Original subtitles

No this isn't the bit between the programs

in the 1960's.

This is The Great Pottery Throw Down.

Pottery is all around us,

irreplaceable in our daily lives and none of us

can live without stuff made from clay.

And these are clays maters.

Ceramic artist, Kate Malone, and Master Potter,

Keith Brymer Jones, have championed

Great British Pottery for decades.

Pottery's almost as good as sex,

it's so physical and so fantastic,

on a good moment it's up there.

Is pottery better than sex? No.

Keith has been at the wheel for over 30 years,

his contemporary tableware sells all over the world,

and with Madonna and Brangelina as clients,

he's now one of our most successful potters ever.

I find that the simpler the design the more impact it has.

There's quite often times when I've looked

at a certain shape and it will move me to tears.

Kate's stunning work can be seen in museums

and public spaces all over the world,

and in the homes of renowned art collectors and rock stars.

I'm chasing that next glaze,

that next color I haven't invented yet.

I'm chasing that next interpretation of nature.

Now they're both chasing a new dream,

to find the next champion of British pottery.

And it's going to take 1,600 kilograms of clay.

1,200 degrees centigrade.

It is completely on lap with the pottery gods now.

500 unique and

beautiful items for the home.

35 grueling days.

Exhausting, and moreish.

With 10 passionate home potters.

You look quite at home there I must say.

Is that so?

But will a champion emerge?

You ain't finished the task!

In the Great Pottery Throw down.

Come on!

Has that one shrunk really quickly?

This is where the panic kicks in.

Don't try and touch it up, just dip and pray.

That's not supposed to happen!

Oh my god this is going to be a disaster.

Its day one of the first ever search for

Britain's best home potter

and we're in the spiritual home of potting.

This is where it all began, in Stoke on Trent

and what better place than the longest,

continuously running pottery in the whole of Stoke on Trent?

Who knows how many thousands of beautiful crocks

that serve the British dinner table passed over these cobbles?

There's a bottle oven out the back there,

Stoke was covered in bottle ovens in the old days.

In fact there was so much smoke from them,

you could hardly see your hand in front of your face.

The middle port is living now, it's still making

and it's using all the great techniques.

Hundreds of years, piled one upon the other.

If this location doesn't inspire the potters, nothing will.

All our home potters

have come disguised as ordinary people.

Pot plant.

Jim is a painter and decorator

from Bognor Regis.

I think there used to be stereotypes in pottery.

Older fellas, bearded.

Sally-Jo is an interior

designer from Hampshire.

I'm probably not what people think as a typical potter.

James is a vet from Bristol.

It is quite primal, it's a very sexual feeling

when you're working with clay.

Retired Major, Tom, feels exactly the same way.

I can tell you, it takes me a lot longer to throw a pot.

Mum of two, Jane,

from north Wales, is just as keen to get her hands dirty.

I'm a farmer's daughter, generally quite a mucky kid.

Sandra's a community project manager from Leeds.

I sew, I knit and into pottery. It's normal isn't it?

Mum of one, Joanna,

is a Parish Councillor from West Sussex.

I make pots for myself, it's almost kind of spiritual.

Matthew's a Teacher from the Yorkshire Dales.

Pottery, you definitely don't do it for money.

Because you'll never be a rich potter.

Raikah is a former fine arts student from

Chalfont St. Peter.

I just fell in love with something,

which is messy and so earthy.

And Nigel is a builder from Bakewell.

My work colleagues,

most don't believe that I actually make pots.

So that's our 10 potters,

but what will they be making first?

Look at you all, you all look gorgeous!

It's so exciting. Welcome then to Middle Port Pottery.

I can't wait to see what incredible creations

are going to be birthed in this very room by your hands.

Big moment now, you've got to meet the judges.

Morning people! Hey.

Hello everybody!

Hiya, Potters of the World Unite!

I'm actually tingling with excitement,

I'm so passionate about ceramics and I know you all are.

I'm feeling emotional actually now.

I've got hankies today.

This is how it's going to work, okay?

Each week one of you will be named Top Potter,

one of you, sadly, will be going home.

So it's going to be pretty tough, okay?

So we'll begin with the first ever Main Make,

this is your mammoth task.

It's going to take four days to create this, Keith,

okay what have you got in store?

Right, the first main task is to throw a set of five bowls.

The finished bowls have got to fit inside each other,

and they've got to be fired, decorated and presented

to us at the end of the week.

Okay, Sally? Good luck.

Good luck to you too.

Creating five stackable kitchen bowls

from scratch is an epic task that will take four long days.

First the Potters need to throw the bowls on the wheel,

then the bowls will have to harden in the studios

drying room and be put back on the wheel

to be trimmed into shape.

Then they'll be fired in the kiln for 24 hours,

decorated with glaze

and fired again for another 24 hours.

And then they'll have to present

all five bowls to the judges.

Look at these beautiful examples on the table,

this one here with the beautiful rhythm,

the space between the bowls is almost as important

as the bowls themselves.

And these, the continuity of the size,

it looks like one has been born out of the other one.

Are the nest of bowls going to sit up,

look up like an ordinance survey map?

Are some of them going to apply a lip?

Are some of them going to distort them in some way?

It'll be very interesting to see if any of

our potters just give us that something a little bit more.

But they've got to have that continuity.

And then of course there's the glazing.

Look at this one, really, really subtle

on the inside and lovely texture on the outside.

Sometimes less if more and in which case

they'll be showing us the fact that they're designing

with clarity, but on the other hand,

you can cover every surface if you want.

This is a great challenge they can show us minimal

design skills or they can show us everything they've got.

In this first stage, the potters have

just two and a half hours to throw 5 kitchen bowls

on the wheel and get them into the studios drying room.

Oh gosh.

They're all working with the most common clay

on the planet, urban-ware.

Either a common red like you'll find beneath

your garden or a manufactured white urban-ware.

