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BBC/Love Productions
The first series of The Great Pottery Throw Down aired in 2015
Channel 4 is to resurrect The Great Pottery Throw Down after the show was axed by the BBC.
The pottery programme was on BBC Two for two series from 2015, hosted by Sara Cox, but was cancelled last year.
It is made by Love Productions, the company behind The Great British Bake-Off. It will now follow Bake Off from the BBC to Channel 4 – although Bake Off had not been axed before it changed hands in 2016.
Melanie Sykes will replace Cox as host.
Melanie Sykes said it was “an honour” to be taking over the show.
Sykes said: “It’s such a feel-good, inspiring show and it is an honour and a thrill to be working on it.”
The last series, broadcast on BBC Two in 2017, attracted around 2.6 million viewers, and more than 30,000 people signed a petition calling for the BBC to bring it back.
The new version will return to the Middleport pottery in Stoke-on-Trent, and Sykes will be joined by returning judge Keith Brymer Jones and new judge Sue Pryke.
Love Productions chief executive Richard McKerrow said: “We’re delighted to be bringing back the much-loved The Great Pottery Throw Down with a whole new group of potters crafting a wide range of eye-catching creations. We are especially grateful to all those loyal viewers who campaigned for its return.”
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