My latest competition show obsession

From Drag Race to Love Island, I can binge watch a competition programme any day. I thought I couldn’t find a more wholesome show to even compare with The Great British Bake Off, until I came across The Great Pottery Throw Down. It is the most heart-warming thing I have ever seen on telly. A new series started this month and having run out of Netflix I stuck the first thing I saw on. Not to be overdramatic, but possibly the best decision I’ve made in 2021, even if it’s only January.

The closest I’ve come to being a pottery fanatic is my collection of coffee mugs and following Seth Rogen on Instagram. The last time I was near a kiln was year eight Art. The whole experience put me off clay and glaze and all that. Every animal or pot I made either turned out looking possessed or completely unidentifiable. And don’t get me started on the clay that would get stuck under my nails for the rest of the day, no matter how many times I washed them. Now, seeing the faces of these people absolutely adoring this skill, I can’t help but feel jealous. Why didn’t I persevere? That could be me!

Contestants complete two tasks during each one-hour episode. On the first one this series they were tasked to create a cheese dome with matching pickle jars. One woman dedicated her design to her Grandad, another to her dog and there’s something wrong with you if you don’t want to see a fondue pan adorned with handcrafted barnacles! There is a magic in watching people surrender their entire selves to a project. You can’t help but feel invested in each person. The time and energy needed to produce just one item and to then see it all go wrong is utterly tragic and doesn’t come close to mixing eggs and butter together.

A goblet making speed challenge is set for their second task while their main stuff sets, gets glazed and fired. No matter how beautiful their creations turn out, it becomes overshadowed by judge Keith Brymer Jones. At times he’s ruthless, smashing half the wet clay models they’ve just made and throwing them into his bucket because in his words “that’s a bit hopeless.” But it’s in the final reveal of the potters work when his love and passion for pottery really shines. In the one episode I’ve seen so far, he became so overwhelmed that he teared up almost three times, this reaction holding a respect similar to Paul Hollywood’s handshake.

From beginning to end it’s a delight. The sweetness of this show means you even ignore the shit tone of innuendos in it, or at least try to. The Great Pottery Throw Down needs to be protected as much as we have made Bake Off a national treasure. It is the much needed example of beauty and warmth for a time when the world and people in it seem to be behaving uglier and uglier.

Rewatch last year’s series and catch up with The Great Pottery Throw Down on All4 now. While you're immersed in pottery loveliness, check out this article to meet their kiln girl: https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/01/11/rose-schmits-trans-great-pottery-throw-down-channel-4/