The Great Pottery Throw Down: 1: A Salad Set and Sangria Jugs
January 10, 2025 1:26 PM - Season 8, Episode 1 - Subscribe

The bucket of doom returns! Twelve potters assemble for the 2025 season. No doubt there will be the usual spot tests, requests for personal stories in ceramics, throwing off the hump, need for Siobhán to talk someone down, hopefully the odd cat in the pieces about the contestants, and of course tears from Keith.

The details of the contestants are here. There are six men and six women; there are two art teachers. The programme's Instagram is here, and the hashtag is potterythrowdown. It is filmed at Middleport Pottery. A review from last year by Rebecca Shaw: I had only middle-aged lesbian passing interest in ceramics – then I discovered The Great Pottery Throw Down. A Reddit discussion from last year in r/Pottery: Does anyone else get frustrated watching Great Pottery Throwdown? Ariadne Reviews episode one (humorously).
posted by paduasoy (11 comments total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
I Cannot Wait to watch this - I suspect it will be the highlight of my year. I watch on the Saturday after it is on on the Sunday.

There was a celebrity episode over Christmas which was quite good. Can't find a review of it, but the programme is on hdclump. And here is an interview with Keith from December 2023.
posted by paduasoy at 1:33 PM on January 10


I’m not here to make friends.
posted by Lemkin at 2:01 PM on January 10 [1 favorite]


Ariadne! Love them all already but especially glad for representation reasons that there three LGBTQ+ contestants!
posted by ellieBOA at 3:57 PM on January 10 [1 favorite]


God I love this show. Is this available on any US services/networks? I don't see it in Max, where I've watched other seasons.
posted by Pantengliopoli at 5:20 PM on January 10


This show always wants to make me get back into pottery. I've taken a couple of classes, but I haven't pursued it seriously yet. There's a studio in my town I need to look into.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 5:42 PM on January 10


Not sure about US networks. It is on hdclump. Has anyone seen the Canadian version?
posted by paduasoy at 11:12 PM on January 10 [1 favorite]


I just watched the first two eps. Thanks for the link to hdclump, paduasoy.

I feel like the level of skill for all the participants is very high this season, which the first ep seems to bear out. I watched the first season ages ago but only now got into watching again, so I'm catching up on Season 2 on Max at the moment. The skill difference during the current season vs. season 2 is stark... I enjoyed the Canadian one too, although the setting for the British one is much much cooler.

My studio is closed right now (for the holidays and for moving), so I haven't done any pottery since before Thanksgiving. One more week before my spring class starts, and I'm dying to get my hands on clay again. This show isn't helping!
posted by gemmy at 8:19 PM on January 12 [1 favorite]


The skill level is SO high already! The sheep set was both beautiful and fully felt like something I could buy.
posted by In Your Shell Like at 10:15 AM on January 13 [2 favorites]


We have watched the Canadian version; in our opinion it is less. It is missing just about every good intangible thing about the UK version.
posted by chazlarson at 7:23 AM on January 14 [1 favorite]


funny, I really liked the canadian version, I was hoping there would be another season.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 8:07 PM on January 18 [1 favorite]


Obsessed with this show; having taken a four week pottery class since the last series I have a whole new respect. Throwing is SO. HARD.

Siobhan is worth 10x what they pay her. Keith is doing more for tonic masculinity than the rest of British men combined (and I’m married to one of them). I don’t have a favorite yet (finished ep 2) but it does seem the caliber is all around very high! Those clocks were incredible!

As far as access goes, I watch on Channel 4 with a VPN from the USA. Tip: change the time on your device to London time if your VPN isn’t working!
posted by Isingthebodyelectric at 7:39 PM on January 20 [1 favorite]


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