“This is a good show. Maybe Channel 4 should snap it up.”

The Great Pottery Throw Down

“There’s something extraordinary and mesmerising about watching a pot being turned on a wheel, a lump of clay being pushed and lifted and pinched into something beautiful and useful. This is a good show. Maybe Channel 4 should snap it up.”
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian

“The Great Pottery Throw Down would like to be the new Bake Off, but fails to get close. Pot-making lacks the addictive excitement of bakery. It’s safe to say this is one show Channel 4 won’t be poaching.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“This gentle gem will never go supernova, but it’s still full of admirable skill, understated drama and homespun charm.”
Michael Hogan, The Telegraph

“Presenter Sara Cox said nothing remarkable in 60 minutes. Yet the less she did, the more I liked this tacit acknowledgement of the inferiority of commentary before artistry. Pots. Jugs. Bottoms. Bottoms with holes. Bottoms that needed wiping. Imagine what Mel and Sue could have done with all that, and just give thanks.”
Andrew Billen, The Times

“Jimmy Doherty is no Jeremy Paxman. He wasn’t being provocative, just tactless. When Ben Fogle did a similar show for Channel 5, he got to the root of what made people become exiles at the ends of the earth. This documentary failed to get close.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“This might be an attempt to prove that when a child vomits down a cardigan, it is more funny if the cardigan belongs to Stephen Mangan. Equally, it could be a misguided attempt to tell us that, even if someone has their face on the telly a lot, they are still quite like you and me. The first isn’t true, the second only really needs pointing out to idiots.”
Matt Baylis, Daily Express