The WORST episodes of The Great Pottery Throw Down
Every episode of The Great Pottery Throw Down ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of The Great Pottery Throw Down!
Twelve of Britain's best home potters compete to be crowned best at the wheel.
#1 - Noah's Ark and Potties
Season 8 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/19/2025
The remaining potters attempt a toy Noah's ark and animals, and a surprise second challenge sends them potty. Who finds it child's play and who'll be left high and dry?
#2 - Vintage Water Filters and a Coffee Filter
Season 7 - Episode 8 - Aired 2/25/2024
It's the quarter-final and the potters make vintage-style water filters fired in their own oil drum kilns and throw a coffee filter. Who'll bring the heat with semi-final-worthy filters?
#3 - Multi-Coloured Slip Cast & Blindfolded Throwing
Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 1/29/2020
Judge Sue Pryke sets a multi-coloured slip cast challenge to make two vases, before the competitors take part in a blindfolded throwing challenge. Who will be named potter of the week, and who will leave the pottery?
#4 - Nude Greek Statues & Greek Jugs
Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 2/12/2020
Melanie Sykes hosts as the battle of the clay continues. It's Greek Week, and the potters sculpt a nude Greek statue and throw Greek jugs at the wheel.
#5 - Seaside Souvenir Sets & Candlestick Holders
Season 9 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/1/2026
The remaining potters create holiday souvenir sets inspired by seaside towns, and candlestick holders. Who'll make waves, and who can hold onto a place in the next round?
#6 - Illuminating Light Sculptures
Season 7 - Episode 7 - Aired 2/18/2024
The potters create black and white illuminated sculptures and take on a surprise challenge. Who'll be beaming with joy and whose time in the spotlight has come to an end?
#7 - Handmade Tiles & a Chimney
Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 2/19/2020
The six remaining potters are challenged to produce handmade tiles to fit a fireplace surround and hearth, before throwing a chimney in the second challenge for a chance to secure a place in the quarter final.
#8 - Episode 2
Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 2/9/2017
It is week two and the nine remaining potters face three more tough challenges, set by judges Keith Brymer Jones and Kate Malone. In the throw down challenge, king of the wheel Keith demonstrates how to build a double-walled pot, but against the clock, which potter can produce the goods? Their spot test is handles, and the potters get to grips with pulling to create handles for a set of three casserole dishes. And finally, the main make challenge this week is to hand-build a large clock, slab rolling large amounts of clay to shape, then raw glaze and fire them to produce beautiful ceramic timepieces. But whose clock will win pot of the week and take their place in the winner's gallery? And whose time will be up and have to leave the competition?
#9 - Episode 3
Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 2/16/2017
It's week three and the eight remaining potters must master the art of Japanese-style ceramics. In the Throw Down, the potters have 15 minutes at the wheel to make as many rice bowls as they can. They must throw 'off the hump' - a technique which helps potters mass produce small pots very quickly. For their Spot Test they must carefully pierce and carve an intricate design into a lantern using a technique known as 'the devil's work'. And finally, in the Main Make, the potters must throw a sake set consisting of one bottle and six identical cups. They fire them using one of the most thrilling techniques in ceramics - Raku. Originating in 16th-century Japan, this risky and volatile method of firing requires the potters to pull their burning sake sets out of the kiln before plunging them into a bin full of combustible materials.
#10 - Mantlepiece Clock and Blindfold Challenge
Season 8 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/12/2025
The potters create a statement mantelpiece clock, and face a surprise blindfolded second challenge. Who's on borrowed time?
#11 - Ginger Jars & a Scraffito Challenge
Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 2/26/2020
In the quarter-final, the five remaining potter face two tough challenges, including producing two ginger jars around a pit fire. Back in the pottery, judges Sue Pryke and Keith Brymer Jones set the potters a Scraffito challenge spot test.
#12 - Raku Firing & Nerikomi
Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/22/2020
As the competition continues, the 10 remaining potters tackle raku firing, but first the pressure is on to hand-build two animal figurines and face the tricky ceramic technique of Nerikomi.
#13 - Breakfast Set & Egg Cups
Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/8/2020
The judges set the potters two challenges, to throw a breakfast set and egg cups, as the battle of clay kicks off at the wheel. Who will be named potter of the week, and who will be first to leave?
#14 - Episode 5
Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 12/1/2015
It's semi-final week in Stoke-on-Trent and just five potters remain, determined to secure their place in the final. For their main make, the potters face their most technically demanding challenge yet - creating a decorative chandelier in bone china. This delicate and translucent clay was first produced in Britain at the end of the 18th century as a cheap alternative to Chinese porcelain. The potters must pour liquid clay into plaster moulds to make the pieces for their chandeliers in a process called slip casting. For their spot test, steady hands are required when judges Kate Malone and Keith Brymer Jones test the potters' banding skills. They must paint consistent and fine lines onto plates which are revolving on the wheel. And for the throw down, they have just 15 minutes on the wheel to make the largest closed sphere they can, a hollow ball of clay which could collapse at any moment.
