detail on the planet.

Potters, you're halfway through your time.

You've got 45 minutes left.

-How're you finding the technique?

-Loving it.

I've cut loads of sponges up to adapt designs.

-You've got busy with the scissors.

-Oh, absolutely.

-You've taken on Emma's advice, there.

-Absolutely.

Well, you've got an expert there - you've got to use it.

When I look at what you've done here,

I love the fact that it isn't at all what I expected,

and I think isn't that the great thing about ceramics?

What are you after? What's the theme here?

I'm missing home today,

so I'm doing a little bit of black and white, cos I'm from Newcastle.

-Hence the black, the bold...

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

I'm just blending the colours in a little bit,

just blending, blending.

I like blending.

I'm trying to use the sponge

to create this change of colour gradually,

so then I can carry on a bit more precise on the large jug.

It was very bold, taking up the black straightaway.

I couldn't get it off my mind

to start with a strong black background.

-That is incredibly bold.

-Yes, I know!

Lovely potters, you've got ten minutes left of this Spot Test.

I'm getting into this, now. This is good.

Put a little dot on there.

Scratched off, sort of Japanese-esque.

A line going through the red dot.

I think it's called sgraffito. I've never done sgraffito before.

How's the timing going for you, Cait?

So much better. Look.

Almost there, rather than,

"Oh, my word, I've got half of it left to do!"

She's grasped the concept of time.

It's pretty. It's a bit like your top.

-Ms Bridgewater did say she wants to see you in jugs.

-Yeah.

Not literally.

I don't want to overdo it.

The thing you've got to be really careful of is not overdoing it.

Sometimes less is a lot more.

Less is more.

Can you stop saying less is more?

Oh, that's lovely, Freya.

Sometimes more is more.

Just trying to get a few brownie points,

I've done underneath and on the inside as well.

Love it when a plan comes together.

-Oh, I like James'.

-Bit busy, isn't it?

There's 30 seconds left now, guys,

so get your jugs to the front, please, ready to be judged.

Five, four,

three, two,

one.

Emma, Keith and Kate will be looking for a bold concept,

controlled spongework and a design that reflects the potter.

-They're absolutely wonderful.

-Yeah.

-And so different.

-James.

-Absolutely love those two.

-It's definitely modern.

-It felt as if you were enjoying it,

and exploring with it, rather than struggling with it.

-Richard.

-There's quite a lot of wide open space in it.

-I feel that there could have been something more.

-Possibly.

-Carole.

-Sea scenes.

-Yeah.

-They've got a lovely energetic feeling to them.

-So this is Ryan's, isn't it?

-Yeah.

It absolutely, completely owns the piece. It's very delicate,

and yet quite mysterious, and I love that sponging.

And you've decorated on the inside,

you've done the base as well.

Elaine.

For me, it's a bit conventional. The design is a bit flat.

You've definitely used one technique of sponging.

Right, then we've got Freya.

-Beautiful.

-It's very theatrical, isn't it?

There's a great sense of depth.

It's as if there's a foreground and a background.

Yeah. Really, really lovely piece of work.

Moving along to Daniel's.

Well, he's made a very nice textured background.

I think the small jug is more successful than the big jug.

-This feels as if it's still got a bit more to go.

-Yeah.

-Did you run out of time?

-No.

-OK.

You should have said yes, Daniel! You should have said yes!

Cait's.

Isn't that splendid?

There's something so simple and pure.

-This one's a little bit more hazy, isn't it?

-Yes.

-The sponging's not really coming off here.

-No.

We've got Nam. Yeah.

-Strong.

-It's a fun concept.

It works slightly better from a distance

-than close up.

-It does, yeah.

But Nam, what's going on?

-Clean your hands!

-Oh, yes, the mess.

Right, last but not least, Clover.

-Wow.

-I think what you've done is completely lovely.

-I especially love that...

-I like that.

..where the white comes through, that's such a beautiful effect.

Really, probably the only one where the two things are different

but they completely hold together.

Thank you!

The Spot Test is ranked,

and Emma will now reveal who she feels has shown

the most skill with the sponge.

In tenth place, it's Daniel.

Ninth place, Richard.

You could've done a bit more to that.

Elaine is eighth, Cait's seventh,

Nam is sixth, Carole, fifth,

and James is fourth.

OK. Number three,

Ryan.

Lovely. It incorporates in, out, under, round.

Number two...

..is Clover.

It was the universe.

It was the universe!

Such a beautiful effect.