That's one.

Depending on the final look they're hoping

to achieve for their bowls.

When this clay fires it should end up

as a classic clean-ware, the color should be stunning.

It's different in here. I'm hot.

I normally pot in a garage and its freezing.

Pottery is a complete escape, I love the feel on my hands,

even in the winter when it's bitterly cold in the pottery,

and I just love the idea that you're taking this piece

of mud and you're creating something

that could last thousands of years.

Before I left home, my kids said,

"Daddy just one thing, don't embarrass us."

If any of major Tom's kids are watching-

Now I need to work some clay.

This next bit is a bit odd.

He's wedging the clay,

a potter's trick for getting rid of any air bubbles.

Air often will be wet, as a certain relative humidity,

a certain amount of moisture associated with it.

And if you heat that ware and you've trapped

some moisture in it, it generates steam,

you'll get massive expansion

and the ware will simply explode in the kiln.

Even if they think they've wedged enough,

the clay still isn't ready to be thrown.

All I can hear in this room is-.

What's going on with the slapping?

Well they're preparing the clay, they're balling

up the clay ready to throw on the wheel.

Slapping is quite necessary.

Is slapping the technical terminology for it, Jane?

Slapping is the technical term. Yes.

It's actually wedging the clay and getting it even,

so you don't want hard lumps and soft lumps

within the same piece of clay.

It does get quite rhythmic, you can hear potters doing that.

If ever your neighbour's net curtains twitch at night,

what's happening at Jane's house?

No, well, I've got cows with my next-door neighbours

so they don't mind so much, they quite like that.

My Dad and my brother work on the farm together

and in this empty little shed, my brother

had his eyes on it and I just got in there first basically.

Dad bought me my wheel for my 30th birthday,

he hadn't got a clue what to buy me,

he's a fan of online shopping

and he's always been quietly supportive.

I was just proud of her

for plowing her own furrows as they say.

How are you feeling about this task?

Yeah, I'm little bit nervous.

- Right. -Yeah really.

What you most worried about?

I think it's just that the quantity of clay really

to assign to that first bit of clay.

It looks like your head is really busy.

So we're going to leave you in peace.

- Yeah, thank you very much. -Good luck, Jane, good luck.

Lovely to meet you both, three.

They've wedged, they've slapped,

but now potting starts to get really mucky.

I'm just trying to center the clay,

which can be the trickiest bit under pressure.

Clay that isn't properly centered

will form lopsided bowls.

So you bring the clay up, it's centering

and it helps the particles to be in the same direction.

Once centered, the clay can be shaped

into a bowl like form in a process known as throwing.

Why is it called throwing?

I used to think it was about throwing down the clay

on the wheel, because often a thrower

would have an assistant who would throw the clay down.

It's actually derived from an old English word throwen,

throwen meant to twist or turn.

As the wheel turns the potters

can start pulling up the walls of their bowls.

Thick walls will make heavier, unattractive bowls

but pull too thin and the walls will collapse.

Starting with the small ones first, and work my way up.

Just to kind of settle myself in really.

I'm a little bit nervous, so I thought it was

the wrong time to start with the big one.

And I'm going to start that one again too!

I've thought I need to do the big one first,

because I do big pots, and then I can sort of

train myself to do the smaller ones.

I'm still undecided as to whether to go small

to large or large to small.

The theory behind that is,

I can work myself up to the big one.

Nigel has brought a bit of a builders yard

to the studio.

That has been cut to a shape.

That shape will go round the bottom of the pot.

He's made his own tool

to decorative foot on his bowl as he throws it.

It come off the wheel, I didn't get it secured

well enough.

This is where the panic kicks in.

That's the easy one gone wrong.

Need to get the first one under the belt.

Lovely.

My first pot is a bit bottom heavy

but it's only going to get better.

90 minutes left to throw five kitchen bowls

and get them into the drying room.

I want to whistle those pots are so good, Tom.

With every bowl thrown-

Size matters.

27 and a half.

Unless the potters measure

as they throw the bowls won't be the right size

to stack inside each other.

It's working to exact measurements

is the difficult bit.

16 and a half by eight and a half.

But it's not just a case

of getting the tape measure out.

They're the same height, they're not meant

to be the same height.

Has that one shrank really quickly?

As clay dries, it shrinks.

Obviously you've got to take into account shrinkage.

Normally it's about 10%.

With everything with pottery, there's always a theory

but relativity's never quite the same.

I need to throw to at least 17 to allow for all the shrinkage.

This is nowhere near what I want it to be.

But some potters have given themselves

even more to worry about.

Yeah I'm making a set of mixing bowls,

so a good sturdy rim, and expanse.

It gives the bowl a bit of character,

but it's also a sort of functional.

When the bowls are inside each other they

should all sort of line up and all smile.

So it's a nice, nice part.

Matthew is also making a few additions.

I would say that's a lovely wavy line,

has it got an official name?

So it's called slip-trailing, so slip-trailing.

Slip trailing? -Yeah.

It's not an underskirt is it? That's a slip to me.

I imagine he isn't uncomfortable with his underskirt.

What is it slip?

Slip is a liquid clay, it's watered down.

It's so simple a technique

and it's used all around the world in country pottery.

They've always used the fact that you get red and white clay.

Do you like doing this, Matthew?

It's something that, it appeals to me.

It's kind of like traditional Mediterranean style

and like medieval English.

I think it's good to source inspiration

from lots of different places.

- I wish you luck with it. -Thank you.

Wish you luck with it. Well done.

At the throwing stage, Jim's inspiration

is a little more straightforward.

I haven't chosen anything that's going

to be overly complicated or testing.

I'm trying to let myself in gently.

Potting is a quiet zone, I have kind of a mixed existence

if you like, there's times when I'm quite loud.

I'm the lead singer in a band called

Slim Jim and the Wild Cards.

