Original subtitles

With just four potters remaining.

Now, traditionally, this is bathroom week.

We've had toilets and pedestal sinks.

I wonder what it's gonna be this year.

Rose?

Oh.

- You're taking the... - Siobhán.

Welcome to the Great Pottery Throw Down.

Really? Well.

Last time...

- Oh, sorry.

...the potters constructed their very own kilns.

Come on, baby. Burn, baby, burn.

To fire their abstract self-sculptures.

It looks terrifying.

While Christine secured

an emotional potter of the week...

It's incredibly powerful,

and I think it's the best thing you've bloody made, anyway.

- - ...it was Jenny... - I've got some big cracks.

...who finally succumbed to the pressure of the pottery.

You don't want a journey like this to ever end.

- This time... - Ooh.

This is the semifinal. We're pushing the envelope here.

It's bathroom week.

Welcome to the disaster corner.

Our four potters now face their biggest challenge.

Have you not made a urinal before?

- Funnily enough, no. - Oh, you haven't lived.

And will attempt to impress a titan of the ceramic world.

Even if you're not into pottery, you know Wedgwood.

Who will feel the flush of success?

I think it's absolutely brilliant. I love it.

And whose chance of making the final...

If it had been week one, I might have been in tears by now.

...will be sucked down the Swanee?

- Would you pee on a lobster? - Yeah, I would.

What else would you pee on?

Anything that's fun and colorful.

So, clowns, beware.

The final four potters are up early

and are just two challenges away

from securing a place in the final.

Agh! It's the semifinal.

This is one of your last chances to impress the judges.

It's gonna be tough competition.

I've lacked self-belief throughout.

Always second-guessing myself

and thinking that was my time to go home,

but I'm now one of four, I'm in the semifinal,

and I'm not too stressed by that.

But maybe ask me in a few hours' time.

I'll be pulling my hair out.

I think I'm gonna really enjoy this make.

I might try and go for potter of the week.

It's about time I had... had one.

Now, after being potter of the week,

I think that's adding to my confidence.

I just keep picturing these images

of my build in my head now, you know.

It's like, right, I wanna get started.

Hello, potters. Welcome to the semifinal.

Congratulations, each and every one of you.

You've done a marvelous job to get this far.

Now, for this week, the judges would like you to make...

a urinal.

Yeah, you heard me.

- Rich, explain.

Well, we'd like your urinals to be an exclusive one-off design.

The kind of statement piece you'd expect to find

in a bar or a restaurant, or even a garden centre,

so let your imaginations run wild.

Now, we've given you a drain plug and a flush mechanism,

as we will be plumbing in these urinals

and testing them in judging.

Potters, you have seven hours to make and refine your urinal.

And your time starts now.

Semifinal, I mean business. I have diagrams.

I'm feeling excited, but it's also kind of scary,

'cause, you know, the stakes are a lot higher.

I can't believe it. There's just four of us in here.

Making urinals in the pottery in the semifinal.

Semifinal, Keith, and we've gone big.

I know. Urinals.

This is the largest make we've given our potters so far.

It's a challenge more than worthy of a semifinal, isn't it?

Not only have they got the scale of the build,

they've also got the engineering,

making sure the plug fits,

making sure that all of the water kind of comes in

and sort of works its way around the bowl properly.

And then there's the sort of concept, you know.

We don't want a bog-standard urinal, do we?

Absolutely. I love this one here.

Peas in a pod. It's a play on words.

It's a play on the concept as well. And it looks good.

I love the fact that, you know,

the pipework is concealed, as is the fixing.

It just looks like this pea that's hanging on a wall.

Yeah, you know, our potters really have to think about

how they're assembling their urinals together.

You know, they have to think about that clay.

It's a very, very big structure,

and this clay is very fragile when it's bone dry.

I mean, usually we talk about cracks opening up on joins

when two slabs are put together.

I don't think that's gonna be the major issue.

I think it's gonna be cracks through slabs

that haven't been compressed properly.

I think you're right. It's not just about the joins.

It's about the actual structure and the shape of that urinal.

This is the semifinal.

Our potters really need to aim high for this one.

They do, but not too high.

This clay is so weird.

It feels so much firmer than I'm used to.

I'm, like, hitting it and, like, nothing's happening.

The potters have been given tandoor clay,

so called for its use in the construction of tandoori ovens.

There's a lot of grit in this clay,

so it can really hold its shape.

Robust and incredibly stable,

thanks to its heavy grog content,

it's perfect for the potters' vast sculptural urinals.

Look how it stands up as a slab. It's wonderful.

How can you get excited about clay? But it is amazing.

- Hello, Christine. - Hello, hello.

- So what are you making? - I'm making a lobster urinal.

Of course. A urinal.

The first thing you think about is a lobster, yeah.

- I know. - Look at your headband.

Yeah, yeah, very nice.

That was what basically did it.

I was searching for ideas and thinking, "What can I do?"

Were you sitting there just peeing on your headband and...?

- Definitely not.

Christine's stylized take on her favorite crustacean

will feature the necessary legs, tail and claws,

but with so many elements making her urinal,

it will also be a feat of engineering.

I kind of honed it in a little bit.

Rather than having those as all separate entities,

they're gonna be more joined than that.

Joined together and more sculptural. Yeah, OK.

And I guess that'll give those sort of extremities strength,

'cause they're kind of gonna be a bit susceptible

to snapping, breaking, cracking.

Well, it sounds well thought out.

- Let's see if I can do it. - As long as the legs stay on.

