Original subtitles

OK. Gladstone should be up here on the left.

Are you sure? Gladstone's not in the countryside.

It's in Stoke-on-Trent.

Yeah. The home of British pottery.

That's right, Keith.

But the map says... The map is upside down. Huh?

Yeah. Well, I know how to get us in there as soon as we find it.

If we ever find it.

So, have you've got the keys?

It's Gladstone. We don't need the keys.

I have the secret knock.

Oh, it's you. Hi, Rose.

That didn't sound that secret. No, it wasn't.

I texted her on the way here.

Go, get the clay. Lots of it.

We're back with 12 of the finest home potters in the country,

a bottle kiln full of new challenges and a lot of clay,

and I mean a lot of clay.

Welcome to the new series of The Great Pottery Throwdown.

Did we miss the opening? Yeah, you did.

You didn't have any lines anyway.

Charming. No respect.

Here's the clay anyway.

Oh!

Rose!

Rose!

# Keep on running... #

We've searched high and low and found 12 of the country's

best home potters.

From the minute you walk in the pottery, it's just incredible.

Any potter will tell you, this is the Mecca.

Every week we watch the show and then at the end, my

children jump up, "Mummy, you should apply."

I was always like, "No, I'm not good enough," so I just can't believe

that I'm here. I don't know when it will sink in.

I like yellow. I like dungarees.

So yellow dungarees are quite good.

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

into sublime ceramics.

I really want to just have an adventure with the hobby

that has become a real passion.

I want to jump. I'm really excited.

I'm doing ceramics... fulltime!

Ooooh!

Everything they make will be judged by master potter Keith Brymer Jones.

I've been working with clay for over 40 years and you'd think

I've seen it all. But I love the fact that sometimes

the potters give us that chink

of inspiration and it is really, really magical.

It's absolutely wonderful!

This is mentorship you can't buy, and I love the fact

that it is so warm and everything about it is encouraging.

And renowned ceramics expert Rich Miller.

What's so unique about The Great Pottery Throwdown,

and the thing that just keeps me coming back is our potters intense

passion about ceramics.

There's just something so exciting and so inspiring about that.

HE WHISTLES

Are the potters prepared?

It's quite exciting.

It's nerve-racking as well.

So...

I'll start to panic now.

There are 20... Oh! ..brand-new challenges.

Come on! Aaaah!

Oh, my God. I need to make a hole.

Nervous. I feel a bit, like sick.

Oh, no! Aaaaah!

Are you ready? Go on. And who will be named this year's champion...

The amount of detail is staggering.

..of The Great Pottery Throwdown?

No! There's a lot of things that could go wrong. Right?

CLATTERING

Oh!

OK. Take a breath.

It's fine.

Yi-ikes.

MUSIC: Making Time by The Creation

# Making time

# Shooting lines

# People have their uses

# People have their uses... #

We're back at the Gladstone Pottery Museum in Stoke-on-Trent,

once the beating heart of British pottery.

We've greased the wheels and uncovered the clay, ready for

our 12 new potters to kick-start the competition.

After two challenges, our judges, Keith and Rich, will decide

who is potter of the week and who will leave the pottery.

Hi! Hi!

Ah, look at you.

Wow! Hello.

It's so good to see you all.

Oh, God, it's so good to be back.

Right, down to business. Pottery.

The judges, for your very first challenge, would like you to make

a birthday tea set dedicated to someone you love.

Now, they would like you to make a cake stand,

two cups and saucers, a side plate,

a little clotted cream pot

with a fitted lid and room for a spoon and a cake slice.

Now, Keith, any advice? We've given you this challenge, predominantly

throwing, but there is some sculpture in there and even

some hand building to really show us your full range of skills.

We want to be impressed.

Yeah, well, I'm definitely in the wrong job then. OK, Rich?

Really think about how you're going to bring all of the elements

of your set together through the use of shape and form

as well as decoration.

Now, I'm just super excited to get to know you all through your work,

so good luck. Potters.

You have six hours to make and refine your birthday tea set

and your time starts...

..now!

It's just so exciting. It is, isn't it? Very exciting.

Yes, it really is.

It is happening finally.

I still cannot believe that I'm here.

It's, it's a dream, I'm pinching myself.

I'm just touching these tables.

Getting started has just been the biggest relief.

Waiting for the clay, waiting.

And then it's just get the clay out and do what you do.

But before the potters can make a start on their tea sets, they must

wedge their clay.

I'm going to knead it to get rid of all the air bubbles.

Because sometimes you get air bubbles, which is a bad thing,

because if you put it in the kiln, it'll explode.

This is the hard part. This is the bit where you are doing exercises.

Oh, my God.

So here we are again, Keith.

12 amazing new potters and a great first challenge.

Fantastic. A birthday tea set.

It's their first opportunity to show us their skills.

Yeah. Take the cake stand, for instance.

I mean, it's the largest piece in the set. And the scale

of it presents challenges.

Yeah. We don't want to see any cracks.

We don't want to see any warping.

And then, of course, the cup and saucer, we want those cups

to be identical.

I know, being a production thrower, that's really important.

Definitely. And there's the opportunity to be playful.

This one, for example, this person obviously knows just how to make...

I see what you did there, Rich. ..make a cup.

I mean, it's quite a simple design, but the nose is then carried

through onto the side plate. Yeah.

They feel like a set. Look,

at the end of the day, I want to be impressed by their making

and also it has to be fit for purpose. And celebratory.

It's a birthday set, after all.

Yeah. It's got to be fun.

Eye-eye! Eh?

Hello, Helen. Hi, Helen. Hi.

Hi, Helen. Hello.

We're like a barbershop.

HARMONISING: # Helen! #

So tell us, Helen, tell us about your design, what you're doing.

I'm making my birthday tea set for my sister-in-law, Elaine.

She's been my best friend for over 40 years.

Then she emigrated to Australia.

Oh! OK. So we're away, obviously, for a long time.

