A Lancashire-born man has made it through to the second week of the new series of Channel 4’s The Great Pottery Throw Down.
The new series, the sixth since the show started back in 2015, aired on Sunday night (January 8) and features Rishton-born man James Stea.
The show is presented by Derry Girls actor Siobhan McSweeney and judged by Keith Brymer Jones and Richard Miller.
James, a 44-year-old art teacher who is from Rishton but now lives in Banbury, Oxfordshire, grew up with a mother who was a seamstress and a father who was a draftsman, and credits his creativity to both.
He was one of 12 contestants to go into the new series which sees some of the best home potters in the country go head-to-head in a series of challenges, making different pottery items.
The series is filmed at the Gladstone Pottery Museum in Stoke-on-Trent, the city built on pottery.
The first challenge for James and the other contestants was to make a birthday tea set dedicated to somebody they love.
It needed to include a cake stand, two cups and saucers, a side plate, a clotted cream pot with a fitted lid and room for a spoon, and a cake slice.
James got to work fast and said his pieces were inspired by family trips to Anglesey when he was a child – the pieces were decorated blue and white to represent the cloudy skies on the Welsh island, and stones brought from home were embossed into the pieces to represent the rocky cliffs.
Later in the show, the contestants were given three hours to decorate their pieces, and although the clouds on James’ pottery did not come out clearly after they were fired in the kiln, he was still praised by the judges for their overall construction.
He also received particular praise for the cream pot, which used a small model of the South Stack lighthouse on Anglesey as the handle.
The contestants were also challenged to make as many milk jugs as possible within a time limit – they had to be identical and any that were not would be thrown away.
James completed four jugs and was one of only two to not have any of their clay thrown away, meaning he jointly won the challenge with Caitlin.
Despite his seemingly solid performance, James was not awarded the Potter of the Week award, which instead went to Lois, a 36-year-old jewellery designer from Ramsgate, Kent.
The person leaving the studio was 29-year-old Vithu, a bartender from Manchester.
James is now through to the second week of the show where he and the other contestants will be challenged with building a keepsake box with a “hidden secret” inside, and they will also face another throw down challenge – this time blindfolded.
The Great Pottery Throwdown airs on Sunday nights on Channel 4.
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