Just make sure they're good and sturdy.

- Yeah, yeah. - Well, good luck.

- We'll see you later. - Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Christine's crustacean might be more at home under the waves,

but Lucinda's decided to plant her feet firmly in the sand

with some classic seaside entertainment.

My design is all about the Punch and Judy booth.

And I have these, which I've had for about 35 years.

- Wow. - And I thought, do you know,

that'd be... it'd be really fun to do,

because the booth is this perfect opening for the urinal.

- I just wanna do this, you see.

Hello, hello. Ah! Where's my sausages?

Sorry. I just needed to do that.

You can't take him anywhere.

For the centerpiece of her homage

to the seaside puppet show,

she's painting the infamous squabble

over a string of sausages

between Punch and Crocodile.

There's a lot of pieces here, isn't there?

There's a lot of pieces to put together.

It is a little bit of a worry.

I've got all my pieces prepared,

you know, cutouts and things.

Once I've got the main build done,

I can just really enjoy all the decorative stuff then.

Yeah. Well, look, good luck with getting it all together.

- Thank you. - Yeah, good luck, Lucinda.

Thank you.

So while Lucinda sets about

constructing her booth from multiple slabs,

those with more curvaceous designs

turn to molds and formers for assistance.

So this is kind of the template,

but it's just so much clay,

ridiculously big.

This is the former

for the bowl of my urinal.

The former's in, so I'm now gonna put the base in,

and then let it firm up a bit and work on the tail.

- Hello, Anna. - Hello. How are youse?

- Happy to be here? - Delighted to be here.

And just really want to enjoy making a urinal.

Have you not made a urinal before?

Funnily enough, no.

You haven't lived, Anna. You haven't lived.

So, come on, then, tell us about your design.

- I'm doing a steam punk design. - OK.

It's gonna be sort of on a plate.

- Oh, wow. - So how big is this?

That looks like a very big sheet of clay.

That's gonna be the big stress factor, really.

Anna's sheet will provide the mount

for her funnel-shaped urinal.

The steam punk look she's going for takes inspiration

from 19th-century industrial machinery,

and Anna's creation will be embellished

with pipes, bolts and spanners.

I'm just loving the ambition.

I just think it's such an ambitious build.

I just hope all of the elements work for you.

- Good luck with your rivets. - Yeah.

And your pipes. We'll see you later.

Thanks very much.

Anna might be taking inspiration

from 19th-century metalwork.

- - But AJ... - Hyah!

...is traveling slightly further back in time.

I really like museums, and I went through all my photographs

that I had in museums, and, you know, what looks urinal-like.

And then I saw a picture of a knight's helmet

with the thing up, and I was like, it's perfect.

But, yeah, I think the stuff

from that sort of medieval era is really quite beautiful.

I'm a total nerd.

AJ is hoping their medieval-style helmet,

complete with rivets, a visor and a red feather,

will stand victorious in the semifinal battle.

In lots of ways it's quite a sensible form,

because, by their very nature,

the structural integrity is all there in that helmet.

It's designed not to crumple and sort of fall to bits.

Do you have the visor come down halfway through,

just to add a little air of danger to the entire proceedings?

Try and get it in through the slats, yeah.

Potters, you are halfway through.

I think I'm doing OK. I've made the basin.

And the legs are all made.

I've not counted how many pieces I'm attaching together,

just because it would frighten me.

Now, let's see what happens

when I do this, shall we?

I'm happy enough with this.

- Hi, Anna. - Hello, Rich.

Have I caught you at a good time?

Well... Is it ever a good time when you're building urinals?

I don't know. So what's going on?

I want to get this on, so I know exactly where it's going.

So this has gotta be firm enough to hold up.

Wow. On, what, three rods, or...?

Yeah, I'm thinking three, plus the back of this, yeah.

- Not much to do, then.

No, no. All I can do is wish you all the luck in the world, Anna.

I think I'm gonna need all the luck in the world.

You really need to sort of dig in to this clay

to get any sort of stick to it,

'cause otherwise you're not getting into the grog,

and then it doesn't really stick together.

By scratching the surface and applying slip,

a watered-down clay mix,

the potters can join component pieces.

I'm going to use lots and lots and lots

and lots and lots of slip and compression,

and I'm just gonna really, really hope that it works.

A process known as slip and scoring,

which, if done correctly, will bond the pieces together

and prevent them from coming apart during the firing.

It's gonna be far too thin.

But of course their clay pieces must be the right sizes.

I should have put the panels on the inside,

but if I'd done that,

it wouldn't have been neat on the outside.

It's just this sort of thing's wasting my time.

It really is a classic stupid mistake.

This is the first big mama join.

The judges were talking about it being the semifinal,

a lot of pressure on you.

Yeah, there is a lot of pressure.

Are you now plotting against your previous friends?

Previous friends. Yeah, we're not friends anymore.

Did you hear that? AJ doesn't think you're friends anymore.

War. It's war now. Everybody watch their back.

Oh, there is a danger,

with all this pulling and pushing, I could undo something.

This here is solid as a house brick.

Many joins to go.

I've got a lot to attach, lots to do.

Potters, that's two hours left.

Oh, I've really messed up on the measurements.

Oh, oh, oh, oh. I wanna get off the ride.

If I get my joins good, it should be enough.

I love watching Anna use the clay

when she's manipulating it, it's so intuitive,

but, to be honest, I'm really worried

about the overall structure, really.

This is the semifinal. We're pushing the envelope here.

