The Great Pottery Throwdown - Series 2 starts tonight

Just a quickie - because it starts in less than 10 minutes - but the new series of The Great Pottery Throwdown starts tonight on BBC2 at 8pm.

As per usual you'll be able to view it on iPlayer after the broadcast. or you can do what I do which is miss the beginning, go to iPlayer, go to Channels, choose BBC2, go to what's on now and then opt to watch it from the beginning! :)

The judges Keith Brymer Jones and ceramic-artist Kate Malone remain the same - except there's now a third one Emma Bridgewater of lots of pottery on the High Street fame.

and here are the Series 2 2017 contestants....

The Series 2 Great Pottery Throwdown Contestants - with judges and presenters
Can you spot a winner?

Here's what the BBC have to say about their new series - which didn't even make it on to the front page of the BBC Arts section - so maybe crafts don't rate as arts on the BBC. Maybe they should have a chat with Turner Prizewinner and national institution Grayson Perry RA?

For the brand-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?