And that means Freya is number one.

You just totally, completely ruled it. Really great.

All praise to the seahorse, then, isn't it?

THEY LAUGH

Emma, thank you so much for coming to our little pottery.

-Loved it.

-It's been a real joy having you.

You've been great. Thank you so much.

OK, so, potters, I've got good news.

You've survived your first day in the pottery.

You did it. Yes!

So you can all go home, get some rest,

and we'll see you back here in the pottery in a few days.

Well done.

I'm quite surprised, actually.

I just kept pushing until the last second,

just to get every stroke out.

I was in top three,

maybe because I went for something that no-one had thought of.

Clover, I mean, I liked her jug tremendously.

You know, it's different challenges, we'll see.

I mean, if we're here next week, it's all totally different.

Coming last, yeah, it does...does hurt a bit.

Rich is on the early shift.

The dinner sets have been drying for two days,

and whilst the potters are back at home,

he's headed for the kiln.

So the fire is going to be going

over a period of around 12 to 14 hours,

to a temperature of 1,000 degrees.

That's called the bisque firing,

which is the first firing the pots will go through,

and it will turn them from clay into ceramic.

It's a fairly aggressive firing process.

I just hope we see ten happy potters when they're back in the workshop.

14 hours of firing,

12 more cooling,

and all the potters have been able to do is wait.

Nervous to see what the bisqueware will be like,

if it's got a crack or not.

Hopefully, my plates are all in one piece.

I was a bit nervous when I left last night,

but since have had a conversation with my partner,

she's told me to be the Nam, calm down.

Hopefully, the beakers will hold some form of liquid,

and the plates will hold some sort of food.

I am really nervous.

I...

I can't!

Good morning, potters.

Your dinner sets are out of the kiln and under the cloths.

I know you're desperate to look at them.

You have a dazzling array of colours and glazes to decorate them with.

Well, as you know, in pottery, you reap what you sow.

If you compressed properly, you won't get cracks.

If you've wired through properly,

you won't get holes through your bottom.

We will see!

We've got our fingers crossed for you, OK?

You have two hours to decorate your dinner sets,

your time starts now.

-CAIT:

-Oh, no!

That's going to be great(!)

Oh, just one crack.

Good, good, good.

Ah!

I guess what I did when I was throwing it,

is the base is too thin, so when I wired through...

I wired through the base.

Not the same sizes, but let's blame it on shrinkage.

How they looking, Ryan?

-Yeah, happy, mate.

-Yeah, me too.

The decoration is where these dinner services come alive.

Through all four pieces,

we want to see the design carry right across,

from the beaker to the bowl to the plate.

Much like this one, with the different stripes.

They work separately, but at the same time,

there's a sense of great fun amongst them.

We've asked them to create a dinner set

that reflects their own personality.

So all the plates here, they say something about the maker.

They're communicating about what it is that they love to do.

That's what we're after.

We want to see their dinner sets,

and know instinctively who made it.

Decorating dinnerware is a craft that the men and women of Stoke

have mastered over the past 300 years.

'Good pots will always need good workers.'

'It's nice, clean work,

'and we can always pass the time away with a song.'

But the first decorated plates on British dining tables

weren't painted in Stoke.

'A fine, white, translucent body,

'which has never been surpassed, even to this day.'

Chinese porcelain, beautifully hand-glazed,

began to be imported in the early 17th century.

It cost a fortune, and a Chinese dinner set

soon became the ultimate status symbol for the aristocracy.

Once Chinese porcelain starts to be seen

at the tables of the very wealthy,

it's seen as something extremely desirable,

and the middle classes aspire to it.

Staffordshire potters realise there's a whole market there for them,

if they can just take advantage of it.

The potters knew that to give the average British family

dinner sets they could be proud of,

they had to find a way to drive down its cost.

The Staffordshire potters' great innovation

was the use of plaster of Paris for moulds,

because then you can produce all the plates matching

and in large numbers.

'It's a lovely shape, isn't it?'

By the end of the 19th century,

mass production saw Stoke's skyline transformed

with over 2,000 bottle kilns,

firing millions of pieces of dinnerware

which were exported all over the world.

'Of course, if it's going abroad, it'll want a bit of decoration.

'And that's where Anita comes in.'

But when it came to finishing plates and bowls,

mass production had no answer

to the centuries-old skill of glazing by hand.

'Of course, the very greatest perfection of decoration

'is achieved in freehand painting,

'where the artist works directly onto the ware.'