Yeah, you know, there's engineering, there's design.

The constructions have to be sound.

It's a tough, tough challenge.

I don't know if it's gonna work or not,

but, hey, gotta try it.

I've made two pairs of claws

that I'm joining now to the main body of the lobster.

Christine, it looks amazing so far.

I was really worried about the kind of extremities,

because as that clay moves and shrinks back,

there's every risk they could sort of move and snap off.

I'm really worried about the appendages dangling off, yeah.

And then you've got AJ. Looking good.

I think it's a really sensible construction.

That kind of dome structure.

There's natural strength in that kind of form.

Well, there's a reason why you have an arch bridge.

It's the strongest structure going.

And then of course, in complete contrast,

you've got Lucinda with all these really massive flat slabs.

Oh, let's sort out this little problem.

Looks like she's having a bit of trouble

joining something at the back there.

I do need to keep these walls together.

I'm just putting this support thing on now.

Oh, God, this might not work.

Potters, you have one hour remaining.

The potters must not only ensure

their urinals are ready to be plumbed in.

This is where the inlet for the water will go.

Not that I've made anything with plumbing. I get a plumber in.

They also need to consider

how the water will flush the bowl clean.

That's my deflector going in there.

Water goes that way. Making it up as I'm going along.

And despite her earlier problems...

Just worried about the time.

...this is one element Lucinda is determined to get right.

This is just an idea I had

about getting the water to go through little holes

so that I could manage more the direction of the flow.

But my confidence in this working is probably about 20%.

- Hello, hello. - Hello, hello.

Oh, are you doing your Punch and Judy voice?

- That's the way to do it!

- That's the way you do it! - To do it!

- Is it? - Yes. That's the way to do it!

I think that's brilliant.

Potters, that's 15 minutes left.

- 15 minutes. - Oh, dear.

Time is quickly running away from me now.

These tubes are just decorative.

I'd say they're plumbing, old-fashioned plumbing.

I want to add in some rivets,

just to make it look a bit more metal-like.

This is white slip.

It makes it more sanitary,

and it also makes it brighter to paint onto.

I want the inside to be white,

and this slip adds a bit of smoothness to it as well.

I want it to look quite clinical and clean.

I've got to get slip over all of it,

but we are running out of time.

Five minutes left, potters. Five minutes left.

It's not perfect, but at least with this design

I can get away with that sort of slightly archaic finish to it.

Once it's got its eyes, it does look like a lobster.

I think I'm getting there. Perhaps a toilet's easier.

Oh, God.

Guys, we're gonna have to ask you to hurry up.

You've to help each other to bring it in.

Oh, looks fantastic. Well done.

One minute left. One minute left.

And back to your desks. Back to your desks, quickly.

Quickly, quickly, quickly.

- Done. - Well done.

- Come on. - Ah!

Group hug.

I've just made a urinal.

I've just made a urinal that will be functioning.

I'm really pleased with the actual shape of it,

but the kiln is where the potential lies

for things to go majorly wrong.

My concern with the firing is

that something completely drops off.

I didn't join it well enough.

Because I had to fill in a lot of gaps,

they might be weak, might crack,

but it needs some really lovely decoration,

and I will fight to the bitter end.

- - It's the semifinal. - Oh, good, no wheel involved.

And the potters are facing a second challenge

with some legendary status.

Potters, your second challenge this week is a spot test.

And we are very excited to welcome

some very special guests from Wedgwood.

Oh, my gosh.

Please welcome Olivia, Suzanne and Julie.

- Hello. Come on in.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Now, potters, this week your spot test involves

the iconic Wedgwood Jasperware collection,

and a precise decorating process known as ornamenting.

Josiah Wedgwood is one of the founding fathers

of British ceramics.

Considered by many to be the epitome

of Wedgwood design and quality,

his Jasperware vase has been made and sold worldwide

for almost 250 years.

And it's still being made in the Stoke-on-Trent factory

just down the road.

Olivia, please talk us through the process.

Thank you.

- Oh. - Oh, so exciting.

So, potters, you're going to be ornamenting

one of our iconic pieces of Jasperware,

and that is the Bountiful vase.

There are two processes that happen with this.

The first one is figure making,

and that is the relief work

which sits on top of the surface of the vase.

So we've got the clay here, and you've also got the molds.

Get a piece of your clay,

and you roll it into a sausage shape.

Make sure you've got enough to really fill your mold full.

And then this is called the pressing-up knife.

Scrape that knife so that clay

is really well and truly within the mold there.

So then you'll knock the clay.

You've gotta use enough force

that the clay is well and truly in there,

but not too much so the mold doesn't actually break.

You can always tell when the ladies are angry

on the factory floor.

So what you're gonna be using now is the cutting-off knife,

and you're scraping off the excess clay that you don't need.

And then this is called the waggler.

So you want that nice and wet,

and that water acts as a bit of an adhesive to the clay,

so it sticks, and then you're slowly releasing it off.

And then you can tip it up.

Ah.

So once your figures are made, you'll need to work on borders.

You've got large, and you've got littler ones.

You're then working onto the ornamenting.

So you wet the surface of the clay,

and that creates a slip surface on there.

Start with the biggest figure,

and that sits on the seam line of the belly of the vase.

And then work your way around that.

You saw Julie there, she just overlaid it, that second one,

and then she'll just smooth that together,

making sure that it has no gaps in,

'cause if it fires, that ornament's gonna fall off.

So we're looking at the precision

of where it's been placed,

but also that it's been placed well.