Yeah. And then when we get together again,

we just latch onto where we were.

Sure. And within seconds we've got a glass in our hands.

Right. Oh, really?

So is that going to inform your tea set? Yeah.

Retired head teacher Helen lives in the Kent countryside,

where she shares her passion for pottery with the neighbours.

Come on, mint sauce. SHEEP BAAS

She'll bring her champagne-fuelled adventures with Elaine to life

with a tea set simple in form but intricately illustrated.

So being a teacher, you must be good at time management.

Surely? I'm retired.

Oh, OK. I'm not going to worry about, I'm just gonna... No!

Yeah. ..have a blooming good time.

We'll all have a glass of champagne at the end of it.

Or two.

Vithu is also raising a glass to faraway friends.

Well, my design is actually based on when I went to go see my best

mate in Thailand. Oh, lovely.

And he's actually gone again to Thailand.

He's become a teacher. And that's what he wants to do.

Wants to teach. Fantastic.

Vithu lives in Manchester,

an adrenaline junkie with a black belt in karate.

But when he's not doing his best Spider-Man impression, he pulls

pints at a local bar.

Oh, gosh, I need a break.

A reminder of the fun times he and friend Matt

enjoyed in Thailand, his set

features a cake stand inspired by a famous landmark,

a banyan tree with a stone Buddha head nestled

between its tangled roots.

So this looks very heavily textured.

It's going to be a lot of coiling.

Oh, OK. Right.

But, yeah, it should be OK.

I'm saying this to myself, so I should be OK.

You should be OK? Yeah.

I'm getting the sense you're going to be OK.

Yeah, yeah. OK.

This is the cake stand.

It's going to be a baobab tree.

They're called upside down trees.

It's got a very fat body, and the leaves look like roots coming

out, so I thought I'd make quite a good cake stand.

George is a junior doctor who lives in rural Hampshire.

Oh, that's a big yawn.

But it was growing up in Africa that's inspired his tea set.

Dedicated to Mum Clarissa's love of wildlife, the cake stand features

a character especially close to her heart.

My mother's favourite animal is a chameleon and I worked out

chameleons take a long time to paint, so if I do lovely long

tongues and do a scene of it catching a fly, I'll get more tongue

than chameleon and save myself a bit of time.

# I've spent my money on the spinning wheel... #

The centrepiece of their tea set,

the cake stand is the largest piece the potters must throw.

Balancing the cake stand is not having it collapse on you.

It's keeping it all together and not start flopping whilst

you're forming it. That would be bad

because the cake would slide off and that's not

what anybody wants from the cake stand.

But the dreaded droop isn't the only thing the potters need to avoid.

I need to compress this because stress cracks can happen in flat

surfaces. Compressing clay gives it strength and stability.

Come on. Skimp on this crucial step,

and the potters could be presenting the judges with a pile of rubble.

If you get this wrong, yi-ikes.

Cake stand couldn't be any further from a piece of cake.

Rebecca is a primary school teacher and lives in Scarborough

with husband Lawrence and son Henry.

She only started ceramics two years ago, but with Grandad Albert

watching on, spends every spare minute potting.

Get my bingo wings going.

Inspired by the love of nature she shared with Gran-Gran,

she'll add ladybirds to every piece of her woodland-themed tea set.

In Lancashire, there are some walks that have got ladybirds, you know,

you follow them all the way around. Sure, yeah. Yeah.

And we used to go on them all the time when I was little.

Me and my grandad, we spent every day together.

I'd just do anything to have one more birthday tea with him. Aw.

The tea set's for

my son, William, who's very much into nature, loves animals.

You know, he's out in the garden rescuing hedgehogs.

He's rescued mice and he's rescued the earwigs.

Structural engineer Jon lives in Wiltshire, where he enjoys

the country life with wife Catherine, their two sons, William

and Benjamin... Apples. ..and pets Sarah and Duck,

who will be immortalised

atop his side plate while the cake stand is modelled on William's

favourite apple tree.

Was this all pierced out?

Some pierced some carved.

You can sense your engineering background here. Yes, yes. All very

precise, all very engineered, measured and everything else. Yes.

So it's how I carve without cutting away too much and getting too much

warping and things. Well, look. Sure.

Good luck. Thanks. Yeah.

My lovely new potters, the drying room is open.

I am opening the drying room. Open the dry room.

I have opened the drying room. With their cake stands complete...

Exciting. It's going in the drawing room.

..the potters can turn their attention to cups and saucers.

I've made an awful lot of mugs.

Everybody wants a mug.

Quite a nice thing to make.

And while smaller and simpler to throw...

Come on. ..Keith and Rich will be expecting a pair identical

in shape and size.

That's quite a big ask, isn't it?

Cups is sort of my comfort zone.

I have done four identical mugs, and we're hoping that...

Oh, no! OK.

Maybe three identical mugs, since I've just ruined that one.

Medical student Caitlin lives in Glasgow with Mum Lucy

and Dad Adrian, an ex-potter with an ever critical eye.

It's going to collapse in a minute.

It's not going to collapse.

It's their shared love of the sea that's inspired her tea set,

which she'll decorate with bold blue glaze.

My dad was the one who taught me how to snorkel, so one of the cups

is going to have a snorkel. And it looks like you've got some

sort of details on the handle.

Yes. My dad took us fishing when we were younger.

And the handle will be the rod. Are they mackerel?

Yes. Fish knowledge?

Yes, exactly. Siobhan is also...

I'm also an expert on fish as well as pottery.

Our parents took us on holidays to Anglesey, to Holyhead.

My brothers would go fishing.

There's a lighthouse that's there, so it's all inspired by the cliffs

and the sky.

Art teacher, James and his mum, Theresa, made hiking a firm fixture

of family holidays to Anglesey.

It was lovely and sunny, but then the cloud came down.

We were all frightened.