♪ Shake rattle and roll ♪

It's the opposite of my potting, it's the noisy part

of my personality.

Oh Jim, gives us a song.

I will do at some point.

Oh it's nice and warm in here, nice shapes.

Getting there.

That's nice -Just relax.

Half an hour to go.

Oh no, that's really annoying,

they're completely different shapes.

One of Sally-Jo's bowls

doesn't boast the curvy look she was hoping for.

It's too straight on the sides. Ugh.

Okay, the two big ones to go!

Whilst Matthew tackles his smallest bowl-

The larger the bowl the more intimidated I'm getting.

Most of the other potters

have left their biggest until last.

Take a deep breath and see what happens.

They involve wrestling

three kilograms lumps of clay-

Right now the clay is dominant, it doesn't want to get in line.

Just like my kids.

Even if they've managed to center the clay,

pulling thin walls for a larger bowl is even harder.

The difficulty with throwing big bowls,

is when you've got the force of the wheel spinning round,

the further out you get,

the centrifugal force gets even higher.

So your bowl just automatically wants to spin off the wheel.

Come on. -Oh! Nip.

It must of just got too dry. Ridiculous.

So the clay needs to stay nice, nice and moist

as it turns round on the wheel,

and I let it get too dry and I pulled it too fast,

and try not to panic too much, and just do another one.

Great view, Tom!

Am I giving you a good view? Thanks.

Tom's not the only one struggling.

It's not quite big enough, so it's probably going

to shrink to slightly under size and if it's not good enough then

there's no point handing it in.

Oh god, that breaks my heart. Because we have time left,

so I'm going to try and do another one.

You've got about 10 minutes,

you can do this bowl in 10 minutes, okay?

I can't I have to give up.

No don't give up, just keep going.

The clay for Raikah's largest bowl

still isn't centered.

I feel like I just want to rub your shoulders

or do something, do some sort of-

- I'm fine, it's just- -Reiki on Raikah.

I'm sending you my sisterly love and strength.

- Oh you're so sweet. Thank you. -Keep going.

Well I've done the five bowls, put my feet out

watch everybody else panicking.

This is the last one.

It is what it is now. It's done.

I think it's going to be, going to be all right.

That's it, finished, yes! Last one done.

Come on!

I'm leaving this room.

Okay, everybody you have two minutes, two minutes left!

It's not really everybody it's just Raikah.

You can do it!

We've got to shut that drying room door,

Stop her now it could collapse anyway.

Raikah, get it off the wheel!

Well done.

Yay!

- Aw bless her. -I can't even hug you!

Please?

Sorry.

I've seen some beautiful bowls go past me this morning

Might have to get out of here as soon as,

it's too intimidating.

Slightly wider by a couple actually.

I think from here you can be quite pleased with yourself.

We're half way through the first day.

Middle Port's been working round the clock for 150 years

and whilst their bowls dry,

there's no rest for our potters.

They're about to be tested on a traditional technique

that's older than Stoke itself.

So then Potters this is your first ever spot test.

Each week as your work is drying, you're going

to be tested on a particular potting technique

and this week I've heard it's a really tricky one.

Its handles, and it's a technique particularly specific,

it's pulling.

If you'd like to carefully pull off the hessian cloth.

You have two different types of mug in front of you,

one is a contemporary type and the other's a traditional type.

We want to see two sets of 10 identical handles.

These guys aren't going to be in the room

whilst you're doing this, okay?

Afterwards they're going to come back and judge

them without knowing who's handles they're looking at.

Okay, judges you can leave. See you in a little while.

Potters we need 20 handles, two different styles

and you've got 90 minutes.

This is tough, this is deep end.

The tecnic I am going for is trying to get 20 handles

on 20 mugs, and that's it.

Handles are a really important element of pottery,

they're aesthetic and functional.

When you look at a handle,

even if they've been made hundreds of years ago,

you connect really with that potter's hands.

And you can see that makers thumb mark of somebody

who lived maybe 300 years ago.

It's quite a traditional technique, the pulling

of a handle, and it'll show real control

and consistency with someone's hand.

Pulling handles is the ultimate test

of potter's instinctive feel for the clay.

Now I know what you're all thinking, and you're not alone.

There are some similarities between pottery and sex.

Oh yes. Try pulling a handle!

That's very rude.

I wouldn't describe it as a sensual feeling necessarily,

it's a very pleasurable feeling.

I love the feel of cool clay in my hands.

Sensual or not, pulling is the best way

to encourage the clay to form a fluent

and naturally curved handle.

I'm holding the clay at the top

and then I'm wetting the clay with my right hand

and just gently, with hardly any pressure

pulling it in a downward motion.

The key with this is just confident draws.

During pulling potters can create ridges

in the clay with their thumb.

Just adding a traditional flat top.

The ridges can add shape and texture

to the surface of their handles.

God it's hard on the arm.

You're doing it too quickly, that's why.

Oh Nigel, you look quite at home there I must say!

That's-

You do, you're like in your own world. What a handle!

This is something I do on a regular basis!

That's very good, does your wife ever, do pottery with you?

- No, she doesn't. -Does she not?

Don't know what she's missing, does she?

Look, look you're going great. Guns here.

My wife enrolled me in a pottery just

so I wouldn't be home for one night a week on time.

Now I think pottery's taking over from work.

So I'm not sure whether she's actually got what she wanted.

Is this preferable to the wheel work?

It's as difficult, if not more difficult

because you need to keep them all the same.

With the wheel you can alter,

but once you've taken them off, they are what they are.

There's a few that look similar-ish.

There's a few that look like the BFG's ears!

One hour to go

and Jane's nerves are making her cautious.

Just thought I'd try and dry them with a bit of a curve.

I've laid them over the rolling pin

so it's a more symmetrical handle.

I kind of leave them like that, just hanging over so the clay

just finds its own natural curve.