If I wanted to buy one of these

or, you know, be given one as a gift,

how much would that gift have been worth?

It depends on the prestige of the piece.

Well, I'm pretty prestigious.

- This is around about £150. - And this one?

That one in the middle there is about 15,000.

- 15,000.

So this is designed by somebody called Hitomi.

She's a Japanese ceramicist,

and she worked with Wedgwood

in the Jasperware department,

learning all the skills,

and then what she did is she put a contemporary spin

onto a classical piece of Wedgwood.

OK, potters, not only are you going to be doing

this classical design,

we want you to decorate two vases,

the second one with a more contemporary design.

So on each of your benches you'll have a gray box

with a series of ornaments in them.

So, go wild, but just don't break that.

Now, this challenge is going to be judged blind,

so if I could ask you to leave, please, ladies.

Keith will make you a cup of tea.

Make me one too while you're at it.

Right, potters, back to your benches, please.

You have one hour and a half, and your time starts now.

Remove the hessian, gently.

This is the first time in Throw Down history

that the potters have been given a task

with such historic prestige in British pottery.

This is exciting.

They've just 90 minutes to do it justice.

It's a great challenge. Wedgwood is massively iconic.

Even if you're not into pottery, you know Wedgwood.

To be using these molds and to be, you know,

shown the technique from those ladies, it's huge.

They made that look way easier than it actually is.

At first I was like, oh, yeah, I'll probably be good at this,

because I'm good with, like, detailed stuff,

and then immediately clay touches plaster,

I'm like, I'm not good at this.

OK.

I don't do delicate things like this very often.

I don't think I'm going to do very well.

I don't think I've ever done

anything as delicate as this.

It's so fine, and I've got big sausage fingers.

Ooh.

There we go. One.

Waggle. It's not waggling.

The, like, slightly damp metal sticks to the clay,

or at least it's supposed to.

It's not wanting to do it.

Oh, oh.

Maybe my waggler wasn't wet enough.

I need to wet my waggler.

Oh, come on.

That's better.

Oh, thank goodness for that.

Ooh. Come, my precious. Ooh, that came off nicely.

The potters need to create

enough high-quality ornaments and borders

to place around their vase.

God, I'm just finding it really hard to get them out.

But trying to achieve that Wedgwood standard of precision

is not so straightforward.

Oh, he's got a crease in his face. That's no good.

Just staying focused, I think, is the key to winning this one,

trying not to lose any of the detail,

and placing it accurately on the pot.

I've chucked more than I've made.

I've got to get the small border done.

After this, I'm just gonna start putting them on.

Please work.

Think I'm getting the hang of this now.

Oh, my God.

Potters, you're halfway through.

- Halfway through. - Ah.

You should be thinking about

putting your ornaments on your vase.

And we start with the big one first. OK.

Anna has started...

- Oh, no. - ...putting on her ornaments.

- Christine, have you started?

I have.

Oh. It's so hard to place.

OK, Christine, how's it going?

Um, well, I don't think they'll be employing me any time soon.

- They're looking for precision. - I know.

- Oh, right.

This is my precision.

Sure look, your man's sleeping against a wheel.

Sure he's lopsided too.

Potters, that's half an hour to go.

Lucinda and AJ are starting to put them on.

I need to at least get something on.

That's the spirit.

Just gotta put them on really carefully.

It's just so fiddly.

They're very dry, and they don't want to bend. It's not easy.

The big pieces are on. I'm doing the borders now.

This seems to be curving in the wrong direction.

Does it go that way or that way? That will just have to do.

I'm gonna start doing the freestyle one.

The potters have been given a range of premade ornaments

to decorate their second vase.

Lots of figures.

This will be a test of their creativity.

Oh, my gosh, these are lovely.

I just have to get a quick design going on in my head here,

and maybe the border could be these, coming this way.

That's what I'll do.

Can't say what I'm designing, because I'm just winging it.

Whoa. Oops.

Let's get rid of all that.

- - With time ticking along... - Oh, God, come on.

...Lucinda and AJ are only just starting their second vase.

It doesn't matter what it is.

I've just got to get it on the piece,

'cause I don't think we've got that much time left.

Potters, you've 15 minutes left. 15 minutes left.

I want everything to look as symmetrical as possible.

If I could just have everything on the shoulder of the pot,

if nothing else, that would be lovely.

I'm gonna do the same pattern twice

and then bring them to the middle

to create something both sides.

This is just really instinct

of where I'm going with this,

and I'm not actually sure

where I'm going with it.

The design is whatever I haven't broken already

I'm putting on the pot.

Potters, that's five minutes left.

Five minutes left.

AJ, how are you getting on?

- Um, OK. - Is this a bit more fun?

- No. - All right, OK, good.

My design's evolving. I think I'm doing OK.

When I started, I thought it was a bit of a nightmare,

but it's actually turned out OK.

That's not gonna work. Got to do this beautifully.

I've decided to do something

that requires precision and measuring

when I don't have the time or implements to do so.

One minute left, potters. One minute left.

I'm just wanting to do

a few finishing touches.

It's so sweet.

Welcome to the disaster corner.

- Wedgwood has broken me.

- I know that feeling.

Five, four, three, two, one.

- Potters, well done.

That is your spot test finished.

Could you please bring up your two vases

to the trestle table behind your name?

After an hour and a half, the potters have managed

to decorate two iconic Wedgwood Jasperware vases

using the traditional ornamenting technique.

Now it's time for their pieces to be judged.

Let's have a look.

