Lancashire-born potter James Stead fell at the last hurdle in the final of Channel 4 competition The Great Pottery Throwdown.

James was a finalist alongside Lois and Jon after getting through the previous nine weeks of tough competition.

Lois was crowned the winner of this year’s series after impressing the judges with her final piece and coming out on top in the final second challenge.

This week the potters were tasked with creating centrepiece pyramid vases that were to be decorated in a style that represented their own personalities.

On each of his four pieces, James focussed on family, teaching, running, and pottery, the last of which took pride of place at the top of the vase.

After a gruelling seven-and-a-half hours making and a further four-and-a-half decorating, judges Keith Brymer Jones and Rich Miller praised James for his overall effort, but cracking on some of the parts meant the vase was unable to hold water.

The second challenge involved a technique called sgraffito, where a piece of clay is decorated with two layers of glaze and the top layer is scratched away so that designs are in the colour of the bottom layer.

The finalists were given big spheres of clay thrown by one of the judges and had 45 minutes to etch their designs into the surface.

James again was praised for what he produced, but the judges added that he may have been a “victim of his own ambition” as some areas of the clay were bare.

Lois was crowned as the winner in the pottery’s courtyard with the families of each of the finalists as well as all the previous contestants in attendance.

Brymer Jones said: “All our potters this year have been just absolutely wonderful. The hard work, the dedication, the creativity, that has happened in that room has been absolutely incredible.”

James added: I’m hoping that’s where it’ll change where I’m going. It’ll definitely help changing the pottery trajectory because of the people I’ve met and we’ll keep in touch.