He'll use blue and white glaze to create the cloudy skies

while the rocky cliffs will be embossed with stones

brought from home. It's a nice way of making texture.

And because it's stones, it looks like it's stone as well.

Just press them in. So if it distorts, it's on purpose.

Right. OK?

It is.

These are my cups.

My mum always drinks out of mugs like these.

She's an oil painter.

She's a bit like me, a bit chaotic.

And she just puts her brushes in her tea and then she'd drink it,

"Oh, my God!"

Fliss lives in Fulham and is the youngest of four siblings,

all of them artists. Painting since early childhood,

she's enjoyed her mother's guidance.

That's it. Brave. Yeah.

Her set, featuring a paint palette cake stand and cream pot, complete

with paintbrush top will be decorated

in her mum's favourite colours.

Do you think that there is like one of your siblings in a room somewhere

whispering to themselves, "I just want to be an accountant."

I am the only person doing pottery. Oh, really? Yeah.

It's good that I'm doing something different because I know that my mum

and dad can't critique me on it.

Potters, you're halfway through.

I'll start to panic now.

# I'll see your face

# Everywhere I go... #

While throwing matching teacups and saucers

is a test of the potters technical skills...

No! Go in the middle.

..their cream pots and side plates are an opportunity

to unleash their creativity.

My plate is going to be cut out.

It's going to be a leaf.

I really like pottery to have an element of fun to it.

So my cream pot is a cactus. My tea set is for my sister.

And she keeps a lot of house plants, so it relates

to her passions and talents.

I'm just really proud of everything she's done, and I don't think

she sees her good points all at once.

So hopefully this will do that.

Lois lives in Ramsgate with husband Adam and their two boys, Jacob

and Samuel. A jewellery designer,

younger sister Abby is always a willing model.

They're great, aren't they?

To celebrate her sibling's many talents, Lois will add

lots of decorative detail and sculptural elements to her tea set,

including a birthday cake candle holder.

I'm hoping to make a little spoon as well, if I get time.

Wow. Lots of extra little bits.

Yeah. Do love a challenge.

My plate.

The base was too thin.

While Caitlin's still at the wheel...

Oh, it's just annoying.

..most of the potters have finished throwing... Right,

it's building time now.

..and can turn their attention to the cake slice...

The cake slice is based on a leaf from the apple tree that goes

with the apple, the clotted cream pot. ..and other hand-built pieces.

This is my sister's candle holder.

I'm making a crocodile cake slice.

I'm cutting the scales, fins, spines.

I am sculpting my potter's trim pots.

It will be a basket.

And on the top of the lid, some little cones as a knob.

My pottery teacher, she loves cones.

She's from Mexico and I decided to celebrate her heritage.

Originally from France and now living in London, architect

Christophe likes to wind down after a stressful day.

He'll add decorative graphics to his cake slice and stand

depicting landmarks from both Lucia's native Mexico and the UK.

This looks incredibly complex.

It's a stencil. It took me a day to do it.

Wow! Wow! Oh!

And is that the only one?

That's the only one.

So don't let Siobhan touch it.

Exactly. That's all I'm saying.

OK, potters...

FEEBLE HONK

Jesus Christ!

Four hours gone, two hours left.

Thank you.

The tea sets are now leather hard and ready to be refined,

removing any excess clay to leave pristine surfaces.

This stage is everything, because once this goes into the kiln,

that's the shape it's going to come out.

There's nothing else you can do.

This is also the stage where the potters can alter their thrown

forms. It's just coils for the tree trunk.

That's the head of the Buddha.

This is my cream pot.

My brother and sister-in-law have a boat.

So I thought I'd just make a little model of their boat.

And add decorative texture.

This...cream pot is going to be a bird's nest.

On top of it is going to be a big bird.

It will look like a bird, I promise.

But I want to bite it.

This is the Colombian food. Beautiful.

Fabiola, a nanny, moved to the UK from Colombia 25 years ago

with husband Mauricio and together they have three grown-up children

Kevin, Daniela and Mariana.

SHE SPEAKS SPANISH

Dedicated to close friend Carmenza, who was in a coma

for five months, Fabiola will celebrate her incredible recovery

with a tea set featuring her favourite flowers and birds.

It's such a thoughtful set. You've got such joy

in them, like... Oh, definitely.

I mean, my friend deserves to be happy now... How

could she not be anything but happy with you as a friend?

We are the same. Yeah.

Just kind of crazy, both of that.

But she's the decent one.

You're the naughty one. Kind of.

Yeah. Yes. I like you.

I like you. As Fabiola's bird takes flight...

This is me and my wife for a walk on the beach.

..Derek's keeping his feet firmly on the ground.

Sometimes Stone Age footsteps appear on beaches after tens

of thousands of years. My birthday tea set is dedicated

to my wonderful wife, Tessa,

who is a big old history nerd.

Married for over 20 years,

Belfast-born magazine editor Derek and his wife Tessa live

in Tunbridge Wells with their two dogs, Chilli and Basil.

Size of that! Wouldn't get that

in the mouth of the cave, darling, would you?

He'll decorate his set with Stone Age cave paintings,

including a pair of woolly mammoths atop his cake stand,

which he's thrown in one piece from nearly three kilos of clay.

You are going to have to watch that.

It's a big expanse of clay.

I've got to get it the right consistency

before it's turned upside down.

No-one wants a floppy cake stand.

No!

I don't think much of these party bags.

OK, potters, half an hour left. HE WHISTLES

I'm feeling the pressure now.

I've got a lot to do.

This is the side plate.

The vine on the cake stand consumed a lot of time.

It's going to be really, really tight.

Hello, Christophe, how are we doing?

The cake slicer is too thin.

Might crack on the tip.

As a pottery expert, I can assure you it will not.

Thank you very much.

I'm just trying to make it look like a tree.

I need to add a ladybird on now.

Ladybird scurrying.

All right, let's put those berries on.

Oh, that looks a bit rude.

Is that just my mind?