So, can our potters do justice to Stoke's hand glazing heritage

in just two hours?

It's a really short amount of time for 16 things.

Before any glaze is applied, some potters are scraping back

any rough edges left after the first filing.

What's happening here? What's over here?

Oh, sorry, I've covered it back up,

cos I don't want to be distracted by it.

It's the cloth of shame.

-(It's the cloth of shame.)

-Oh, look.

Oh, gosh, that's...

-I thought that dark bit was paint.

-I wish it was!

I'm like, "Oh, I like that paint, there." But that's...

-No, no...

-That's the actual...

-Yeah.

-Shall we cover back over, again?

-Yeah, can you?

Begone!

Manganese...

After struggling with throwing, for the glazing,

Carole has come well prepared.

I've made up all these textural sponges.

That's reeds.

This is foliage.

Reed.

A leaf.

Rock.

This is underglaze colours.

They'll come out brighter when it's fired.

Carole's look very similar to mine.

She's got a bit of a bigger wave on them, I think.

I've just noticed me and Nam are doing a very similar technique

for the glaze, as well.

It's called bubble blowing.

And my set is all about play and games,

and part of this method is all about having fun.

-You just leave it, then, and then it just pops away?

-Yeah.

I've practised this technique for a while now.

I don't how you lot have got time for chitchat!

THEY LAUGH

Why not?

Pfft!

Stressed old lady, here!

This is an interpretation of leaves and bananas.

I did have the impression that I'd do big banana leaves,

but my painting skills are minimal,

so that went out the window.

I'm just brushing the oxide mixed with water.

Once applied, oxides will change colour in the heat of the kiln.

It will come out greenish.

This is what I'll try to achieve, with different depth of colour.

Copper oxide is a very strong colour,

so it will come out a lot darker than I would anticipate,

and that's why I'm mixing it with lots of water.

I'm a little bit concerned that everyone is putting colour down

and rushing on with things,

but I'm taking my time, smoothing off the edges.

Oh, Daniel, it's like skipping through a meadow!

I know, I know.

-All these flowers.

-Flowers, yes.

-Is this actually from your garden?

-They are, yes.

That's impressive.

But you seem like a different Daniel to the throwing Daniel.

I'm not a decorator. This is not my comfort zone.

Way too slow.

After the panic to finish throwing her dinner set...

I'm just painting the orange underglaze on at the moment.

..Cait's aiming to make decorating a little less completed.

As a Quaker, I'm into simplicity. I like clean, simple things.

Smart, man. Proper smart.

After perfecting straight lines with his throwing,

James is now being a little less restrained.

It's the whole idea of, like, graffiti and stuff.

No rhyme, no reason.

Just see what I'm feeling, and leave it at that.

James has been splashing glaze everywhere, Jackson Pollock style.

And he's got a big bit of red oxide on my plate, here.

It's got my foot.

He doesn't know yet, but I'm going to get revenge.

Sorry, sorry.

Playing by ear with this.

We got to keep layering, and I'm just thinking of the tones,

cos I wanted them to, like, fade into each other like a rainbow.

Starting to put the textures on.

What should I do? Do some weeds and things.

It's fun, isn't it?

-It's like being a little kid again!

-SHE LAUGHS

-Richard, your lettering...

-Yeah?

-..which I am really impressed by.

-Thank you.

-It's a fine and steady hand that you have to have.

-Yeah.

It's an old English typeface.

And the writing is...?

Loyaulte me lie.

"Loyalty binds me."

Loyalty binds me.

So all the pieces together, they'll have that motto.

They're all bound to it.

Are we going to eat medieval battle food off it?

Well...yeah, why not?

You are halfway through your time.

You have one hour left.

Ryan has finally started decorating.

So I'll just use the copper oxide.

Hopefully, it's going to come out a nice blue.

And one of Cait's bowls...

SOMETHING CRACKS

..is finished.

What are you doing, Cait?

I just threw it at the table!

I'd just finished decorating it, as well.

I'm not going to do too much more.

Less is more, as they say.

I want to do something on the rim, to work with the shape a bit more.

Maybe a band.

Do this and the glaze, and I'm done, aren't I?

Once they've applied their underglazes and oxides...

..the potters can dip their dinner sets

in a white-looking final glaze.

Once fired, it will become transparent...

..revealing and protecting their design.

-BANG FREYA:

-Oh, my God!

Oh, well.

Clumsy, clumsy, clumsy.