The gap's a bit too big going round there.

Yeah, it's kind of working its way up to the top.

The arm's broken here a little bit.

I think possibly the reliefs have dried out a bit

as they've been trying to put them on.

OK. The bottom's not too bad, is it?

The bottom's really good.

It looks like they got better as they went down.

What do you think about the contemporary one?

That is lovely.

There's nice symmetry between the sides.

Good use of the borders, but kept it all as one style.

Really thought about the composition of it, yeah.

So we're just missing a slight arm.

So they dried out a little bit here.

Bit of a gap there, isn't there?

Slight gappage on the top.

And also it's a little bit wonky around the top.

And let's have a look at the contemporary one.

Look at that perfect circle.

- That's fantastic. - Wow.

This has been carefully measured.

I think there's quite a bit going on

in terms of different styles of relief work,

but, all in all, the application of it, absolutely fantastic.

So this one here, the border has been placed upside down.

That border should be aligned

with this nook in the vase there.

Right.

At the top,

it's missing a little bit of its tip there.

We've got a bit of overlaying here that shouldn't be there.

There should be a gap between the fruit basket and the lady.

And then the contemporary one.

It's really complex.

They've really thought about the pattern

and how it goes around.

Very similar to the magnolia one that we had on display earlier.

There's only a little bit of lifting here.

If it was lifted like that and it would go into the kiln,

would it lift it off any more?

Yeah, sometimes they'll just totally blow off.

Sometimes it will still sort of half fire on.

But that would become really sharp

if it wasn't fully stuck down, yeah.

- Those joins, quite good. - OK.

Has the wheel got all its...? Yeah, fantastic.

- Can you see all the detail? - Oh, I see, yes.

They've really got the molding well there.

- Just a slight gap. - Little bit of a gap.

But it's nicely up at the top edge, isn't it?

There's nothing coming away on this one,

so they've really paid attention

to getting it precisely stuck to the vase.

And I can tell that a tool's been dragged along.

- To finish it off. - Ah.

And let's have a look at the contemporary one. Wow.

Looks very symmetrical. It's well measured out.

Yeah, I'm really liking the use of all the ornaments.

They've really thought about

how each one sits with each other.

It kind of works with the form, doesn't it?

Really thought about the shape of the vase.

Yeah, fantastic.

The judges must now rank the potters' Jasperware vases

from worst to best.

- That's one of the best. - That's the best application.

OK.

In fourth place is this one here.

Ah, Anna.

Your border is upside down on the bottom.

And this one, really good use of the vase,

but it's perhaps not using the freestyle element

as well as the other pieces.

In third place...

- This one here. - AJ.

Good application of affixing the reliefs.

Little bit wonky on the top border here.

This one technically really good to get that circle,

but perhaps you could have thought a little bit more

about the bottom half of the vase.

In second place is... this one.

- Christine. - So I absolutely love this.

I think it's beautiful. I think that front section is stunning.

The only thing was just some of these reliefs,

particularly on the bottom here, little bit wonky.

Yeah, little bit.

That's the only thing that really let you down on that one.

- So in first place is... - Lucinda.

...these ones. Fantastically applied.

There's a little bit of gapping sort of on the top borders here,

but in terms of being really close to those edges,

really, really good,

and the application on this is fantastic,

and the detail and symmetry of it,

really, really well thought out.

Well done.

Ah! I can't believe it!

Do you know, I really needed that.

Might help keep me in. You never know.

Depends on the other pieces.

But it certainly hasn't done me any harm.

Thought I'd actually done better than I had, but obviously not.

So I'm in fourth place. Well, fourth place, that's last place.

I really have to have a very good urinal, basically.

Everything needs to be just spot on.

I've got nowhere to hide with it.

It's day two in the pottery,

and having been bisque fired for 24 hours,

their urinals are ready for decoration.

I really don't know how well it will have fared.

If it's all in one piece,

I'm just gonna really enjoy decorating it.

If it's in several pieces,

then I'll decorate the bits and pieces.

I never in my life thought I'd be decorating,

let alone making, a urinal.

It's gonna be quite a day. Decorating a urinal.

This is definitely the biggest piece

I've ever had to decorate.

Just gotta be careful with it, and take it slow,

but not take it too slow, 'cause we haven't got a lot of time.

I've got loads of worries and concerns about it.

It's probably got cracks all over it,

and pincers dropped off and everything,

so I'm preparing myself for the worst.

The potters are yet to discover if the urinals are intact

and whether they actually have something to decorate.

Hello, potters.

Your urinals have been bisque fired

and are now ready for decorating.

Rich, do you have any advice?

Well, this is a big decoration job.

It's where you bring together all of the elements

of your conceptual design,

so really make every second of your time count.

This is sanitary ware. It wants to be completely glazed.

We want nice smooth finishes.

Potters, you have a range of glazes

and three and a half hours to decorate your urinals,

and your time starts... now!

Potters, get decorating.

Ooh. Oh, no.

Oh.

Oh, my God.

It's been in the wars. Lobster, anyone?

You know, I'm shocked that so many of them are off,

I'll be honest with you.

They've come away quite cleanly,

so, I mean, it perhaps looks like

a join that hasn't sort of completely sort of set,

but, I mean, those appendages, I guess,

were always gonna be susceptible to coming off.

There's loads and loads of very big cracks.

If it had been week one, I might have been in tears by now.

It's not as bad as I imagined in my head.

I've got a very large crack on this side of it.

So I'm gonna pack that full of glaze.