Ohhhh!

Oh, my God!

Oh, my God! Are you OK?

My snorkel.

No! Ohhh.

Oh, you can do this. You can do this.

Just give it a push.

You have to give it a try.

No, it's not going to move.

Ohhhh! Now, I'm definitely feeling like I'm under pressure.

As Caitlin rushes to remake her cup...

I've just got to get this dry quickly.

..Derek's cake stand is still damp.

I can't turn it the right way out, otherwise it'll go bleurgh.

So I'm going to heat gun it, let it dry...

No cake.

Lovely potters, you've 10 minutes left.

My hand is shaking as I start to panic. It's the cake stand

that worries me because I know how much work I wanted to do on it.

It's quite ambitious to carve into all of this, but I'd rather

be ambitious than think,

"Oh, I could have tried that and I didn't."

One more fish and then I'll stop fiddling.

I've made a second mug. OK.

Whee!

I'm all good now that this is the right way round.

Potters, one minute left.

Ah! Three, two, one.

Oh! How are we doing?

HE GROANS Yeah.

Stick it on. Shove it in.

Any old thing'll do.

Good, good, good. Looks lovely.

You take that. Sorted.

Oh, my spoon isn't in here.

Did we have to make a spoon?

Oh, my God. I need to make a hole.

Ten seconds! Ten seconds. Oh, no!

SQUEALING

I nearly forgot the spoon.

Three... INDISTINCT SHOUTING

..two, one.

Well done, potters.

You've just finished your very first day.

Woof!

We did it.

That's all the potters can do for now.

Mine's scruffy as hell.

Once completely dry,

kiln technician Rose will take the tea sets for their first bisque

firing, which will harden the clay, ready for decoration.

Well, there's a few potential issues with Vithu's set.

The side plate's really thick.

It could cause cracks.

Not too confident. I've got a couple of things that I'm a bit worried

about, hoping the glaze will be able to fix.

Fingers crossed I can turn it around in the decoration part.

In general, I'm pleased by what I have achieved.

However, like my cake slicer, I think I made it a bit too thin.

So I'm scared about it.

We managed to salvage another cup.

Unfortunately, it's not quite as perfect as I had wanted it to be,

but it's there and it's whole.

The potters now face a tense time

as they wait to see if their tea sets survive the ferocious

thousand degree bisque firing.

This is the scary bit.

The kiln gods decide and hopefully they're looking down on us.

Not raining and pouring, thunderstorms. THUNDER CRACKS

Each week, the potters will face a second mystery challenge,

and this time it's something that goes perfectly

with their breakfast cup of tea.

Your second challenge this week is a throwdown.

Oh! And you're going to be making...

..milk jugs.

And to show us how to make them is our master potter.

Keith, please, take the wheel.

Great.

Centre the clay.

We want these milk jugs to be as identical as possible.

It's just placing that clay in the right place.

Just! And if you put the clay in the right place, your jug

is going to be the same.

It's simple. Yeah.

What's all the fuss about? Yeah!

Make your hole.

Out you come, nice and flat.

Slow that wheel down a bit now.

Collar up that clay.

Speed of the wheel is really important.

I want to make a nice, substantial rim, so I'm throwing up to that rim.

Can you see? It starts getting exaggerated.

That's amazing. Shape the outside of the jug.

Just to give you a bit of an accent.

Get the water out.

We don't want to see any water in there.

Just milk!

Yeah. Clean off that edge.

I'll stop the wheel.

I'll wire it through.

And then I can really work that piece of clay to make my spout.

Even pressure, pulling that clay up

to give you a nice even spout.

Ohhh!

Just smooth it over and then wire it through once more and off you come.

APPLAUSE

Potters,

if you could go back to your benches, please.

The judges have very generously given you

15 minutes to make as many milk jugs as you can.

Just to get this into perspective. Keith, how many do you think

you'll be able to make in 15 minutes? 15.

LAUGHTER AND GROANS

Ladies and gentlemen,

your time starts now!

Don't rush. Just go quickly.

Yeah.

Ohhhh!

I can't centre that.

Just get one made at this rate.

Nice centre-ing there, Fabiola.

I'm getting there. A milk jug today would be good, though.

SHE LAUGHS OK, let's go for it.

Looking good, guys. Well done.

Struggling a little bit with this and it's got a bubble in it.

It's rubbish, I've never thrown something that bad.

Make sure those lips are nice and consistent.

You want a nice lip that sort of goes down at 7:00 I always say.

Do you know, you look just like a milk jug when you do that.

Do I?

That's one, I'm going for identicalness.

James, has the first one done!

You're the first one, Jon.

Jon has also done.

James is the second one to do the first one.

That is also d... Actually Fliss has got one, too.

James is the third one. Third one.

..to do the first one.

CHOKED LAUGHTER

I've got one out.

I need to remember quality.

If I do quantity, they're all going to end up in the bucket.

Remember quality, not just quantity.

There we are.

That's the first one done.

Come on, Vithu. Five minutes gone.

No!

Five minutes gone.

Could be worse.

It could be worse is my new motto.

Have you made jugs before?

Wonky ones for my mum.

She loves milk.

Oh, Jesus.

My jugs. It's a milk jug.

Sure. I'm going quite well with this at the moment.

I do like making jugs.

Another one off for James.

They look the same kind of height. They do, yeah, yeah. Nice height.

Not far off. Not far off.

That's it, Vithu. You kind of lost it a bit with that one, haven't you?

It's a little bit wonky.

This is going to be number two, I hope, if I don't muck it up.

Well done, Caitlin. I'm liking the way she's working here.

Potters, you've two minutes left.

What?! Two minutes?

Come on! SCREAMING

I've gone with two and they are all rubbish.

I never done something that bad.

It's horrendous.

OK, maybe one more. Can I squeeze one more in a minute and a half?

I'm going to get this last one out, hopefully. Ohhhh....

I'll give it a go for a very rogue number three.