I'm going to leave a little dip in the middle

because it's the easiest thing to do right now.

That's not supposed to happen!

You are half way through!

Gasps of horror, just 45 minutes left.

Sally-Jo has just moved from pulling to joining.

The handles are quite soft,

in an ideal world I would firm up the handles a little bit.

Talking of firming up-

I'm just drying the handles,

some people just put them straight onto the mug

and leave them soft, but I always work with mine quite dry.

Scratching the surface

and adding slip gives the handle

a sticky area to bond to.

To be honest, I am struggling.

And Tom and Joanna are trying

to give themselves an advantage.

Despite being attached, they're on the pull again.

I want to add some ridges again,

once I've attached them, with a little bit of messing around,

quite a hard technique to get them attached.

10 minutes, 10 minutes and then your mugs have

to be at the front for judging.

I think the key to winning this task is seeing

if you can replicate the same thing over and over again.

Well the thing is, I never do anything consistently.

Everything I do is very unique.

I've never done this shape before.

Should've done small ones really quick.

Five minutes remaining.

Steady girl.

Normally on these I put like a little pip

for your thumb, just as a little decoration.

Heads down on this one, not looking up.

Okay guys, we need to start getting our boards to the front.

You've got one minute.

I'm doing the traditional ones now.

Can we help each other? No.

I was too slow in the beginning.

I've got seven left to do in a minute, no problem.

Do you want a hand? -No, I'm good thank you.

- Oh my god, this is going to be a disaster.

It's not going to be finished.

Come on you've just got a few seconds, get them up there!

Chop, chop!

Well done.

- Have they all got handles on? -No.

They're the worst handles I've ever done in my life.

I tell you what they're going to rip us to shreds here!

They are, they're going to tell us, yeah.

This is where it happens isn't it?

♪ I'll take afternoon tea, afternoon tea ♪

The potters will now have their work judged

for the very first time, and Kate and Keith

will have no idea whose handles are whose.

I hope you enjoyed this challenge. Tight on time.

Yeah, it's about rhythm and consistency.

And board number one, I can see a true sense

of consistency there.

And there's a clear difference

between contemporary and the traditional.

Yeah, no absolutely.

They look pretty well joined, but not at the bottom,

the bottom hasn't been scratched.

What do you think of number two?

I think that's quite high.

The proportions is too big for the actual mug itself.

And as far as the contemporary ones are,

I wouldn't say they were that different.

Well these are looking pretty good.

I love the fluidity of the handle.

I'm loving the proportion of the handle to the mug.

That's great.

Lovely ridges on the pulling, lovely little curl.

And again I'm loving this knob.

That's little gesture. Yeah, absolutely.

Number four, lovely smudge,

this tells a story of the finger

and it describes the material, it was once soft.

They're quite thick, quite heavy.

Yeah that would be my only comment really,

they're a bit on the thick side.

So onto the next one. A nice pull.

The thickness of the handle.

Very much in proportion with the mug itself.

The contemporary shape I would struggle with a handle

that low on a mug. Number six.

The proportion of what they've tried

to do with the handle shape and the thickness

of the handle is way off.

And there is again on the traditional.

Okay, next one.

So this actually has a sense of animation to it.

KEITH; It's quite a bold statement to do this,

and what about the traditional ones?

Well I think they've got a lovely lug at the top,

that's very generous.

The handle is slightly on the thick side.

Someone's shown a real spark of imagination here.

The thickness of the handle in

proportion to the mug body is fantastic.

We talked about the ridges when you're pulling,

the ridges are there,

but as an extra thing the ridges are twisted.

Again with the traditional ones, nice proportion to the mug body.

Lovely ridges again.

Number nine.

The person who's done that is fairly confident.

And a very lovely curved, fat ridge.

I've got a slight problem with the contemporary shape.

They have been brave with their proportions.

That's really brave Kate, that's really brave that one.

Last but not least. Well, what a shame,

this is the only one of the 10 boards,

well whoever it was hasn't managed to finish.

Although the work is good, the pulling's good.

They've really wanted to try

and get a sense of fluidity in the handle there.

Yeah, lovely sprig.

And I'm liking the contemporary ones as well.

I'm liking this heavy, thick trench down the middle of it.

But you ain't finished the task!

Kate and Keith will now reveal

whose mastered pulling and whose touch has let them down.

number 10 I'm afraid is this one.

That's mine.

Obviously you didn't finish the task.

I understand.

9th place was this board here.

The proportions to the handle to the mug shape

was just a little out.

Nigel is 8th,

Jane is 7th, James 6th, Matthew 5th

and Joanna is 4th.

Third place is these ones here.

They're mine.

We love the boldness of the contemporary shape.

So is it going to be Tom or is it going to be Jim?

Who is your winner?

Tom. Well done.

Well done, Tom.

How did Tom just edge it?

There's a beautiful clean pulling and the ridges,

and the cheeky curl, it's just a winner.

Absolutely.

And you can actually go and have a breather now,

a well-deserved rest for a few minutes.

When you come back though you can get your bowls out

of the drying room.

See you in a little bit, go and have a rest.

Well done!

♪ Makin' time ♪

It's eight p.m.

and it's taken seven hours for the bowls to dry.

They're now leather hard and ready

for what potters call, turning and trimming.

So if some of the potters put their pots

in the drying room and they were sad about them

and worried, can you rescue a badly thrown pot,

with a good bit of turning and trimming?

Yeah you can, yeah, you can.

The potters have an hour and a quarter

to trim all five of their bowls.

When the clay's slightly drier it changes,

the water's leaving it, it becomes stiffer.

Like chocolate and you turn and trim it.

This is one of the favorite parts of the process for me,

because you really are getting to the crispness

of the pot and you're showing it come alive.

A bit like, sort of giving it a bit of an uplift

before it goes into the kiln.

- Really good potters, hardly have to turn off their pots,

and clearly I've got a lot to turn off these pots.

