Historic pottery set to star in BBC documentary series

Denby Pottery is set to be featured in the next episode of a BBC series, showcasing how its products are made – and the people who make them.

As part of the current affairs series ‘We Are England’, the documentary goes behind the scenes at Denby, spending a day with factory workers, engineering staff, management and the design team.

Lasting 30 minutes, in the episode, entitled ‘Pots About Pots’, viewers are given an insight into how the historic firm, which has been manufacturing for 200 years, makes its products.

It follows operations manager Dean Barlow as he visits the on-site ‘mountain’ of clay that is the core ingredient of the pottery’s output.

Dean also reveals several of the factory’s production techniques, as well as the pottery’s new, factory-within-a-factory, that makes porcelain.

Porcelain production at Denby was set up during the pandemic to future proof the business in light of the challenge of cheap foreign imports.

The ceramics industry accounts for £1.6 billion in revenue every year, employing over 22,000 workers across the UK.

Denby Pottery employs 472 at its factory – and in the documentary, we meet some of those staff.

They include one of the firm’s newest recruits, who swapped bus driving for working at the pottery.

And we also meet one of the maintenance engineers, who has worked at the factory for almost 50 years.

The episode also features workers in the glazing department, and spends time in the pottery’s design department, where the team uses modern computer design and 3D printing tools, alongside traditional throwing and glazing techniques, to come up with all of the pottery’s ranges.

It is not the first time that Denby has been featured by the BBC this year.
Back in February, the business was featured on popular BBC show Inside the Factory.

Hosted by Gregg Wallace, the programme went inside the firm’s factory to discover its production processes and meet some of the team who make its products.

The episode followed the journey of Denby’s best-selling Halo Mug, from raw clay to the finished product.

The We are England episode featuring Denby Pottery will air on Friday night at 7.30pm on BBC1 in the Midlands and will also be available on BBC iPlayer.