Freya and Cait, they're rushing,

and they're dropping things.

It's easily done, under the stress of things,

but it's not what you want, is it?

No, not really.

We're after, how many pieces? 16 pieces?

Yes, we are after 16 pieces.

-CAROLE:

-Just wiping the bottoms and I'm done.

Would you believe I'm done?

Keith's a bit obsessed with bottoms.

He is obsessed with bottoms.

He's obsessed with cracked bottoms, messy bottoms...

The slightest drop of glaze on a base

has the potential to destroy a dinner set.

The smallest little bit of glaze on the bottom of the plate

will just stick to the kiln shelf, and then, as it cools down,

the plate will shrink and the glaze will just stick and crack.

-Have you finished yours?

-Pretty much.

-Don't do mine unless you've done yours.

-No, it's all right.

Is it allowed? We're allowed to help each other, aren't we?

Five minutes left.

Oh, my God, there's loads on there!

I know! Ah!

We need one of Nam's sponges.

-Do you want my sponges?

-Have you got any spare sponges, Nam?

-Take one of my sponges.

-Oh, you're a star, you're a star!

Don't worry, don't worry. Put it down. Put it down. Get another one.

One more here. Just pile it on top.

Get everything on your ware boards,

what isn't on a ware board won't be going in the kiln.

Five.

One minute!

Four.

I'm not watching this, Cait. Three...

Don't watch!

Two...

One.

Potters, time is up.

Stop decorating, step back from your dinner sets, please.

And breathe.

There's nothing more the potters can do for their dinner sets...

..except take them down to Rich for their final firing.

The dinner sets are decorated.

Very excitingly, this year, we've got Pot Of The Week.

So have you got your eye on any particular pot?

Well, I liked Nam's from the moment he finished throwing it.

Ryan's got to be up there, hasn't he?

He's been very consistent and very focused, hasn't he?

And then we've got one more.

-Clover.

-Yeah, that's right.

Liked her throwing. Liked her attitude.

It's so harsh, because it's week one,

and we've got to say goodbye to somebody.

It's either Cait, Carole or Daniel.

Cait is two pieces down on her 16-piece dinner set.

Carole's throwing skills, for me, are severely lacking, bless her.

And Daniel, I'm worried about his decoration.

His heart didn't seem to be in it.

I hope the kiln will lift it out.

You just never know until the kiln's out.

After 30 years, I don't know, of my own work,

how things are going to turn out.

Whilst Rich prepares for the final firing,

the potters have one last chance to impress the judges.

They're about to be tested on a traditional skill

that helped Stoke become the pottery capital of the world.

Now, here's a craftsman, if you like.

Charlie Bryan, great-grandson

of the 18th-century thrower.

Requiring a steady hand and a sharp eye, this Throw Down

will reveal how our Potters match up to their pottery forefathers.

This man here, Keith, AKA king of the wheel,

would like you to please throw a cone.

But not any old cone. We want the tallest cone you can.

Watch carefully, cos he's going to show you exactly how to do it.

5lbs of clay.

Now, a cone, as you know, is sealed at the top.

Because if it's not sealed at the top,

-it will be more like a drainpipe.

-THEY LAUGH

You don't want a drainpipe.

You want to give it a really good workout before you actually start.

The whole reason for doing this challenge

is because Kate and I both want to see your skills

at controlling the clay on the wheel.

What's so brilliant about a cone

is that you're basically working against the force of the wheel.

The wheel is always trying to take everything off the wheel,

and you're bringing this thing in.

Up I go...

The most common mistake is to make it too wide, too early.

When I rib up the side of the pot now,

I can follow that horizon of the pot.

-It's gorgeous, isn't it?

-Gorgeous.

I want the seal completely invisible.

All right?

Potters, you've got 15 minutes to make the tallest cone you can.

Back to your benches.

And potters, get potting!

I'm already impressed with Carole,

-because she's centred that really well.

-Yeah.

(It's very quiet, isn't it, in here? I keep whispering, cos it's like...

(It's like a library!)

Actually, when you talk normally, it's fine to talk normally,

it's just everybody's concentrating.

Creating a winning cone

requires perfect judgment and careful technique.

The potters need to start with a base

wide enough to provide support,

then pull up the clay thick enough to keep its shape,

whilst gaining as much height as possible.

Richard's is flowering out at the top.

He's got to bring that in, now.

-It's looking grand! Lovely height, lovely shape.

-Oh, good.

-Enough about me.

-Yes.

