The Great Celebrity Pottery Throw Down 2026 line-up: Meet the contestants

The Great Pottery Throw Down is back on screens this weekend, joining a wealth of cosy programmes for audiences to get stuck into as we get closer to autumn.

Kicking off tonight (13 September), the celebrity spin-off series takes six famous faces with little to no ceramics experience and hands them the clay for the first time.

In a twist on the original format, there is no weekly elimination and instead, the celebrities will be given the time and space to learn and develop over five episodes, earning points across a run of challenges before four of them battle it out in a grand final for the title of champion.

Hosting proceedings is Liza Tarbuck, in her first major gig since leaving BBC Radio 2, with expert judging from Keith Brymer Jones and Rich Miller.

Read on below for a guide to the contestants taking part.

Lucy Beaumont

Age: 42

Job: Comedian

Location: Hull

Instagram: @the_one_from_hull

Lucy Beaumont is a comedian and actor best known for her observational stand-up and her BAFTA-nominated role in the mockumentary Meet the Richardsons. She adapted and co-wrote the Channel 4 comedy Hullraisers and is a regular on shows such as 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, QI and Would I Lie to You?. More recently, she took part in The Celebrity Traitors and took part in the 2025 festive Sewing Bee.

Beaumont signed up after telling friends she wanted a hobby: "That's what I did it for because, bizarrely, in the few months before I was asked, I'd been saying to people: 'I'd love to have a hobby…' and 'I would love to try pottery…' because my granny used to do it."

She was typically frank about her own ability. "Well, I went into the show thinking I'd be really good, a natural, and I would describe it as… apocalyptic," she said. "It was genuinely lovely to learn a skill. Even though everything I did was bad, I still learnt. I've come away knowing how to do it. I can make you a cup. You wouldn't want it in your house, but I can make you one."

Fatiha El-Ghorri

Age: 45

Job: Comedian

Location: London

Instagram: @fatiha.elghorri

Fatiha El-Ghorri made a name for herself with appearances on shows such as The Jonathan Ross Show, The Russell Howard Hour and Guessable, and has also featured in We Are Lady Parts and Mr Bigstuff. She has competed in the gameshow Outsiders, the 2024 festive Great British Sewing Bee and Taskmaster. Her debut stand-up tour Cockney Stacking Doll is currently on the road.

El-Ghorri took part while recovering from an operation and used the series to open up about her health for the first time. "I'd never spoken about my cancer publicly until filming this and Richard Herring was a massive part of my journey," she said. "I just felt ashamed of having cancer and I was keeping it so secret… Richard's also had cancer and we spoke about it. He just brought me such relief, such relief."

"I discovered another art form to express yourself. It's the best thing I've ever done," she said. "You're never too old to learn anything. All you can do is try and, if you like it, you carry on."

Richard Herring

Age: 58

Job: Comedian, writer and podcaster

Location: Hertfordshire

Instagram: @rkherring1967

Richard Herring is widely known for Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast and has won Taskmaster twice and Richard Osman's House of Games twice. He first found fame as half of the comedy double act Lee and Herring with Stewart Lee, going on to create and star in TV shows such as Fist of Fun and This Morning with Richard Not Judy. His stand-up show Can I Have My Ball Back? was based on his experience of testicular cancer.

Herring admitted he had low expectations going in. "I really did not. I was pretty convinced I'd be terrible," he said of the idea he had a potter inside him. "The show really did alter my view of myself and the way you assume you can't do something."

He also singled out the bond he formed with El-Ghorri. "Me and Fatiha, who I didn't know before, really bonded in a way that… well, I can't remember meeting someone and getting on with them as well," he said. "We became firm friends."

Paul Merson

Age: 58

Job: Former footballer and pundit

Location: London

Instagram: @paulmerseofficial

Paul Merson found fame as an Arsenal and England midfielder and is now a match reporter and pundit for Soccer Saturday on Sky Sports. A mental health advocate, he has spoken openly about his struggles with depression and addiction, detailed in his memoir Hooked. He took part in Strictly Come Dancing in 2024.

A long-time mental health advocate, Merson found pottery an unexpected tonic. "Every treatment centre should have pottery classes," he said. "In recovery, it's all about living in the moment… And that's what pottery does: it makes you live in the moment. I don't think I've ever done anything that's more in the moment than pottery."

"You go in the pottery room at the start and think: 'Oh, it'll be a laugh.' But you're in it to win it in the end," he said. "I couldn't have done any better. I tried my absolute hardest."

Layton Williams

Age: 31

Job: Actor, dancer and singer

Location: London

Instagram: @laytonwilliams

Layton Williams made his professional debut aged 12 in the title role of the West End musical Billy Elliot and went on to appear in Beautiful People and Bad Education. He has led Everybody's Talking About Jamie and played the Emcee in Cabaret, and won an Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical for Titanique. He was a runner-up on Strictly Come Dancing in 2023.

Williams leaned on his dance training at the wheel. "I saw the wheel as choreography, I really did. I counted in fours," he said. "I really did use the wheel like it was an extension of my being." His approach to the studio was unmistakably his own: "I wanted to look cute whilst I was throwing down because if I look cute, I feel cute and I do fab work."

"It was the clay, of course, but it was also just zoning out from the world. It was not being on your phone," he said. "It was really lovely to end the year zoning out, making new friends and making lots of pots."

Denise Van Outen

Age: 52

Job: Actress, singer and presenter

Location: Essex

Instagram: @vanouten_denise

Denise Van Outen is perhaps best known as the host of the 1990s morning show The Big Breakfast alongside Johnny Vaughan. She is also the voice of The Only Way Is Essex, was runner-up on Strictly Come Dancing in 2012 and has starred on stage in Chicago and Tell Me on a Sunday. Her screen credits include EastEnders, The Masked Singer and Celebrity Gogglebox, for which she recently reunited with Vaughan.

Van Outen jumped at the chance to try something new. "I wanted to try a new challenge and felt something creative would be really fun. It's lovely to be in my 50s and learn a new skill," she said.

A self-confessed perfectionist, she was hard on herself throughout. "I'm a real perfectionist, so if things weren't going my way, I'd get quite cross with myself, but actually, when I look at what I have made, and some of them are not great, I still love them," she said. "I'm determined to master the wheel; it was my biggest downfall on the show."

The Great Celebrity Pottery Throw Down is coming soon to Channel 4.

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