So you can see the line of the bowl there,

I want that line to continue

and I want to trim off the excess.

In the making of ceramics there's a certain continuity

in the tools that are used.

Very simple, basic forms are used time

and time again from the earliest times to the present day.

A small simple tool out of wood, or a piece of gold perhaps.

The earliest ceramic objects in fact were made 37,000 years ago.

The earliest wheel turn pottery appears to be made

in Mesopotamia in the 4th millennium BC.

To participate in the making of ceramic objects

is really to participate in tradition

that's really been part and parcel

of almost every civilization on earth.

During throwing James had to rush

to finish his largest bowl.

If you've got some wobbles on the outside

you can just wait until it's a little bit dry

and then just trim it off.

I enjoy the process of turning a lump

of clay into a usable form.

I feel completely taken away

into a different headspace, basically.

Day to day I'm a veterinary surgeon.

Typical day will be a mixture of consulting and operating.

With a stressful job,

going on the wheel and just letting it all flow out of you,

it's a pure therapy.

It's my version of meditation.

I think turning appeals to me because this

is when it really comes together,

then you really see the shape that you're going

to have at the end of it.

When she threw it, one of Sally-Jo's bowls

didn't match her set.

It's slightly flat sided but I've managed

to turn a curve in it which will mirror the inside

of this one, and this one does actually fit inside it.

So that's a nice surprise.

Matthew's also had a surprise.

You've got a bit of a problem here.

This happened after it had gone into the drying room.

Because Matthew applied too much slip to wet clay,

it weakened the rim of his largest bowl.

So there was moisture there, the shape's trying

to sort of split itself open

and you've had a slight weakness and it's worked with it.

It's rather a beautiful crack actually. Congratulations.

Yeah, you're going to have to do something with that.

Just go bold with it.

Matthew doesn't normally

have an issue with large pots.

If I was a pot,

I think I would be a very large Alibaba jar.

They're the pots I find most challenging to make.

I got into pottery from a very young age,

both my parents were potters,

so I'd never really touched Play-Doh

in fact because there was always clay.

I'm just going to think about it,

stay calm and see what happens.

Most of the potters have waited until their bowls

are dried and been trimmed before they added slip.

I'm just adding to my time.

And Sandra needs to impress more than most.

Coming last in the spot test. That was a bit of a bummer.

♪ Didn't turn away, when the sky was gray ♪

I sing at the wheel, yes some call it singing,

some call it don't sing.

My family have been very supportive actually.

They think I'm great. My work I mean.

Not so much me, but they love my work.

If you go to my friend's houses, you'll see my work everywhere.

I make them buy it.

My confidence is a little bit gone.

So I'm trying to make up for that.

What time is it?

15 minutes left guys of turning and a trimming.

Trying to kind of give it all a soft rocky bottom

so that they all are together.

I'm turning off large amounts of clay,

which I need to do on the two biggest bowls.

The clay in the largest bowls will be softer,

making trimming risky.

Having to be really controlled

and taking your time with it, isn't something

that comes naturally to me.

I've got to be careful, if I press too hard

it'll dip like that, if it's very soft.

The only thing that can happen

is that I'm too zealous going down inside

to get that foot-ring and if I do that,

go too far the bowl's finished.

Too soft and you won't touch it with a turning circle,

too hard and you'll push it down and in.

So it is a balancing act.

He's managed to trim it but Matthew's biggest bowl

still has a crack problem.

Maybe I should disguise it with a handle?

In the kiln the crack might open up a bit more.

But in theory the handle might just hold it all together.

All I'm doing here is just try and create some texture,

to give myself an interesting slip now.

Jim! -I'm repairing a crack.

- You know what? You're not alone with the crack.

Yeah it cracked at the edge, dry clay and slip,

- that's the trouble. -It's only a little crack.

It is and I'm filling that baby up as quick as I can.

Get cracking, couple of minutes and they've got

to be in there, you don't want them getting locked out.

Joanna doing a bit of juggling?

Doing a bit of juggling.

There you go, get them in there girl, they look gorgeous.

30 seconds guys, 30 seconds, get them in there please.

Can I give you a hand?

You can do my darling, that'd be great.

Wow, they're beautiful.

Get those in the drying room please.

Chop, chop! Get in there.

Five, four, three...

You need to get your pot in there quickly please, Jane!

Two...

one.

I was nice because it's the first day.

Yeah, well done.

Wow, a full on day guys, but you've been amazing.

The next time you clap eyes on your babies,

they'll have had their first firing

so we will see you in a couple of days.

Day one of the competition lasted 13 hours.

What a day. I am truly fatigued.

It's the longest I've ever spent at the wheel,

longest I've ever spent using clay.

I somehow survived it, you know, I've got no cracks.

You're going to have ups and downs in it aren't you?

Exhausting, exhilarating and moreish.

Day two is a frustrating

down day for the potters,

there's nothing they can do as their bowls

are dried completely and go into the kiln.

Middle Port had a whole army to get this job done

and they're known as kiln men.

And here's ours, his names Rich.

This process is slightly nerve wracking

because it's someone else's work.

It's Rich's job to take the dried kitchen bowls

to our kiln room and fire them.

I make sure that it makes it to kiln as safely

as possible for that biscuit firing.

A pot's first trip to kiln is known

as a biscuit firing

and it permanently transforms the clay.

That process of going from the clay to the final ceramic,

involves a whole host of rather complicated

and different steps.

Initially you just boil off the water that's not held

in the clay, and then as you increase the temperature

you start to lose the water

that's held in the crystal structure of the clay.

As you increase temperature up to about 800 degrees,

you see we start to get vitrification,

a melting or fuse of the pot body and you form

that solid ceramic body that is permanent,

that is going to be there for thousands of years.

Well that's what kiln men hope, but at temperatures

over 1,000 degrees C,

moisture, pour throwing, careless trimming,

can all spell disaster.

