The Great British Sewing Bee

The Great British Sewing Bee is a BBC Two television reality television programme in which amateur sewers compete to be named "Britain's best home sewer".^[1] A spin-off of the format of The Great British Bake Off, the programme is presented by Claudia Winkleman and the first series ran for four episodes between 2 April and 23 April 2013.^[2]

The judges are May Martin from the Women's Institute and Savile Row's Patrick Grant. The first series was won by 81-year-old Ann Rowley, the second by Heather Jacks^[3] and the third by Matt Chapple.

Following the success of the first series, it returned for an extended second series in 2014, consisting of eight episodes^[4] and a third series in 2015.

Main series results

Series 1 (2013)

The first series of the The Great British Sewing Bee started on 2 April and aired for four episodes concluding on 23 April 2013. The series was hosted by Claudia Winkleman and the judges were May Martin and Patrick Grant of Savile Row.
The all-female final was won by Ann, with Sandra and Lauren as runners up.

Series 2 (2014)

A second series The Great British Sewing Bee began airing on 18 February 2014 on BBC Two. The series was filmed at Metropolitan Wharf in London, with Claudia Winkleman as host alongside May Martin and Patrick Grant as the judges.
Once again it was an all-female final, which was won by Heather - with Chinelo and Tamara as the runners up.

Series 3 (2015)

The third series of The Great British Sewing Bee began airing over 6 weeks from 5 February 2015 on BBC Two. It was once again filmed at Metropolitan Wharf in London, with Claudia Winkleman returning as host alongside resident judges May Martin and Patrick Grant. This time, the final contained one female and two males. After six weeks of fierce competition, the ten sewers were reduced to the 3 finalists where Matt was declared the winner - with Lorna and Neil as the runners up.

The BBC Children in Need Sewing Bee

The Great British Sewing Bee returned for three special episodes as 12 celebrities took to the sewing machines in a bid to raise money for Children in Need.^[5]

     Winner

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Transmissions

International broadcast

•  Australia — The series premiered on 15 December 2014 on The LifeStyle Channel.^[7]

International versions

Country	Local title	Host(s)	Judges	Channel	Premiere
Denmark	Klar, parat, sy[8][9] (Ready, Set, Sew)	Lene Beier	Jesper Høvring Jette With[10]	TV 2 FRI	14 March 2015[11]
France	Cousu Main[12] (Hand Sewn)	Cristina Córdula	Amparo Lellouche Julien Scavini	M6[13]	30 August 2014
Germany	Geschickt eingefädelt (Skillfully Woven In)	Guido Maria Kretschmer	Inge Szoltysik-Sparrer Anke Müller	VOX	3 November 2015
Netherlands	Door Het Oog Van De Naald (Through the Eye of the Needle)	Nicolette van Dam	Nelleke Rimmelzwaan Maik de Boer	RTL 4	28 January 2015
Norway	Det store symesterskapet[14] (The Great Sewing Championship)	Christina Hope	Tine Solheim Andreas Feet[15]	NRK[13]	19 November 2014
Sweden	Hela Sverige Syr[16] (The Whole of Sweden Is Sewing)	Linda Lindorff	Lisbeth Stålborg Frederik Andersen	Sjuan[13]	14 October 2014[17]

Etymology

Historically the word bee has been used to describe a get-together where a specific action is being carried out, such as a husking bee, a quilting bee, or an apple bee. Its etymology is unclear, but the word possibly derives from the Old English word bēn, meaning prayer.^[18]

References

External links

• The Great British Sewing Bee at the Internet Movie Database
• The Great British Sewing Bee at BBC Programmes
• The Great British Children in Need Sewing Bee at BBC Programmes
• The Great British Sewing Bee at UKGameshows.com