Keith Brymer Jones cries, Siobhán McSweeney cracks wise and ten amateurs coax clay into art inside Middleport and Gladstone Pottery Museums. Each hour-long episode demands two feats: a multi-stage main make (a functioning toilet, a chandelier, a nativity set) and a sprinted second challenge (throwing 20 identical egg cups, blindfolded handles, porcelain eggshells). Judges rank every pot, then send one contestant home while another pockets the “potter of the week” apron.
Channel 4’s revival keeps the original 2015 recipe intact but adds hotter kilns and higher stakes. Winners receive only the title and a small trophy; the real prize is surviving thermal shock, cracked bases and the dreaded steam explosion that can shatter a week’s work. Viewership has climbed steadily since the More4 exile of 2020, turning the once-niche craft contest into the cosiest appointment television on a Sunday night.
Nine series have produced nine champions, from Matthew Wilcock’s delicate sgraffito in 2015 to James Stanley Watson’s monumental wood-fired sculptures in 2025. The 2026 run, already commissioned, promises another ten weeks of scored bases, wax resist and Brymer Jones’ reliably tearful refrain: “It’s just… beautiful.”
Production Details
More4 / 9 Seasons / 84 Episodes / 2015 - Present
Main Cast
Keith Brymer Jones as Self - Judge
Richard Miller as Self - Judge
Siobhán McSweeney as Self - Host
Sara Cox as Self - Host
Kate Olivia Malone as Self - Judge
Melanie Sykes as Self - Host
Sue Pryke as Self - Judge
Ellie Taylor as Self - Host
