The contestants had varying degrees of experience, and all brought their own inimitable styles and approaches. If you haven’t seen it yet, you can catch it on Channel 4’s On Demand service, and we won’t reveal the winner until the foot of this piece!
The challenges were a handbuilt Christmas scene – to include three illuminated buildings and two models – and a thrown set of mulled wine tumblers, the winner being the potter who had the most, best-matched tumblers after 25 minutes.
JENNY ÉCLAIR
Comedian, actress and novelist
Were you a fan of Pottery Throw Down?
A massive fan. I’ve seen every episode. My mum and I used to watch it together. She’s now in a nursing home and has really bad dementia, so it’s a sad one, but I absolutely adore the show. Seeing people do things that require quite a lot of skill is what appeals. And it’s the magical reveal with pottery. It goes in the kiln looking like one thing and comes out transformed.
How would you describe your pottery ability beforehand?
Extreme novice. Pre-Covid, I’d done some classes, but had never thrown or done coiling. I’d attempted a bit of slab work, but it hadn’t been successful. I realised, after three sessions, it wasn’t something I had any natural talent for and I was hoping I would. My mum used to go to a pottery class in her 50s and she got good enough to make tea pots. I thought I might have some hidden genetic ability… sadly it did not evolve.
Tell us about the main make challenge…
It was so much harder than any of us was expecting. There’s a scale of reality competition shows and I reckon Pottery Throw Down is up there with the toughest. It was absolutely exhausting – physically back-breaking and very long hours. Then, they make us stand up for