Hopefully that will sort of weld it together.

I've got, like, Joker-style cracks up the side.

It's not in the, like, bottom bowl,

which would have been the worst-case scenario.

- Oops. - Hi, Lucinda.

- Hello! - How you doing?

I've never had to fill cracks in like this before.

Why do you think they've cracked anyway?

Do you know, I just did a foolish mistake.

- These side pieces... - Yeah.

...were meant to be on the base.

And I put them at the side of the base,

which meant everything else didn't fit.

So once I've filled these, I'm ready to go.

Good luck.

The potters must ensure every crack is filled

if they are to avoid leaks

once the urinals are plumbed in

and flushed during judging.

I've got some clear glaze

mixed with some sort of clay dust,

and I'm just sort of stuffing it in the cracks

before I do any sort of glazing.

This is gonna take a bit of time away

from my decorating, for sure,

but, at the end of the day, this has gotta be watertight.

And as Lucinda continues to waterproof

her Punch and Judy urinal,

it's decoration time for Anna's steam punk inspired design.

I've more or less attended to all the cracks now.

This is white underglaze, so that's going to be the base.

I'm just now putting the first layer on of color.

I'm doing the inside black,

and then the outside will be a sort of metally gray.

And then I'm excited for the feather.

- That's gonna be bright red. - Oh, really?

Oh, I'm excited for the feather now as well.

Do you think three and a half hours is enough to get it done?

- Um... - 'Cause that's al you have!

I hope so.

Potters, you're halfway through.

One hour, 45 minutes left. I also did some maths there.

- You got that for free. - Quick maths.

I've filled in the cracks.

OK, let's start drawing some things on.

With Lucinda, there was a lot of work just repairing,

and that obviously takes time away from the decoration.

The ceramic pencil will stay,

and then I've just got to fill it in.

She made a good call, because she's put on that white slip

before biscuit firing,

so hopefully those colors

should really, really pop.

I've got a long way to go.

I'm gonna put the claw pincers back on

after I've decorated.

I'll probably panic about half an hour towards the end.

It's gonna be difficult to get those legs and pincers

to stay on during the firing.

I want to get sort of a distressed effect,

lots of browny, blacky colors, I suppose.

Anna, not too many kind of cracks.

I guess it's got that sort of shabby chic element to it.

- It's kind of a bit worn. - A bit like yourself, Rich.

Well, you know, I like to be a bit rough around the edges.

I've got different layers to apply,

so it's how I apply those layers,

that I don't actually make it too dark

but I still get light coming through it.

I'm hoping that it'll look like it's been in a battle or two.

AJ's seems to be the cleanest build.

Is that helmet opening wide enough for your aim?

- I've got great aim. - OK, good.

Well, I'm a kind of sit-down kind of guy.

Are you? I'd like to see you try and sit down on that.

Well, no...

It's a weird thing to say that I've done, I've made a urinal.

Why did we make urinals?

It's kind of weird that you want somebody

to pee on your work, isn't it?

The highest compliment. Oh, God.

I'm doing Punch at the moment.

Where people want to aim is completely up to them,

but, you know, if he does get a bit of a splash, won't harm him.

Potters, that's one hour left.

You'd better hurry up, or... you're in trouble.

You're in... trouble. Thank you.

I've still got a lot, lot, lot, lot, lot, lot to do.

Just put a little bit of green, little bit of brown,

wipe that back, and then I've been doing

sort of dabs of red and yellow,

just to lift the color a wee bit.

The sponging I'm just doing to give it a bit of depth.

So that'll hopefully lift it up a little bit.

I'm layering color with a sponge,

just so that it's a bit more diluted than a flat paintbrush.

It's a lobster. Would you pee on a lobster?

- Yeah, I would. - You'd pee on a lobster?

- Yeah. - What else would you pee on?

Uh, just anything that's fun and colorful.

- So, clowns, beware.

Potters, you've 15 minutes left.

I don't know if I'm going to finish.

I've got three layers on the feather.

I'm just doing finishing touches,

and then I can get the whole thing clear glazed.

I've applied the color.

Now I'm putting on transparent glaze

over the top of it.

That gives it the shiny finish

which makes it easier to clean

and wipe down and that kind of stuff.

I'm using the glaze like glue.

Hopefully it will fuse, you know,

keep the claws attached to the body.

But, yeah, it's gonna be glazed within an inch of its life.

I've got to put all the transparent over the top.

I'm really, really pushing it. I have been far too ambitious.

Potters, that's five minutes left.

We're all having fun, but there's only five minutes left

to glaze your urinals.

This is the most pushed for time I've been.

It started off a wee bit disastery, but now it's grand.

I'm free if anybody needs help with glazing.

We're helping with glazing now. Do you see that?

She's done two layers, and now she's going off

to help other people.

Oh, bless you.

No greater love

hath one person for another

than the love for sanitary urinals.

Potters, 30 seconds left. 30 seconds.

Very last finishing touches now.

I'm hoping next time I see it,

it's all gonna be in one piece.

That's the way to do it.

Potters, paintbrushes down. Step away from your urinals.

Congratulations. Well done.

That's the way to do it!

The potters must now haul their urinals to the kiln

for one final firing.

Ooh!

In just 24 hours, they'll know if their decoration

matches the ambition of their build.

I really enjoyed the decoration.

Slapping paint on and wiping it off again.

There we go.

It's still very weird to be doing urinals,

and I think when it's up on the wall

and there's water going everywhere,

and Keith's standing there with a hose or whatever,

it's still gonna be weird.