#15 - Episode 6
Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 12/8/2015
It is the grand final and the four remaining potters have just three tests left before one is crowned the winner of the Great Pottery Throw Down. For their main make, Kate Malone and Keith Brymer Jones serve up their hardest task yet for the potters - a mark of how far they have come. They want each potter to make an original twelve-piece tea set out of porcelain, a true test of a potter's skills. The teapot is the toughest item to make, with a body, spout and lid, while the white and delicate porcelain is known as the trickiest of all clays to work with. The other tests don't get much easier. They face a spot test from hell when they must cut intricate and decorative designs into leather-hard porcelain vases using a technique known as 'the devil's work'. For the final throw down, they have just 20 minutes to make three high-shouldered jugs - one of the hardest shapes to throw at the wheel.
#16 - Episode 5
Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 3/2/2017
In week five, the six remaining potters head to Stoke on Trent, all striving to win pot of the week. In the throw down, the potters rush to make as many goblets as they can in 15 minutes. Any that fail to meet the judges' exacting standards will be thrown into the bin of doom. Kate Malone chooses the spot test, as the potters must hand coil a jug to look like a piece of fruit. In the main make, the potters must throw two giant vases. For the first time in the competition, they are using one of the most exhilarating techniques in ceramics - pit firing. This ancient method of firing is one of the most unpredictable techniques in ceramics and requires the potters to head to the Staffordshire countryside to camp out overnight. Who will emerge from the camping adventure triumphant? And who will be heading home?
#17 - Matching Lamp Bases & a Ceramic Challenge
Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/5/2020
The eight remaining potters are challenged to build a pair of matching lamp bases, hoping to impress judges Sue Pryke and Keither Brymer Jones. Later, guest judge Emma Bridgewater drops in to set an emotional ceramic challenge for the contestants.
#18 - Raku Week and Animal Busts
Season 7 - Episode 4 - Aired 1/28/2024
It's Raku week and the potters create animal busts before taking on guest judge Jacqui Atkin's decorative challenge. Who will the judges go wild for and name potter of the week?
#19 - Bird Baths and a Sculpting Challenge
Season 8 - Episode 7 - Aired 2/16/2025
The remaining potters take on a sculpting challenge and hark to Stoke-on-Trent with bird bath creations. Who'll soar into the quarter-finals, and who's flying the nest for good?
#20 - Staffordshire Flatbacks and a Surprise Challenge
Season 7 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/21/2024
The remaining potters make Staffordshire flatbacks and face a close shave in a surprise challenge. But whose mantlepiece classic will take pride of place, and who will be left on the shelf?
#21 - Episode 1
Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 2/2/2017
For the new series of The Great Pottery Throw Down, hosted by Sara Cox, ten home potters return to Stoke-on-Trent and compete to become the new champion of British pottery. The judges, master-potter Keith Brymer Jones and ceramic-artist Kate Malone scrutinise their work over three gruelling challenges. For their Main Make, the potters throw and decorate an identical sixteen-piece dinner set. Testing their technical prowess in the Spot Test, the potters must sponge decorate a coherent design across a pair of jugs. Hardly easy at the best of times, they must also do it in front of a special guest judge, one of the UK's most popular ceramic designers - Emma Bridgewater. Their final challenge is the Throw Down, where the judges examine the potters' skill at the wheel, and they must throw the tallest cone they can in just 15 minutes. On the final day, kiln man Rich Miller will remove the potters' dinner sets from the flames. The heat is on as they all want to win Pot of the Week and get their ceramics into The Great Pottery Throw Down gallery. But whose dinnerware will be the first to be displayed and who will be leaving?
#22 - Episode 4
Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 2/23/2017
Week four is garden week, where judges Keith Brymer Jones and Kate Malone challenge the seven remaining potters to make stunning ceramics for the great outdoors. In the throw down, the potters have just 15 minutes at the wheel to make a large, medium and small flower pot - each with a folded rim. For the spot test, the potters must hand build a dozen roses in one hour. To ratchet up the pressure, they are watched by surprise guest judge Paul Cummins MBE, the ceramic artist behind the Seas of Red poppy display at the Tower of London. And in a monumental main make, the potters have to tackle their biggest challenge so far - throwing and decorating a fully functioning water feature complete with pump. But whose pot will take the 4th plinth in the winners' gallery? And who will prove a washout and have to leave the competition?
#23 - Episode 4
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 11/24/2015
It is week four in Stoke-on-Trent and just six potters remain, all striving to be named top potter. For their main make, judges Kate Malone and Keith Brymer Jones set the potters a monumental task - hand-building a five-foot garden sculpture out of slabs of clay. At stake is a place in the semi-final and their designs this week are more ambitious than ever before. But building big is fraught with danger and even the slightest technical error could cause their sculptures to shatter in the heat of the kiln. For their spot test, the potters must transform an ordinary chimney pot into a decorative strawberry pot by cutting holes in the original and adding pouches to the side. And for the throw down, the potters have just ten minutes on the wheel to throw the widest plate they can. Judge Keith makes plate-throwing look easy, but who can match him for size?
#24 - Music Legend Busts & Mini Musical Instruments
Season 4 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/7/2021
It's Music Week in the pottery, as the remaining potters sculpt a life-like bust of a music legend, kick starting with a surprise special message from an iconic artist. The potters then face a fiddly second challenge to make a mini musical instrument, before judges Rich Miller and Keith Brymer Jones decide who will be named potter of the week and who will be heading home.
#25 - Shop Fronts and Greek Psykter Vases
Season 8 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/2/2025
The potters create shop fronts filled with memories and ancient Greek psykter vases. Who'll get the judges' buy-in, and whose time in the pottery will be a fond memory?