SHE SIGHS They're probably the worst jugs Keith has ever seen.

30 seconds left, potters.

Keith would have about four off in that time. That's right.

THE JUDGES: Five, four, three, two, one.

Wahay.

Well done.

Let's get the bucket of doom.

THEY GROAN

Oh, yes. You heard me.

The potters will now face the judges for the very first time.

Keith and Rich are looking for identical milk jugs, consistent

in shape and size with a spout

perfect for pouring. Any duds will end up at the bottom

of Keith's bucket of doom.

How did you find that? Difficult. The nerves got to me.

I'm kind of loathe to put any in the bin, really.

RICH GASPS I know.

If I had to pick one, I'd pick one.

No. No?

Yeah, I would as well.Yeah! GASPS

I thought so. What's wrong with you?

I knew. It had a slight split on the spout, so that's two, Siobhan.

Could have been three.

These three look fine.

This one... Ah, yeah, yeah.

Not that one. Comes from nowhere.

Yeah. So we'll keep three, shall we? Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, I should keep the three of them. Yeah!

Well, that looks a bit rushed.

Aaaaaah! Gotta go.

I mean, they're a different shape from my one, but they're

a nice height. Thank you.

So that's three for Fliss.

Woo!

He's after you next. I'm gonna hide...

The first one I made was far too fat at the bottom,

so I just had to roll with it.

So, so you were conscious that you'd made it too wide at the bottom

and so therefore you thought, right, well, I'll go with that for the rest

of them. Yeah. We could sort of save these two.

That's going to go in. Yeah.

So I think it's two for George.

What I do like about them is the consistency in the throwing.

There is one that's a little... I'm nervous, I'm nervous.

..at odds to the rest of the set. Yeah, that one.

Let's get rid of that one.

Move on. Yeah. I'll take him away.

Yeah. So we got four for Helen?

Yeah, baby.

These are fantastic.

Thank you. Yeah. Nice consistency in the throwing.

And you've gone for that kind of subtle shape that we were after.

That's four for James.

Oh-ho! Thank you very much. Really nice ones. And a nice light bucket.

Time went so quickly, it felt like 15 seconds.

Right. So, yeah. Well, you've done well in 15 seconds, haven't you?

Yeah, I thought so. Again,

I'm kind of loath to throw any away.

Thank you.

He's getting soft, I like it.

I think I've never thrown something that bad.

Oh! I think we'll get rid of that one.

This is...pants.

I just tried my best, but...

Although those aren't the same,

I am reluctant to throw those two away... Thank you.

..because, not being funny,

but I know what it's...

Don't start crying, you're going to make me cry. I know what it's like,

you know. What's happening?

We're asking you to do this thing under pressure.

So that's quite hard.

That's a tall order.

Yeah, it's completely new for me.

Well done. Well done, Christophe,

because at least you give it a go. Thank you.

Yeah, cor, bloody hell.

I'm kind of reluctant, but maybe that one.

Yeah, that was the last one.

Yeah. And you shouted two minutes.

Oh! I knew this would be my fault.

Siobhan's fault. Lois three.

Oh, thanks. Thanks...

That's going in straight away.

Yeah. That one's terrible as well.

Yes!

Three for Derek. There we go.

Wow!

I found it difficult. Yeah.

I had to bring out my wee muscles to centre that clay. Where are they?

I don't know!

I can't really think of putting any of those in the bin

because they are all consistent.

Five, yeah.

Yeah!

APPLAUSE

Yeah, that's a bit naff. Yeah.

Knew that was going. Let's get rid of that, but...

..yeah, I think we'll stop at three.

Yeah. Thank you.

Keith and Rich will now rank the milk jugs from worst to first.

In 12th place...

..Christophe, you felt the fear.

You did it anyway. So well done. Brilliant.

In 11th, George.

10th place, Vithu.

Jon is ninth.

Rebecca's eighth.

Derek's seventh.

Lois sixth.

Fabiola fifth. Fliss is fourth,

and Helen third.

So that leaves James and Caitlin.

And you're both winners.

APPLAUSE

# I'm so glad, I'm glad, I'm glad... #

Congratulations, Caitlin and James.

Potters dismissed.

Super chuffed that I didn't get any in the bin, first of all.

And I'm so happy that James is with me at the top.

Coming joint first did a lot for my ego.

Well done, well done, mate.

Keith got emotional, but I would have loved him

to be emotional about something that I made very good and not

something I made very bad.

I sort of shot myself in the foot.

Yeah. Oh, well, it is what it is.

I'm hoping tomorrow will go better.

# I'm on my own... #

It's day two.

# Just want to roam... #

The birthday tea sets have undergone an intense bisque firing and are now

ready to be decorated,

but the potters won't know if their

hard work has made it out of the kiln unscathed

until they lift the hessian.

# ..don't bring me down, babe. #

I'm apprehensive.

Anxiety dreams have been a real thing.

And that pile of rubble has been very real in those dreams.

I'm a bit scared about what I'm going to find under the hessian.

Maybe everything was too thin,

everything cracked. It's really nerve-racking at the moment.

Welcome back, potters.

Your birthday tea sets have been bisque fired, are out of the kiln

and are hiding under the hessian.

This is the decorating stage. Lads, do you have any advice?

This stage is crucial as your choice of decoration will determine

how your birthday sets look.

And we're really keen to see your theme coming through.

And remember, these sets have to be food safe.

So think about fully glazing, all those pieces.

But also we want to see clean bottoms.

OK then, potters, you have three hours to decorate

your birthday tea sets,

and your time starts now.

I can't do it.

Oh, God.

That first glimpse.

Oh, God.

Wow!

And relax.

Everything OK? Yeah.

Oh, the little bird! FABIOLA LAUGHS

Happy?

Super happy.

Yes, I love it.

Oh, my God.

But Christophe is not feeling quite so cheerful.

I knew this was going to happen.