They're in one piece now, will they be in one piece

at the end of the firing?

It might be nerve wracking but Rich actually

has it pretty easy.

The old bottle kilns of years ago, burning coal,

burning wood, it must have been terrible.

The poor guys working in that gap between the bottle

that you see as the outside of the kiln

and the chamber of the kiln within,

would have been stoking coal for hour, after hour,

after hour, in unbearable temperatures.

And in fact a lot of the workers would be paid

on what came out of the kilns,

if it didn't come of the kiln, they didn't get paid for it.

You'd put a piece of rag, soaked in water,

run in with a hook and you'd pull it out.

While the kiln was going because you'd start losing money.

Day three and the potters are back to discover

how their bowls faired during the first firing.

Who for you are really shining?

So far, Tom is technically confident

but maybe he lacks a bit of imagination.

Rock-a-billy Jim.

Said when he was making,

well I haven't stretched myself too far, but he actually has.

Sally-Jo is really a bit of a dark horse in this.

Kate, who do you think is struggling a bit to keep up?

It's Matthew. His shapes really top heavy,

he's just not showing us what he can do.

And then we've got Jane.

I noticed her right at the start, she was panicked.

Another worry for me is probably Sandra.

Raikah's hand skills don't seem up to the mark.

We've actually been shuffling

our opinions through different stages.

You never know what comes out of that kiln.

Our kiln man, Rich,

has brought the biscuit fired bowls back to the studio.

Deep breath.

Everything now rests on

what lies beneath the hessian.

Oh, it's not bad.

Okay, this looks good.

Oh I've got a crack in my base on the large one.

I'm quite glad it hasn't split in half really.

Not cracked.

Four or five present, correct, a bit heavy but.

- Not cracked. -Really pleased.

Not cracked.

It's a good start, phew.

- Oh my gosh. -Oh that's a relief!

Oh. Cool.

Oh!

I've got some rather lovely additions to my pieces here.

It's a fact of pottery, you can't get too upset.

The potters now have two and a half hours

to decorate their bowls.

Earthenware glazes are commonly a mixture of clay,

silica and lead.

Once fired the blend melts to form a glass like decoration.

But the potters can't be sure

of how it will look until after the final firing.

I'm planning to do some pretty simple decoration.

Decorating it's not really my thing.

I'm not proficient at it, frankly.

Normally I just decorate with slip before it goes

in the kiln, but I've got two hours.

It's difficult to glaze it, because your hearts

not in it really.

I have a plan, it's just formulating in my head.

Sally-Jo has set her heart on an abstract design

with layered colors.

I'm just putting on a base layer of a slip,

which you don't conventionally put on at this stage.

But I find that if I put it on now then the color

on top flows much better.

Color is such an emotive thing,

I work as an interior designer and the colors

you surround yourself with can make such a difference

to how you feel.

I don't go round creating bright pink houses or anything.

But I like to take color combinations for my pottery.

It's a really careful choice and it's got

to come from within, for me it's really important

that it feels quite fresh and I want it

to feel quite painterly, and at the end

I want the paint strokes to be seen.

I'm not being literal, but I just want to try

and get the sand and what we actually see in the horizon.

Raikah's very simple design is meant

to reflect the colors of her favorite beach in Dorset.

Clay can be anything you want it to be.

I'm a conception artist you know,

so I build a lot of natural, organic forms

and I feel the need to kind of,

to make it not just a pot but something else about it.

I just made some stamps form make up sponges,

I just made some geometrical shapes.

Quite simple, quite basic.

The green and the cream ends up as

classic cream-ware colors, but with a contemporary shape.

The indentations in the base, when you scrape away,

the upper pieces will go cream.

I was up in Whitby actually

when the inspiration came through.

Being by the sea it all kind of,

came to me straight away that it has to be a sea theme,

so blues, whites, terracotta's,

I just sort of thought that would be a nice combination.

Jane's inspiration comes

from a little closer to home.

These pots are ode to my granny's,

so the design is from my grandmother's dress

from the '60s and my other granny lived in Portugal.

As regards to the crack, I can't see it

so I'm just going to focus on the decoration.

It's nice to get this far,

and I'm glad the throwing is, is out of the way.

I'm certainly not going to try and disguise the cracks

by painting over them, that'll just look dreadful,

so I'm going to ignore them and maybe they'll go away.

Jim's hoping to bring what's left of his set

of bowls together with a vintage woodland theme.

I'm roughly painting a background color,

and then I'll refine that with a fine brush

and a darker color to make a more finished leaf design.

One hour to go

before the potter's bowls need

to be ready for their final firing.

I'm going to try and use bold colors,

one color per bowl and I'm thinking

about a way of introducing the colors I use on each

of the bowls into every bowl.

Matthew's finally found

some enthusiasm for decorating.

This is an iron oxide, so I'm trying to reflect

what I did originally on the outside of my bowls.

Oxide's change color in the heat of the kiln.

I'm surface decorating with cobalt oxide.

The thinnest of layers

has the potential to produce rich

and more organic looking hues than a premixed glaze.

Although it doesn't look like anything at the moment,

this come out the most brilliant,

beautiful blue on white.

I did have a plan, but we have also got some oxides

so I'm thinking on my feet a little bit more

and I think I might change the plan a little bit

to see something different.

30 minutes guys, you've got half an hour to go!

I've got to finish on time.

I don't want to decorate too much,

in case it just looks like a mess.

Raikah's decoration

has become even more conceptual.

Because this one has a wobbly base,

I've written wobbly base on it.

I think this is perfect, so I did "Perfect" on this.

I keep just adding more to it,

so I think I've overdone it now and I've really got to stop.

Five minutes guys, then we're going

to get these babies down to the kiln.

For their final preparation for the kiln,

the potters decorated bowl should be coated

in transparent glaze.

