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March 28, 2024, 01:29:52 PM

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Great Pottery Throw Down (2021)

Started by dissolute ocelot, March 02, 2021, 10:10:46 AM

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dissolute ocelot

Has anyone been watching this on Channel 4? It's a total rip off of Bake Off, but with pottery, and it's been through a lot of revisions (initially it was on the BBC, then it moved to More4) but it's becoming quite an interesting and compelling show. The presenters and judges are better than Bake Off: Keith Brymer Jones is the obvious star with his tendency to burst into tears at a nice ewer. The other judge, Richard someone, is a bit of a non-personality, but it's good that both he and Keith are prepared to get down and make pottery (rather than in Bake Off where Hollywood does fuck all). Siobhán McSweeney (who was a nun in Derry Girls) is an inspired choice as presenter for the new series, entirely un-nun-like and lots of fun.

I don't know a lot about pottery, but anyone can appreciate someone messing up on a potter's wheel or pots cracking horribly and falling apart: the latter happens fairly regularly. Surprisingly there's a lot of running around with pots but very little dropping and breaking. A reasonable mix of challenges, from hilarious sculpture to technically demanding challenges to weird techniques. Even if the attempts at doing pottery from around the world sometimes come across as a bit cringy.

Lots of shock and scandal last Sunday as they not only got rid of Alon, a young tosser who always ignores the brief, but also Sal, who's a 58 year old art teacher who's always been on top of everything and very creative when it comes to decoration. She was booted off for putting a rim on her native American pot. My current favourite is Peter, a retired engineer who seems to approach everything in a no-nonsense way but is actually getting better and more creative through the show's run.

Fambo Number Mive

I haven't been watching this, but I was wondering what happens to all the pots made. Do they get to take them all home? I wonder if some are given to charity.


Keith welling up and bursting into tears at a really nice pot is endlessly entertaining. Last week he got choked up feeling the weight of a bit of terracotta cookware.

Dex Sawash


Dex Sawash

Quote from: Fambo Number Mive on March 02, 2021, 10:20:08 AM
I haven't been watching this, but I was wondering what happens to all the pots made. Do they get to take them all home? I wonder if some are given to charity.

Like bakeoff, the crew gets to eat their fill, then the leftovers off to soup kitchen

gilbertharding

We really enjoy this programme in our house.

It seems that although it's a competition they are all really trying to beat 'the kiln gods'. It's nice that people are only marked down by the judges on 'accidents' if they were always inevitable due to some obvious deficiency in the design or the making of the pots.

The judge who isn't Keith (he was the kiln technician in previous series) is very good in his own quiet way. My wife and I both did creative subjects at college, and my wife became a school teacher - we have both commented that he is really, really good at giving proper useful feedback.

Compare him to Paul Fucking Hollywood, who very often resorts to whether or not he likes something when marking or providing critique. That is NOT how it's supposed to work, surely?

It was nice to see Peter do really well. It's quite unusual for the Older Gentleman to do quite so well in this type of programme (eg Bake Off, Sewing Bee). The typical trajectory for someone with his profile is to do quite well at first by conforming to stereotype (perhaps by being precise, or by sticking to a learned formula) but to come spectacularly undone when asked to be more creative or imaginative in week 5.

I agree Sal could probably have won the series, but no-one in the final did anything wrong which might have made you think she should have been there instead. The thing which bothered me slightly about her, was that the competition was supposed to be for amateurs, and she - a full time art teacher - was getting a bit close to being a ringer.

paruses

 No way. Can't believe I missed this thread. I thought Channel 4 were broadcasting this just for me and, to my surprise, my friend in Stevenage.

I will be back once I have caught up with the last couple episodes. Am still at the stage where I despise all of the contestants. I know that will change but I can never believe it until it does.

paruses

Oh - I forgot - I like the Welsh one. I am at the tipping point after all.

paruses

Just to backtrack slightly - I watched this when Sarah Cox was the presenter and she was brilliant. Just the right balance of sarcastic and encouraging. Didn't see any of the More4 ones but just caught up with the last series hosted by Mel Sykes. Thought she was a bit of uninspired replica casting for about 2 minutes but she was also brilliant. I got the impression she really cared about the contestants. And I really ended up that way too.

Woild love to have a go on a pottery wheel and have a blast with some glazes and whatnot.

paruses

Quote from: gilbertharding on March 15, 2021, 03:10:46 PM
It was nice to see Peter do really well. It's quite unusual for the Older Gentleman to do quite so well in this type of programme (eg Bake Off, Sewing Bee). The typical trajectory for someone with his profile is to do quite well at first by conforming to stereotype (perhaps by being precise, or by sticking to a learned formula) but to come spectacularly undone when asked to be more creative or imaginative in week 5.

I agree Sal could probably have won the series, but no-one in the final did anything wrong which might have made you think she should have been there instead. The thing which bothered me slightly about her, was that the competition was supposed to be for amateurs, and she - a full time art teacher - was getting a bit close to being a ringer.

Your posting the link in the other Great British Making things thread just reminded I forgot to post having watch the final. Thoroughly enjoyed it and was glad that Sal went as she did seem to be too much of a ringer. The right person won. It was lovely to see Peter get better and better but his show piece didn't quite hit the mark (from what I remember). The Brighton lad fucked it by doing what was a trope of the season: not sticking to the fucking brief. Loads of them got binned off this series because of that (and I was very pleased in a few instances).

I watched this and the previous series back to back. Have to say I was fonder of the previous series. I was really fed up of them giving Sister Thingy shit set comedy pieces to do mid-way through the run. I think possibly they all seemed a bit fed up of one another by the end of the series-  like a family who had had to spend an extended period in each other's company. Was definitely a different vibe unlike the previous one.

Can't wait for the next one to start.