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All That Glitters: Britain’s Next Jewellery Star, hosted by comedienne Katherine Ryan (The Duchess), is the latest talent show on the BBC (yes, there isn’t enough of these), this time looking for Britain’s best amateur jeweller who can make bespoke items. I had a feeling how I might feel about this show before I watched it, but maybe it can change my mind?
Either way, if I dislike it, that will mean it’ll be a huge success, transfer to BBC1 by 2023, and run for 30 years.
First up, they have to make bangles within 3 hours, the aim being that instead of creating jewellery based on designs already provided to them for their day-to-day job, they can now make a decision for any way they want.
Some of it involves soldering, which would be way beyond me. I couldn’t even make a 12″ LP rack in woodwork at school… since I included the sides in that 12″ length, so they would only go in at an angle, meaning I could fit 2 or 3 in it. It’s no surprise that I came 14th in my class… out of 14(!)
Since they were challenged to make the bangles have an 8″ diameter, there’s some innuendo as Ms Ryan comments at one point, “I have a spiritual connection to eight inches”.
The second challenge is to make a silver pendant for a lady to wear who’s receiving a MBE from the Queen. By this point, some of the contestants will have had their lights switched off, if the judges aren’t 100% happy with their first work, but there’s still time to redeem themselves before they’ve been evicted from the Big Glittery House (it’s not a house, just a massive workshp, and not with social distancing, so I presume this was filmed before the March 2020 lockdown).
One of those surviving will be classed as ‘Jeweller of the week’. As for who wins or loses, you’ll have to watch to find out.
I can do without personal stories behind the contestants including ‘interview’ snippets at their homes, but then I guess those are thrown in as extras so when a 45-minute version is made for syndication on commercial channels before adverts are added, those parts can be the first to go; along with various comments from the judges. Given that they only have two challenges in the first programme, a fair bit could easily be trimmed to get it down to 45 minutes.
As someone who doesn’t wear jewellery, one episode of this will be enough, but if you’re into the craft, it’ll certainly be of more interest.
However, I’m not sure what the “think like a straight white man” comment was about. Imagine if they’d said “think like a gay black man”??
All That Glitters: Britain’s Next Jewellery Star begins tonight on BBC2 at 8pm. The series isn’t yet available to be released on Blu-ray and DVD, but you can watch each episode after broadcast on the BBC iPlayer.
Director: James Morgan
Producers: Rosa Brough, Kerry Fanneran
Presenter: Katherine Ryan
Judges: Shaun Leane, Solange Azagury-Partridge
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.