7 craft reality TV shows that are a cut above the rest

15 November 2021

Ready, steady, craft!

15 November 2021

Shenyue Ding works on a fruit bowl in episode 3 of The Great Pottery Throwdown. Courtesy: Channel 4

Craft reality TV is a genre that just keeps growing in popularity, putting makers through their paces in a range of different disciplines. Here are the series raising the stakes – and our heart rates.

The Great Pottery Throwdown (Channel 4)

The clay battle has commenced: 12 potters are duking it out in the fourth series of The Great Pottery Throwdown on Channel 4. The contestants – who this season include an NHS scrub nurse and a retired theatre wardrobe manager – have so far been tasked with hand-making bricks (a first for the show), as well as a blindfolded throw down with a twist. Host Siobhán McSweeney is joined by judges and ceramicists Keith Brymer Jones and Rich Miller – the latter hands the reins of technician over to Dutch potter Rose Schmits.

Judgment time on Blown Away, with lighting designer and guest evaluator Jay MacDonell, judge and glass artist Katherine Gray, and series presenter Nick Uhas. Courtesy: Netflix

Blown Away (Netflix)

‘Blown Away’s production values are high: think Peaky Blinders meets craft,’ writes Teleri Lloyd-Jones for Crafts magazine in her season 2 review of the high-octane Netflix show. Ten glassmakers from around the world, including UK-based Elliot Walker, turn up the heat in an intense series of challenges for the chance to win $60,000 in prize money and a residency at the Corning Museum of Glass – as well as the coveted title of champion. Pop-science YouTuber Nick Utah hosts the show, and is joined by resident judge Katherine Gray, a glass artist and associate professor at California State University.

Presenter Mel Giedroyc, judges Alex de Rijke and Helen Welch, and contestant Charlie on Handmade: Britain's Best Woodworker. Photo: Channel 4

Handmade: Britain's Best Woodworker (Channel 4)

Ex-Bake Off presenter Mel Giedroyc is now hosting Handmade: Britain's Best Woodworker, a furniture-making competition that takes much the same approach as the cooking contest – with similarly feel-good results. Nine contestants go head-to-head in a workshop nestled in the picturesque woodlands of Brecon Beacons National Park in South Wales, where their efforts are judged by award-winning architect Alex de Rijke and furniture maker Helen Welch. Like Bake Off, each episode centres around a big build, in which contestants are given several days to make their marvels, and a surprise challenge designed to put their core woodworking skills to the test.

Making It hosts Nick Offerman and Amy Poehler. Courtesy: NBC

Making It (NBC)

Parks and Recreation alumni Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman reunite in the feel-good, pun-filled craft reality series Making It, which sees contestants compete for the title of Master Maker – and a hefty prize of $100,000. They’re joined by trend expert Dayna Isom Johnson and fashion commentator Simon Doonan, acting as judges, as well as shop master Jimmy DiResta. Contestants over the two seasons of the NBC show have included a hodge podge crafter, woodworkers, a felt artist, and a craft blogger. Fun fact: Offerman (Ron Swanson in a previous life) is a bonafide craftsman, and leads a woodworking collective in East Los Angeles.

A young crafter fills up her shopping cart in Craftopia. Courtesy: HBO Max/Warner Media

Craftopia (HBO Max)

The 27-year-old Canadian crafter Lauren Riihimaki has amassed some 8.8 million followers on her YouTube channel LaurDIY (to put it into perspective, that’s just shy of the population of Austria). It’s little surprise then, that HBO Max snapped up the vlogger to host and executive produce her own youth-orientated competitive crafting show, Craftopia, with the contestants’ ages ranging from nine to 15. Before each challenge, the budding crafters race to fill their carts up with materials from the ‘store’, and then work to a brief, with the best creations scoring the ‘Craftrophia’ and $5,000.

All That Glitters (BBC Two)

All That Glitters is a talent search to find Britain’s most talented jeweller. Set inside a specially built workshop in Birmingham’s historic Jewellery Quarter, this six-part contest tests the skills of eight jewellery makers ‘from all walks of life’. Each week, they face off in two challenges: The Best Seller, where they’ll be tasked with designing a jewellery piece with mass market appeal; and The Bespoke, where they’ll make a piece for a real client to wear to a special occasion, ‘whether it’s a wedding or collecting an OBE from the Queen’. Canadian comedian and presenter Katherine Ryan will front the BBC Two series, while British jewellers Shaun Leane and Solange Azagury-Partridge will serve as judges. The show is being produced by Twenty Twenty – the masterminds behind the popular modern dating series First Dates.

Gok Wan, the presenter of ITV's new jewellery series Bling. Photo: ITV

Bling (ITV)

In Bling, presenter Gok Wan (of How To Look Good Naked fame) helps the public make their jewellery wishes come true. This heartwarming new daytime TV series sees personal stories coming alive: from couples seeking the perfect engagement ring, to families wishing to fix a much-loved heirloom. The show centres around the Bling store: a one-stop shop with four counters, each dedicated to specific process, in which customers can buy, sell and commission their own cherished pieces.

7 craft reality TV shows that are a cut above the rest

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