I just did the best I could in filling the cracks.

If they open up, a leaky urinal, yeah, that's not good.

The biggest issue is the pincers.

If they don't stay on, yes, I'll be going home.

It's judgment day, and after a 24-hour gloss firing,

the potters' urinals are ready to come out of the kiln.

- Morning, potters. - Morning.

Slightly anxious about how my lobster

has come out of the kiln.

Christine, your one first.

I'm hoping that I've put enough glaze on

to reattach the top four legs.

Oh.

Oh, my gosh, another one's off. It's got worse.

The criteria for judging has to be that it's fit for purpose.

Oh, my God.

It might be the most colorful in the room,

with the most decoration.

Oh, my God. It's still got cracks in it.

But that's not gonna cut the mustard if it's leaking.

I'm happy with the colors.

It actually turned out better than I'd hoped for.

Right, let's get it on.

Their urinals won't be tested

until the judges flush for the very first time.

There's no way they're gonna stay on.

Well, let's just glue it.

There are things to celebrate with it,

but also obviously I should have attached them

a lot better than I did.

Could take half an hour for this thing to dry.

Who'd have thought we'd be doing this?

Four urinals plumbed in and ready for judging.

At stake, a place in the final.

Congratulations, potters.

Did you ever think you would be standing

beside your own bespoke handmade urinals?

- No.

Well, judges, shall we go round and have a look at them?

Yeah, absolutely.

It's a really, really bold and in some ways simple design,

and you can tell what it is from 20 paces away.

I think it's absolutely brilliant.

I love it. I think it's great.

It is super, super cool.

It's just so bold. I love the feather against the back.

You've got a really simple color palette,

but it's just got such visual impact.

I could completely see this in a museum or a theme park.

It's just packed with character.

And although it's a very simple design,

you've really thought about the definition and the detail,

which just accentuates the helmet,

and it works really, really well.

And that structure is really, really clever,

because, as we know, arches are a very, very strong structure.

- Shall we see how it flushes? - Yeah.

Ooh.

I actually like the way

that that water actually fans out across the back of the bowl.

It's obviously a bit more hygienic,

'cause it's gonna wash away that waste far more efficiently.

It's a really bold, simple, well-built design.

- Thank you. - Yeah, well done, AJ.

So, how you feeling about your urinal?

- Disappointed about the cracks. - Yeah.

But generally, you know, it's a bit of fun.

- Yeah, I think it's great. - You know that saying.

- That's the way to do it. - That's the way to do it.

The kind of, yeah, the sausages.

- It's great. - Classically trained.

No, I just think it's great. It's so playful.

I'm loving that illustration on the back wall.

Obviously you can see that crack there,

and there's a few stress cracks that you've got on the side.

You've tried to sort of fill them in,

but that's the thing, each clay has a different personality,

and you have to treat it in a certain way

to achieve that look that you wanna get.

I'm not entirely convinced about the underglaze pencil,

whether that kind of adds to it,

or whether it feels like a little unintended.

I mean, it seems to work on this text here.

I'm just not so sure about sort of around here,

whether it's a little bit lost.

- I was a bit in a hurry. - OK.

- OK. - At the end.

- 'Cause, actually, the sheer... - There's a lot.

...amount of decoration there is on here is incredible, really.

It's just a question of how that water is going to work

with the whole sort of structure.

I spent quite a bit of time on the water deflector.

So I hope it works.

Oh, wow. OK, yes.

You've gone for completely enclosed,

with lots of little holes.

Ooh, yeah. It'll be interesting to see if that works.

Well, Rich, do you wanna do the honors?

Yeah! It is. It's going down the back.

Yeah, you've got water right the way across there.

- Yes, that's what I wanted. - No splashing.

- There's a bit of a leak. - That's the silicon.

I didn't put it in properly.

You've got a bit of water pooling there

in the bottom of the urinal, which isn't ideal, you know.

And that's possibly because the clay has warped and bent.

But I'm loving the way the water works.

- The water worked. - Down the back of the urinal.

Yeah. It's a shame about the cracks.

But otherwise it's a really playful, joyous design.

- Thanks, Lucinda. - OK, thank you.

We thought this was the most ambitious build.

I mean, it's miraculous. It's miraculous.

It's miraculous that that is in one piece.

Because if I was a betting man, I would have bet on that

being in probably three pieces.

And the way it feels like it's just bolted onto the wall

and you've got all of this exposed pipework,

I think it's great, you know, it's just a lovely, lovely idea.

And you've executed it beautifully. The build is great.

You've got one slight stress crack there,

but apart from that, I mean, it looks pretty good.

I actually really love it. I think it's great.

I don't know, for me, it lacks perhaps

a bit of light and shade,

but I was just wondering whether I was expecting

sort of a bit more, um,

tonal variation, I guess.

So shall we try it out? Shall we flush it?

I'm desperate to give it a go.

Look at that. It's all contained in the bowl.

- And it all drains away. - There's no leakage there.

I mean, it would have been nice to see the water

run a bit more around the back of the side of the bowl.

But that funnel shape has really, really worked for you.

I think that was a very clever design.

- Hello, lobster. - Hello.

Oh, I thought you were talking to me.

So, Christine, how do you feel about your lobster urinal?

Um, I like the way it looks, but it's been in the wars.

Yeah, but, you know what, the first thing I notice about it

is that you've covered the waste pipe,

and the uniformity of the whole construction.

What do you think, Rich?

Yeah, I'd agree. It's a really interesting shape.