As long as this doesn't break on me now, it should be all right.

-Freya's is on the verge of collapse.

-Yeah.

I'm pretty pleased with that so far, but this is the critical point.

Closing the top over, and not ruining the whole thing.

This is not a cone at all.

We'll tell in the next minute or two whether it's going to work.

God, I can visibly see my hands shaking.

How's it going?

Well, it's the tallest pot I've thrown in my life.

I've sacrificed a bit of height,

but I've gone for a bit better shape.

Five minutes left. Just five minutes.

All that effort to create height

can be undone when closing the top.

The clay can buckle, collapsing the cone.

Focus, guys. Come on.

It's the first time I've thrown this shape,

so I'm just taking in like the demonstration done by Keith, now.

Go easy, Freya, just go easy.

James is doing well, straightening off.

Look at your profiles.

Come on, Cait, close it up, mate.

Richard at the back, sat cosy.

OK, ten, nine,

eight, seven,

-six, five...

-Freya...

-..four, three...

-Oh, gently, gently!

..two, one,

time's up!

Step away from your cones.

I don't know who was more stressed, us or them!

But what will Kate and Keith make of the cones

in the potters' first Throw Down?

James. Impressive width.

Thank you.

The seal at the top looks pretty good, doesn't it?

Yeah. It could have been more pointed.

I should have gone for a narrower base to get the height.

Right. Well, you're right. Yes.

Does he get any extra points for knowing where he went wrong?

Unfortunately not, no.

It's like half as sausage, isn't it?

It's making me peckish.

It's more of a torpedo, isn't it, than a cone?

You've got a slight kink there, and a slight kink here.

Are you quite pleased with yourself, Clover?

Um... No.

Aww!

I think it's the same as the last throwing.

I felt in control of it, I think it was just the time.

-Yeah.

-Time's been in issue, hasn't it, for you?

A little bit!

Look at this beauty!

It's really nice.

The seal at the top is really fluent.

Thank you.

-It's huggable.

-It's huggable, yeah.

Ryan, it's a thing of beauty. What do you reckon, judges?

I think it's very nicely finished off.

Nice and smooth, isn't it, as well?

Yes, it's smooth. Brilliant tip.

So it's a bit wide at the bottom.

If you'd brought it up a bit more,

the whole proportion would have stretched itself out a bit.

You, out of everyone, was really, really struggling with that.

I was thinking, "Oh, God, it's going to go, it's going to go."

-Yeah.

-But you really pulled it back!

-Nil points for profile, at the bottom.

-Yeah.

Ten out of ten for tenacity.

That's the first time I've made anything tall.

The fact that you've managed to close it up and make a cone

when throwing really isn't your skill,

I'm really...really impressed.

I'm trying to build my skills.

Yeah, and it's obviously working.

A little bit of pressure pushes you that bit further.

Yes, it's making me work harder.

And you've done a tremendous job, lovie, really.

So who's thrown the tallest perfectly shaped

and perfectly sealed cone?

So in tenth place is Cait.

In ninth place, Carole.

And in eighth place is Daniel.

Clover is seventh, Nam is sixth,

Freya is fifth, James is fourth.

In third place, with a height of 26.5 centimetres,

Richard.

Awesome work, Richard, well done!

So in second place, with 30.5 centimetres,

it's Elaine.

Well done, Elaine!

So in first place, with 31 centimetres,

well done, Ryan! Well done!

Well done!

OK, so potters, the next time we see you will be in the judging room,

when the judges will be judging your Main Make.

So we'll see you then.

I've just won the best Throw Down.

I really wasn't expecting it at all.

-Well done!

-You won't get me next time!

THEY LAUGH

Half a centimetre, that's all it was.

It's the final day.

The dinner sets are about to be unloaded from the kiln.

But there's a problem.

It looks like we've got a fair amount of carbon trapping.

It was a very low bisque firing,

and then a reasonably quick glaze firing.

The glaze has started to seal,

and as all of the carbon's been burning off the clay body,

it's got trapped under the gaze,

giving it a really dark feel to it.

The carbon trapped under the glaze appears black.

It's created unpredictable but amazing effects for some...

The way it's worked with this decoration is amazing!

..but others have been left with grey and colourless pieces.

Above all, I'm disappointed for the potters.

They put a lot of work into these pieces.

This is pottery, it's what happens.

The first time the potters will see their finished dinner sets

will be when they have to reveal them to the judges.

Potters, your dinner services

are nestling underneath the hessian, there.