The secret is, don't play with it, don't try

and touch it up, just dip and pray.

It contains silica, which when fired will turn

into a thin, clear layer of glass.

Deep breath, because I run a serious risk

of losing this part of the pot in the glaze.

I don't want the judges peering through the hole.

Drum roll please.

Easy as we go.

Oh look at that, it stayed in.

After 72 hours the potter's kitchen bowls are

at last ready for their final firing.

Bring all your pots over.

As I handed the bowls over to Rich, I felt like these

are my babies, you know, and I will see you tomorrow.

Once you've done as much as you have control over,

it's quite nice, you can just feel relieved.

How I'm going to be feeling when the kiln's opened

is a different matter altogether.

And it is completely in the lap of the pottery gods now.

] If you were Richie how would you be feeling now?

- Nervous. -Frightened.

- 50 bowls to fire. -Glad it's out of our hands now.

Just leave it to Richie and just wait.

I can't wait though, I can't wait that long!

I know.

♪ Don't ya ♪

The potter's day isn't over

as during the glaze firing, Kate and Keith have

set one final challenge.

Each week we're going to test your skills at the wheel.

You're going to be up against each other,

you're going to be up against the clock.

This ladies and gentleman is the throw-down.

- This week you're making egg cups and it's about numbers.

You're going to throw off the hump,

and you're going to throw for 20 minutes.

If you've not thrown off the hump before,

watch Keith very closely because he is the master.

Throwing off the hump has

been with us for centuries

and it's the first ever pottery technique

that enabled mass production.

This is done all around the world by people who want

to be able to throw small pieces.

So instead of centering each little tiny bowl of clay,

there's one big hump from which the tip is taken.

Now I have a rule, I never stop the wheel

when I throw off the hump.

You just want to get it into rhythm.

If I make a little groove at the bottom,

then that will determine where I cut the base.

The biggest danger is you slice off the base

and you make a hole in the egg cup,

which is not what we're after.

You've got five kilos of clay and you've got 20 minutes.

So which potter can throw the most egg cups?

Three, two, one. Go!

Just one little mistake and the whole thing goes.

- Don't cut through the bottom. -Oh! Doesn't count.

- I've got a hole in the bottom. -Focus, focus!

I've lost another one, with holes in the bottom.

I've got a special tool here,

it's called a throwing spear, take a groove out the base.

Keep the wheel going, clean the wire, spin it round.

Raikah, she's chosen a different style

and I kind of like it.

- Raikah's first one, well done! -Come on Raikah.

Tom's on three!

Matthew's got three over here!

You want to slow down there Matt.

Jim's got four! Come on Jim!

Jim is over-taking Tom.

Keep going, make everything economical with movement.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

Tom, come on he's on seven, you're on six!

Seven? Oh my god, I've got one.

15 minutes left, 7th one from Sandra and it's a beauty.

I can't do it, I cut my fingers about 15 times.

We're into double figures over here people,

we've got 10 from Tom.

Jim's on his 12th.

- We're rock and rolling. -I've lost my clay!

Come on!

- You've got big shoulders. -That's what I'm trying to do.

Do it for your family, look at their faces,

don't let them down.

10 minutes!

Who's winning? 17 over here.

- 20 over here guys, with Jim! -20?

Show off.

Five minutes left of this throw-down.

Hoping for some quick ones at the end.

- Tom's on 28! -What? 28?

Jim's done 29! Brilliant.

Come on potters, one minute left.

- Come on. -Ah, lost another one.

85 from James! -Yes!

Thank you everybody, thank you.

Come on Nigel!

- Final finale, ay? -Three.

Come on, last one!

Two, one!

- That's it. -How'd you do darling?

Disaster.

Our kiln man, Rich,

will now count how many egg cups

each potter has thrown from their hump.

18 altogether. 19, good.

20, 23.

23.

28.

Either Tom, Sally-Jo, or Jim

will be the first throw-down winner.

31.

36.

32.

- And the winner of our first ever throw-down is Tom.

Well done!

Thank you.

Time for you to go home guys. Tomorrow's a big day.

Your bowls will be judged and sadly one

of you will be going home.

Escape while you can.

- I mean it's great to win, but Sally creeps

in there every time, two-thirds now you know, Jim,

it could go anywhere.

I've thrown off the hump before,

so I thought I could do it but it was a real shock.

Somebody pipped me to the last post!

So I'm like, oh! So I'm happy.

It's taken four days,

but after 24 hours in the kiln

the potter's bowls are finished.

- It's so scary. -I can't bear it.

- Goosebumps again. -I hope they're okay.

- You never really know what you're going to get,

which is the beauty.

30 years I've been doing it and I'm still so excited.

This is all about what they visualized,

what they've executed, what they're getting out

of the kiln and is what they visualized

and what they're getting out of the kiln roughly

the same as what they planned.

All potteries in Stoke would have a display room

where they'd show off their work to their customers.

Now Middle Port's oldest display room is

where the potter's first completed work

will be presented to Kate and Keith.

Joanna, bring your bowls up to the front please.

They weight of the bowls is good,

there's a bit too much meat in the bottom here.

And it's interesting

because this ones got lots of stress cracks.

They don't go all the way through.

See these little nicks?

Come on, get them cleaner.

The base is just as important as the rim, don't do it again.

So I was really concerned

that the cobalt was going to be overloaded.

Cobalt oxide is really difficult to control.

There's a little bit of texture here.

You can just feel it and so your cobalt it was too thick.

Really nice, Tom.

You pick it up, you're expecting a certain weight

in your hand, and that's what you're getting.

I was a little concerned that

it was a little minimalist on the outside.

But look at the inside. Look at that.

Absolutely beautiful, I think the way the slip relates

to the lines that you made while you were carving,

works very well. The bright colors work with the dark clay.

That really is my kind of look.

Thank you.

Is that on purpose? The swaying?