It's got visual impact, 'cause you've got

that very plain backdrop

and then this bold, punchy color.

From that perspective, there's something even better

about that mouth and the eyes.

It's really sort of, um, yeah, quite funny.

It looks like it's sort of nibbling on the pipe.

Obviously, the elephant in the room,

those pincers and the legs have come off.

You don't appear to have any major cracks

in the actual bowl of the urinal.

The surface is really smooth. So shall we see how it flushes?

Yeah.

- OK. - Bit of an issue.

Oh, I see. So it's just the angle of the deflector.

It's picking up the water and sending it round

onto the rim and down onto the floor.

The bowl's emptying reasonably well. It's all draining.

And the entire surface of that inside

is very smooth, very clean, you know.

It'd be very easy to keep clean.

It's a lovely bowl design, and it's a lovely smooth surface.

- So, well done, Christine. - Thank you.

I'm glad it's over, you know.

But, um, yeah, I think it may be my turn to go home.

I am fully expecting to go home,

and that would be absolutely fair, you know.

It's not fit for purpose.

Before the button was pressed to flush it,

I was suddenly, like, really nervous.

I was thinking, oh, God, what if it, like, sprays them

in the face or something?

But it went... it went all right.

I would love to get

potter of the week at some point.

I've been close a couple of times,

but I just never quite seem to get there.

So I'm just not pinning too many hopes on this one either.

Um, we'll see.

What a week. Thank you, judges.

I don't think I've ever been so close

and so involved in so many urinals.

Well, I mean, you know, it's the semifinal.

We've given them a big build.

It had to work aesthetically,

and it had to work practically.

And for some of them it kind of has,

and some of them it hasn't at all.

Well, why don't we start with the people

for whom it hasn't worked?

Well, Lucinda had real problems

with her structure of her urinal.

Yeah, I think it's unfortunate.

Some of the technical aspects worked really beautifully,

and others not so much.

I mean, the deflector,

of all of the potters,

hers worked the best, you know.

It really cleaned that back wall in a lovely way.

She did come first in the second challenge.

But it was really, really close between her and Christine.

And, again, Christine had a bit of a bad make

when it came to the urinal.

Christine went for a very bold,

very fun, simple concept.

And I think the fact that those pincers were detached,

they were just very poorly joined, you know.

So it's a very big aspect of her build,

because if you're gonna do simple,

you've gotta get those seams and those joins perfect.

AJ also had a very, um, simple but effective design.

Which is always sometimes a bit risky to do, you know.

Yeah, nowhere to hide.

There is literally nowhere to hide.

But really pulled it off.

Yeah, I think of all of the potters,

AJ's was the only one that had that sort of marrying

of the function and the form.

The quality of the build was just exquisite.

The way they've managed to get that almost metallic surface.

I was a bit worried it might appear a bit flat,

but, you know, just simple details, picking out rivets,

the openings in the helmet, and that red feather.

Oh, that lovely red feather.

- Sort of flourish. - A lovely flourish.

So well thought out and really well built.

- And then Anna. - Out of all the makes...

- It's a miracle! - Well, it is a miracle.

I mean, you know, both Rich and I thought

that she was gonna have the biggest problem

going into that biscuit kiln.

That big back slab of clay that she'd got there,

the funnel urinal, there was a lot of things going on.

But, you know, on paper that just shouldn't have worked,

and it's testament to Anna's construction methods

that it did, you know,

and, actually, you can't deny

the surfaces were beautiful.

They had such depth, the texture she'd created,

and the way she'd used the underglazes and wiped back.

It was flawless. It was a great build.

Well, I don't envy your decision.

We're talking about a place in the final.

- Uh-huh. - So we've gotta get it right.

Good luck.

Hello, potters.

The judges have made their decision.

And it's been a very, very difficult decision to make.

This week's potter of the week is...

AJ.

I'm in shock.

- Congratulations. - Thank you.

Now for the really horrible bit, the bit that I don't want to do.

The potter who is leaving us...

is...

Lucinda.

- I'm so sorry. - That's OK.

Congratulations, though. You've been absolutely wonderful.

And we've loved having you here.

I am feeling sad that it's ended,

but I'm also kind of elated as well.

Oh, it's just been amazing.

Thank you very much.

It's been so lovely having you here.

Yeah, it's been life-changing.

It's kind of almost given me permission to get on

and... and be a proper potter now.

So, as Lucinda leaves the pottery,

AJ's urinal is their third to take a place

in the Throw Down gallery.

So, how wonderful. AJ, potter of the week.

It was really well constructed,

really well conceived, and really well executed.

I'm going into the final. I'm so pleased.

I'm so excited. It's gonna be so fun.

I'm gonna go big. I'm gonna go big for the final.

- Final. - I know.

Yeah, yeah.

I'm quite overwhelmed by it, you know.

It's not just that you're not going home this week.

It's that I'm in the final. Yeah, I can't believe it.

Oh, my God. How did that happen?

I kind of think I've just fallen into it in many respects.

It's a bit mad, isn't it?

Oh, my God, I'm in the final.

Next time...

The judges have made their decision.

- Here we are. - The pressure's on.

Anybody else panicking?

I can't risk taking any shortcuts.

You can almost cut the atmosphere with a knife in here.

I don't feel like I'm gonna get everything done.

It's the fastest thing I've ever made.

- Ooh, no. - Panic stations.

I'm just literally, like, throwing it on.

Oh, my goodness.

The winner of this year's

Great Pottery Throw Down is...