Whether for celebrating birth, marriage and death, eating and drinking, or showing social status, ceramics reveal much about our taste and habits as a nation. They become, in effect, snapshots in clay.

This first programme aired on 10 October looked at the history of domestic pottery in Britain from the Tudor period onwards. It traced the evolution of different techniques and styles involved in the art of pottery and examining in intimate detail what British pots can tell us about how generations before us lived and how they saw themselves.

Examining key figures, including 17th-century potters John Dwight and Thomas Toft as well as contemporary traditional potters such as Mary Wondrausch, and drawing on the expertise and comments of contributors including, David Attenborough, Edmund de Waal and Grayson Perry, this programme celebrated one of our oldest and most fundamental art forms.

Programmes:

• 10 Oct 2011 - The Story of Clay: A look at the history of domestic pottery in Britain from Tudor times onwards.
• 17 Oct 2011 - The Age of Wedgwood: Stoke-on-Trent is a city built on clay and the heart of Britain's ceramics empire.
• 24 Oct 2011- The Art of the Potter: How a group of craftsmen broke the monopoly of the ceramic factories with studio pottery.

The series is available to view on BBC i-player.

URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0161p8c