Mastercrafts Episode Rating Graph

Under Monty Don's watchful eye, three hopefuls who are passionate about learning the craft of stained glass are put through their paces by Sophie Hussein, who has been working in the field of stained glass for nearly twenty years. It takes four to five years to train properly as a stained glass craftsman. During their six-week course, the trainees learn the foundations of the craft - from how to cut glass incredibly accurately, to leading up and glazing a window.

Under Monty Don's watchful eye, three hopefuls who are passionate about learning to thatch are put through their paces by the country's leading practitioners. To the untrained eye, thatch is just straw spread out on a roof, but there is a reason why it takes apprentices four years to master the necessary skills. As the apprentices quickly find out, not only is it immensely tough physical labour, a fully waterproof thatched roof is also a highly complex and subtle thing to pull off.

Three hopefuls who are passionate about learning green wood craft are put through their paces by the country's leading practitioners. The students quickly discover that the craft calls for precision, dexterity and patience. The trainees learn how to cleave the raw material; to turn blocks of wood on the pole lathe; and to manipulate the components fresh out of a steam bender.

The humble village smithy was, for centuries, the most important place in the village and it was the craft of the blacksmith, more than any other, that during the industrial revolution transformed Britain into the great workshop of the world. Market trader Dominic Branch, 37, museum educator Gill Fewings, 47, and architectural illustrator Hugh Gallagher, 40, take up their places as enthusiastic beginners in a three-hundred-year-old forge in Humberside to learn this ancient craft.