Oh, no! Is that the very tip?

Yeah, the tip broke, and that's my fault.

I made it too thin.

I can't mend it. It is impossible.

Right, let's get some glazes.

To add the decorative detail that'll help

bring their tea sets to life,

the potters have a huge range of underglazes available.

Forest green, I need a lot of.

Definitely a lot of bold orange.

But the art of glazing is unpredictable.

The colour when applied isn't necessarily the colour

that will emerge from the kiln after its final firing.

I'm using dark blue, bold orange and yellow.

My mum's favourite, so I've got to get it...

..exactly how I imagine. OK.

Helen's going for bold colours too,

and has a plan to make them pop. Just to give

it a really nice, bright background.

Everything's going to be white.

It's a party, so it's going to have bright colour. Hopefully

against the white background, it will stand out.

I'm just doing the cake stand.

It should be really bright and red.

And to ensure a sharply spotted toadstool, Rebecca's enlisted

the help of her local stationery shop.

I've got some sticky spots that I've put on, so hopefully peel

them off and they'll be white underneath.

My style is quite childlike, not too much detail.

I know everybody else seems to have quite a bit of detail,

but mine's quite simple.

I'm doing all the leaves first. But there's certainly nothing simple

about Lois's ambitious set that celebrates her sister.

I decided to carve in my design.

The underglazes, if you use them in a quite watery way, they get

sucked into the cracks and then it brings out the textures.

There's quite a lot to do, but I feel like I can do it.

I just need to just keep up the pace.

This is probably layer three and a bit.

Caitlin's also aiming for a watery feel. Just to create that dark, deep

ocean. Which she hopes to achieve with multiple washes of cobalt.

It's all looking very blue. It is. Yeah.

But blue is my favourite colour and it's the ocean.

So why not? I suppose with that much colour it can look quite dark

and sort of heavy.

Yes. But actually that's not a bad weight at the moment.

I was worried that I made the plate too thin and that would then cause

it to warp or to sit. Yeah. Yeah.

Oh, there's still time for that. Yeah, I know. Exactly.

Don't worry. Yeah. Don't...

Caitlin's not the only potter banking on blue to tie their set

together.Fits perfectly. HE LAUGHS

My measurements were right.

It'll also bring colour to Christophe's intricately stencilled landmarks...

It's going to go a bit darker in kiln, so the contrast needs

to be quite nicely made with the white.

..and James's skies.

It's supposed to be cloudy, but it's still bright blue behind the clouds.

So you can see the cliffs, see the sea.

I'm most pleased with the effect on the cream pot.

It's really, really nice.

Where's the lid for it? Oh, here. Yes.

Where's my lighthouse?

It's all in one piece.

Oh! This is a very nice...

Yeah, yeah, it looks like a lighthouse. OK.

Gonna have to be careful with the glazing.

Yeah, no worries. I'm going to leave it white, not pink.

Don't mess this up.

This is a family show.

Potters, you're halfway through.

No!

Halfway through. Erm, a little bit nervous.

Still working on this one piece here.

And I still haven't done the bottom. Argh.

I'm working on my crocodile cake slice.

It's all about picking up texture, and I'll draw a lovely crocodile

face on it and some teeth that cuts through the cake.

That tortoise took me an hour to do.

So I'm rushing afterwards and I hope I can catch up.

I've tried to find a small brush at home and I didn't have any small

brushes, so I went out in the garden and saw lots of duck feathers.

So I thought, I'll try that. And it worked quite well as a grass effect.

This is all my Neolithic stuff.

It's the colour palette that Neolithic pottery is.

I just hope it's not all brown.

Or if it is all brown, at least it looks a nice brown.

This looks exactly like your illustration.

That's insane.

Oh, thank you. So you've been a witch for how long?

Still apprentice.

Hello, Vithu. How are you doing?

Ha, yeah, I'm doing OK.

You still got quite a few white pieces here? Yeah.

Well, luckily for me, majority of these are all one colour,

pretty much green.

If I get this big piece done out the way, I've got the rest

just to focus on these smaller bits. That's your centre piece. Yep.

That's where you're going to put the time in. Yeah. And the rest of

the stuff, well, it doesn't matter,

if you've gotta cut corners, cut corners. Exactly.

Potters, you've half an hour left. GROANING

Not good at the moment.

Running out of time.

Trying to get quick at doing chameleons.

It might just be one with a very long tongue.

Those sticky dots work. I'm impressed with that.

OK. It's time for the ladybirds to go off.

Not only must the potters add their final flourishes...

This is an underglaze pencil.

So after firing, it should stay.

SQUEAKING

It's not me, it's the pencil.

But because this is domestic ware, every piece must be dipped

in transparent glaze to ensure it's fit for use.

Just a very quick dip.

Yeah, I don't want it to be too thick. And care must be taken.

Rebecca, how are you doing? I've finished, but it's just whether

it'll dry in time to stick it down.

I see. If they dip their work while it's still wet,

they risk their designs running.

Do you want me to blow on it?

Brilliant. That's making the world of difference.

I think so. Yeah.

The little bird.

I like strong colours.

I want to just pop.

I'm just painting on my spoon hole that I missed in the make earlier.

See if that works because I'll see it. I can see a hole. Um, so...

HE LAUGHS

CLATTERING

SOMEONE GASPS

Fabs, are you OK?

Oh! Oh, no!

OK. OK. Your hands are shaking. Oh...

Put everything down. Take a, take a breath.

It's fine. It's going to be grand.

Lovey, don't worry too much. Just glaze both pieces.

It'll stick in the kiln.

You've got gravity working for you.

Cool.

Yeah.

OK. You got this, Fab! Just, yeah, we got it.

Oh.

Coming up to the last two minutes, my darling potters.

Oh, God.

Rushing this, is an understatement.

But isn't it lovely?

We're having a great time.

OK. Wiping the bottom.

Potters, last 10 seconds.

Becks, do you want some help cleaning bottoms?

