Part of the latest series of We are England, entitled Made in England, the programme portrays a day with the factory workers, engineering staff, management and design team at Denby Pottery’s Derbyshire factory, which employs 472 people.
Following the work of a range of employees, including Shell, who joined the company in 2021, as well as Roger, a maintenance engineer who started at the pottery at the age of 19 and has been working there for almost 50 years, with no plans to retire any time soon.
Dean Barlow, an operations manager at the factory, also stars, as he visits the on-site mountain of clay, and reveals several of the factory’s production techniques, as well as the pottery’s new factory-within-a-factory, which makes porcelain.
Alice has worked at the pottery for 18 months in the glazing department. And finally, the documentary focuses on Richard, who heads up the design department. 35 years ago, Richard did a work placement at Denby. Having had his designs put into manufacture, he was offered a job and has been with the company ever since.