If you like it it's on purpose.

You need to make sure that the strength

of the color is sufficient on the sponge.

I like the blue and white, I think that's a really good idea.

I think yes it's nice in that you've done

the painting and you've also scratched

back through to the white slip.

Well I really like the fact that you've decorated the base.

It's quite a simple design.

- Yes. -Would one class that as a bowl?

I would, yes.

Jim, would you like to bring your bowls to the front please.

Deep breath.

Now how you feeling about them, Jim?

I'm happy with the bowls that were left to decorate.

The first two obviously were a bit of a catastrophe.

Very slightly nostalgic feel

to the way some old wallpapers

and textiles have that off color.

Very nice different leaf shapes and different use of color.

I think you've got a real talent

for this brush decoration, it's good.

Now really this crack,

it's down to preparation of clay. It wasn't wedged properly.

- This was stupid. -Yes, a school boy error.

Don't do it again. School boy error.

Perfect, wobbly base, off center, bottom heavy, top heavy?

Yeah.

You've said it all for us Raikah, you've got your black,

green, blue, yellow, yellow?

You've got your pebbles and you've got your sea.

What's going on there?

I do want them to be good

because I like your fine art attitude.

How you feeling about the way the decorations worked?

I do prefer a simple decoration.

But we'd given you two hours to do your decoration

and I don't really feel that you were showing us

as much as you might have done.

I feel as though you need to know when to stop.

We feel that you stopped too early.

Sally-Jo, will you bring your bowls forward please?

You put this lip in them, which follows through the whole thing,

which just accentuates the whole set.

Look at the lovely patterns inside.

Used a bit of copper, have you?

Yes a bit of cobalt as well.

Sometimes ceramics can be like paintings

and have the sensitivity of someone

who has the skill of doing a painting.

And I really feel the sensitivity and the depth

of color is really successful.

Did you plan a flat line across the top?

I did plan a flat line, or I hoped for a flat line.

Well congratulations

because that's not a simple thing to do.

That's great, really, really good.

The crack is a tough one, isn't it?

Yes, my base is undulating a little bit,

there's an area of thickness and thinness.

I made the mistake because I was so nervous.

I'm actually really impressed, Jane.

- Thank you very much. -They're really good.

Can you tell us about the pattern?

Don't.

Why does it make you cry?

I think because, because out of the ten of you-

Go on.

Out of the 10 of you, you could see you-

Wow, out of the 10 of you I could see that you were

so nervous,

you were so nervous and you've just excelled yourself.

We've had everything from tough love to tears,

but now we need the judges to have a little pow wow.

So in the meantime if you wouldn't mind leaving us

and we'll see you back here in a little bit.

I really enjoyed making those bowls,

I really liked the way that they acknowledged the use of

color and it was meant to be quite free

and the brush strokes.

I hadn't wedged the clay enough, I'll take that on board.

It's not a bowl if it's cracked, so I've done enough

to stay because my bowls were solid, sturdy.

Do I think I'll leave?

I think there's every chance, you know,

like they say I didn't spend enough time on my decoration.

That's definitely a fault, it'd be nice not to.

We've got two decisions to make.

Shall we start with the happy one?

We're looking for our first ever top potter please.

Tom fills all the points for you doesn't he, Keith?

He does, yeah.

And really, Sally-Jo is really filling them for me.

I like the sort of move into Fine Art

because each one looks like a painting on the bottom

of the bowl and she's used the colors so sensitively.

- But in the mix there we've got Jane.

Are you going to cry again?

I'm going to try and hold it together,

it's a tough call between the three of them isn't it?

Now on to the really sad business,

because it feels so soon.

Who is going to be leaving the pottery today?

It's a toss-up between Matthew and Raikah.

Raikah doesn't have the skill

but she's just got this attitude, she's bringing

in a bigger picture really.

Matthew was slightly lazy.

I'm completely divided, because I'm annoyed with him.

He was born to clay, he was probably eating it.

- We have got to tell them, somebody's got to leave.

Okay, so we're going to get the potters back in.

Each week the judges are going to choose who is Top Potter.

Judges, what did this person do to earn this glorious accolade?

- They showed a great connection between the concept

of their design through to fruition and throughout

all the tasks, they showed great discipline and great finish.

The Top potter for this week goes to...

Tom.

Well done, Tom.

- Congratulations Tom. -Thank you.

Now to the less happy task, because one of you has

to go, and the judges have made their decision.

The person leaving the pottery today is...

It's Raikah.

That's fine, oh it's fine.

We're very sad to see you go.

It's really sad. Her crock skills just weren't there,

and it was so upsetting because Raikah

has this great spirit, this great sense of endeavor

and this bravery.

If it was down to attitude, Raikah wins hands down.

Yes!

I do feel disappointed but I think

it was the right decision,

I could only push the conceptual bit to some extent

but I'll do it to beat the skills tests.

It's fine.

Matthew's card is definitely marked,

you know what, I really don't think he realizes it.

It's going to be really interesting to see how he reacts

to future tasks.

As soon as there is that elimination process

it makes the whole thing a bit more real.

Great to win Best Potter, I mean that's brilliant.

But I'll be honest with you,

whenever they come out of the kiln, I just recognized,

you know, there's so many styles and these people

are amazing, and you're really critical of your own work,

and I thought, actually they're pretty ordinary.

If all I take from this competition

is that I made Keith Brymer Jones cry with happiness for me,

on my behalf, that's good enough for me.

Next time.

This is sustained physical exercise.

An epic main make-

Bath one of my kids in that.

For the smallest room.

A spot test-

That tile has been disqualified.

That's nine times as hard.

He wants to be normal.

And a throw-down that has to be seen-

This looks so bizarre.

To be believed.

But who'll be the next Top Potter?

I'm too upset now.

And whose competition will come to an end?

I feel like a six-year-old in a classroom.

It'll be playtime soon.