Yeah, I need to clean my bottom.

Thank you.

Three, two, one.

Bottoms down, please.

Well done, potters, well, well done.

Oh! I... You're OK. Thank you.

# I feel good! #

The potters must take the finished work to Rose

for the final gloss firing.

They won't see their birthday tea sets until they're revealed in front

of the judges.

I thought I had lost more time than I actually did.

Chilled at the start and floundering around at the end.

Yeah. I'm still shaking from the adrenaline, but I think

it looks like waves.

I'm scared of saying, but I think it went quite well, hopefully.

I cannot panic, but if the bird doesn't stick

to the glaze, then I will be in danger.

It's time to judge the birthday tea sets.

They've had their final 24-hour firing and there's nothing

more the potters can do.

They won't get to see their set until it's revealed to the judges.

Hello, potters, well done on a magnificent first week.

We have 12 birthday tea sets.

Now, we're all dying to see how they turned out.

So without any further ado, Rebecca, could you please

bring your tea set up to the judges?

Longest walk of my life.

Whoo. Are you ready? I think so.

What are you thinking?

I just think my grandad would be really proud.

Lovey, this is brilliant.

Absolutely wonderful.

The fact you went for such a clean design, that's a really bold move,

but it's worked so incredibly well.

These are so crisp.

It's really nicely constructed.

There's no cracks whatsoever.

I love the ladybird.

It just ties all of the pieces together.

That's why something as small and as delicate as that can be so powerful.

Your cups, however,

the different tonal yellows haven't quite worked, but,

I mean, really, that's brilliant.

VOICE BREAKING: Really, really good.

Shall we get some spoons? Oh, yes, spoons. And maybe a tissue.

Yeah, it works really well.

Well done, Rebecca.

Thank you. Fantastic.

Are you ready? Go on!

Oh.

Well, there's an obvious elephant in the room.

Two, actually. Yeah. I mean, you've got a bit of a stress crack.

I mean, it's fairly substantial, but I love the decoration.

I was really worried about many shades of brown, but actually

you've got some really lovely things going on.

The sprayed little hands.

I think it's a really good effort.

Well done, Derek. Thank you.

The colour is not quite what I wanted.

I wanted a more bold orange.

I'd say actually the colour palette ties your set together perfectly.

I love this. The paint brushes works really, really well.

Just a bit more finesse with the cream pot.

Yeah, I think allowing a bit of extra time for that finishing.

Let's just get a spoon. Yeah, let's have a look.

It was a very last minute hole. Yeah.

You could have been a bit more generous.

It's great. It just screams safari.

I've got to go to the cake slice.

I love the way you've drawn the eyes on and the gnashers

down here on an unglazed edge.

It's just really fun and the depth you've created with the decoration

on the turtle shell.

That took me an hour.

Well, I would say it's an hour well spent.

This is a really nice weight.

It hasn't warped, and again,

loving the detail with the tongue coming further out each one.

Really, really lovely.

Are you ready, Helen? No.

I think Elaine'll be really pleased with that.

Well, look, Helen, that's a testament to your friendship.

All those miles away.

Absolutely wonderful.

The first thing you're drawn to is the delicacy and the decoration.

And what you've done, you've used a white underglaze...

Yes. ..to give you that blank canvas.

And what it's done is enhanced all the colours of the pigment.

The quality of the illustration is amazing.

The lettering, and there's loads of work in there.

Some of the details, it's incredible.

And this looks great with the little fish.

Lovely. You've really, really thought about it.

It's just really lovely. Thank you.

Where's your spoon?

Even that, the fact that it comes out of the back.

It's great. The good ship Elaine.

Are you pleased with it?

I can't talk about this.

So relieved that it came out OK.

Well done.

Brace yourself.

Uh. The cloud's disappeared.

It's a nice, bright day now.

The cobalt has bleached out a bit of the clouds,

but the construction looks fantastic.

Oh! I really like the jagged bottom there.

It's a really nice surprise when you go to pick it up.

I'm pleased with the cream pot.

I'm really pleased with that, the simplicity of the form.

But you know exactly what it is. SIOBAHN HOOTS

I can't, I can't keep a straight face.

There are some elements that are really successful

and perhaps some less so.

I mean, we maybe just won't talk about the cake slice,

this chipped-off end.

It was just a bit thin overall to have that survive the process. Mm.

But I really love the stencilling on the top of your cake stand.

It has a really lovely sort of subtle feel to it. And I'm loving

the detail on here.

This is fantastic. Well done.

Thank you. Deep breaths.

Oh, I don't know. I don't really like it.

It's very blue. When you use a colour like cobalt,

it can have a tendency to make everything really dark and intense.

But actually, you mustn't let the intensity of that blue take away

some of the positives.

The snorkel and mask. It's so playful. It's really fun.

This is a really good idea.

I just wish it had been bigger and clean bottoms.

Wipe those away.

Are you ready? Yeah.

As I can be.

There's a crack!

Your plate. Yeah, it has got a slight crack in it.

The thing that just sticks out for me is how flat the leaves

and the cake slice and the saucers are.

You've used quite a lot of green here.

When you're using a lot of one colour, it sometimes can look

a bit heavy. The decoration on here has so much more impact. Yeah.

I really love the graphic, hard-edged black line,

which doesn't carry over to some of the other pieces. Yeah.

It's sort of a bit of a shame. Time.

Time. OK. Yeah.

Are you ready? Yep. Go on then, let's do it.

Oooh.

Pretty close to what I was hoping for. Yeah.

Jon, it's great.

Thanks. You've given us so much decoration.

It's the first week and you've really, really gone for it.

Let's have a look at this.

Wow! It's very brave to pierce away all of these extra...

In the last three minutes. Yeah, you know. You nutter!

Oh, hang on.

Let's just see if the spoon fits.

Yeah. Yeah.

Thought you might spot that.

But the side plate and your saucers, I love the decoration.