I'm sure you're desperate to have a sneaky peek at them,

but before we do, we need news from the kiln, please, judges.

Your pots were all fired in the gas kiln outside.

We had lovely, British weather. Horrendous.

And basically, we were getting a backdraught down the flue

and some of the carbon was left inside your pieces.

So, we have carbon trapping.

But we're not going to be judging against you on this.

Do not worry about that.

So without further ado,

it's judgment time.

And I think, Carole, you're first.

Right.

So we've got 15 pieces, haven't we?

I'm short of one. Sorry about that.

And that's because

you didn't have time to make one?

-I just ran out of time, basically.

-Right, OK.

I think what you've done is something called double wiring.

I did do that.

That's a mistake.

You wire once. You wire twice, either slightly below or above it,

and you're left with a sliver that's just got stuck in some places.

OK. I didn't know that.

-They are consistent in size.

-Yes.

-But the weight could have been a little lighter than this.

-Yes.

Oh, gosh.

Having the carbon's awesome!

THEY LAUGH

-It's wicked!

-It is. It's incredible,

-the different reactions you get.

-Wow.

If you went to a stranger

and asked what they thought the inspiration for this was,

I don't think they'd say computer games, and that's absolutely fine,

that it's rather an invisible inspiration. This is gorgeous.

They're in really good shape.

You fingers can rest on the different facets.

It doesn't only look good, but it functions well.

The weight is good, and it's consistent across the board.

Hmm.

This here, it's just a bit naive.

It's not my strong point.

But what is wonderful

is you are really, really good at throwing.

Seriously.

Wahey!

Hmm.

I don't think it has the rose.

You could have developed that, with the shape.

But then it is so difficult to write on a curved surface,

-and I'm really impressed by that.

-Thank you.

Cor, get your sunglasses on!

It's nice and bright.

Using these oxides here,

it would've been better if they'd been stronger.

-I've never used oxide before.

-Oh.

This is the first time I do it.

Yeah, that's commendable, that.

Quite a nice rhythm between all the sets.

-The consistency of shape and size is very good.

-Thank you.

Hey!

-Wow!

-Not too bad.

I think that's a very interesting and strong design.

-Very characterful.

-Thank you.

And you've managed to use these oxides in a free and easy way.

It's quite an impact.

But let's just talk about the elephant in the room.

-Or the elephant on the table.

-Please do, please do.

Now, I don't know about you, Kate,

but I don't reckon that's going to hold any gravy. Or peas.

Oh, look at this.

The rims, mate.

Square rims? Really?

I haven't made that many functional thrown pieces, I think.

Yeah. The plate is a nice weight. It's not too heavy.

-I could eat off that, yeah.

-It's quite consistent, isn't it?

Yeah, no. And then of course, we've got the breakage, haven't we?

I think that let you down a bit.

Oh, right, OK.

That's different.

Very nice, the way this fold is almost a sort of origami fold,

which gives it a sharpness.

-It's not what I expected you to do as a flower.

-Yeah.

You've actually used rather an abstract sense of it.

So there's a great sense of joy in the decoration,

and I'm really impressed by your decoration.

I didn't think I was going to be, for some reason,

-cos you said you didn't quite know what to do.

-Thank you.

Actually, the colour is better than I thought it would be,

because of the carbon.

I'm really liking the weight of these.

I mean, for a dinner plate that size, with a rim that high,

it's actually a very good weight.

I think it's a really successful set.

Consistent, creative, concise.

Thank you so much.

-The loss...

-Don't break stuff.

I know. I flicked it off the table.

Yeah, I know you did.

-Wow.

-Blue is not as intense as I thought, the cobalt,

I thought it would be a bit more stronger.

I'm really impressed with the control of the bubbles.

-Was it literally poured around?

-Just keep it moving.

-Kept it moving.

This accent on the edge, here, it's really consistent,

really fluent throughout the whole design.

And also, the whole weight of the whole set,

it's not that heavy at all.

-That's very impressive.

-Thank you.

I can imagine a bit of your grandma's apple pie...

-Apple pie, yeah, yeah.

-..in one of the bowls.

Potters, I think you deserve a little break.

Judges have got some decisions to make,

and when we welcome you back into the room,

you'll find out who is going to take Pot Of The Week,

and who, sadly, is going to be leaving the pottery.

See you in a bit.

I've just started throwing plates this week,

I've got that 16-piece dinner set

that the judges seemed to like, so...fingers crossed.