You've got so many layers of colour in there.

This is inspired by your children, and that's what's

so lovely about it. And you should be really proud of that fact.

Thanks.

Are you ready?

Yes.

Oh!

My bird is there.

The aesthetic is quite plain in certain areas,

but the amount of decoration that you have done is so detailed

with that flash of colour, that flash of inspiration.

And you've used ceramic pencil, have you here?

Yes. Just to accentuate the form and decoration.

And your bird up there - stuck back on.

Gravity in the kiln did its work. I love it.

A little bit lopsided. Maybe just having a little rest.

A little, yeah. But, you know, we'll forgive it that.

Are you ready? Get it off!

Oh, OK!

So. Come on, Lois. What do you think?

I'm happy with it.

Well, Lois. Yeah?

You should be really happy.

TEARFULLY: It's absolutely wonderful.

This is fantastic.

It's so full of character.

It's absolutely lovely.

The subtle qualities that you've brought out in the underglazes

and the amount of detail you've managed

to incorporate is staggering. Thank you.

And Keith doesn't even have to get his spoon out.

You've given us one of those as well.

We're looking at this set time and time again, and you're just seeing

something different every time.

Have you conquered your fears?

That was for my sister. Yeah. She conquered her fear of crabs.

So it's all about Abby.

Proud of you. Yeah, I'm so proud of her.

Well, you should be proud of yourself, lovey.

My God, have you excelled.

Well done, Lois.

Really well done.

Thank you so much.

Oh, yeah.

That went very well, didn't it?

It's like a dream come true, isn't it, to get that sort of feedback.

To do something like this and put yourself out there and then do OK,

like, it's amazing.

So, yeah, I'm proud of myself.

I don't think it's a feeling you get that much actually,

like not proper proud of myself.

When they pulled the hessian off, I was thinking,

I've done something right.

And then for Keith to cry.

And then I just thought about my grandad and it all kind

of just got a bit too much.

I can't believe I did that.

I watch it on TV and I look,

and I think, they're crying over a pot! What did I do?

But, yeah, I could just imagine

Elaine's face if she saw the tea set.

Judging was pretty fair. I didn't do well and I knew that myself.

But then at the end of the day, this is for my dad and I am trying

to see the positives.

Oh, it went as bad as I thought I was going to go if I'm being honest.

But, yeah, we'll see.

It's not over till the lady's,

what was it, finished the song or something like that?

What is that saying?

How lovely to be back with a new bunch of absolutely gorgeous

potters and what a week they've had.

Well, I mean, they really have raced out of the starting blocks

and there's loads to be excited about.

Who impressed you?

For me, Lois.

Absolutely amazing.

Just one of those sets that you can look at time and time again

and see something different.

Yeah, I mean, I really admired Lois's bravery to put

all of that incising work in, knowing that that all

had to be backed up with the decorative work.

She just really pushed herself.

And you loved Helen's work.

Yes. Simply amazing, that attention to detail in those illustrations,

to get that shading on the cake slicer with that champagne flute,

that's really hard to do.

And Rebecca, oh, my gosh.

when the hessian pulled back and I saw her face, I was like,

I can't cry because they'll think I'm copying you.

But I was genuinely, really moved.

I was so pleased for her.

That crisp execution of that toadstool was just brilliant.

So if we have to say goodbye to somebody, is there anyone

that pops to mind?

Well, I think Vithu had a few problems. Yeah.

He'd focused an awful lot of attention on that cake plate.

Everything else in the set felt like a bit of an afterthought.

And who else do you think struggled a bit?

Well, surprisingly, Caitlin,

that amount of blue is always

going to look really heavy, really dark.

It just showed me a slight lack of understanding of what that blue

was going to do. Do we still have to say goodbye to one?

Well, unfortunately we do.

I always find the first week really hard because we're only... Yeah.

..just getting to know them.

It's a really sad week.

Congratulations, potters.

You have done so brilliantly this week.

You should be very, very proud of yourselves. In my eyes,

of course, you are all potter of the week, but unfortunately

it's not up to me. It's up to these two.

This week's potter of the week...

Congratulations, Lois.

Oh, my God!

Oh, no!

APPLAUSE

Well done, Lois.

It's crazy. Sorry.

Unfortunately, someone has to go.

And I'm finding this so difficult.

Even after one week.

The person who is leaving the pottery this week is...

..Vithu.

OK. So sorry.

It's OK. Yeah.

It was a gut feeling. I knew it straight away.

As soon as the word came out.

Gut feeling.

You're wonderful.

It's just so sad to see someone go in the first week. It's OK.

You brought such energy to the studio.

I'm glad it was me and not those guys because they're a good bunch.

Come on, bring it in, Vithu.

Bring it in! We love you so much.

THEY CHEER

It's just a nice environment.

You are amazing.

OK. We love you. OK. OK.

Gonna miss you.

Heart breaking, he's so amazing.

I am pleased to continue. But we all feel devastated that

we're losing Vithu.

So as Vithu bids farewell to the pottery...

LAUGHTER Mate, that's fantastic.

..Lois's birthday tea set is the first work to take its place

in the Throwdown Gallery.

I can't believe that I've, I've pulled that off.

Like, that's crazy.

Yeah, crazy.

Even when she was making it, I walked past and I was like, "Wow,

"that is incredible."

She's got such a signature style.

I couldn't be happier for her.

I don't even think I can say it out loud.

But, yeah, I did get potter of the week and it's incredible.

And I'm just blown away

that how kind everyone's been and luckily managed to do

something...good.

Next time. Ohhhhh!

It's slab building week.

I'm really shaking. The potters must build keepsake

boxes with a hidden secret inside.

So I'm just trying to listen.

And face a blind throwdown challenge.

Oh, no!

Torture, pottery torture.

Who will be boxing clever? This is fantastic.

And who will be flat-packing their bags.

Ohhhh! BLEEP.

I mean, whoops.

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