The Great British Sewing Bee
THE BBC CHILDREN IN NEED SEWING BEE
BBC Two Tue 21st oct 8pm - 9pm
Review by: Alison GrahamDave Myers, one half of the Hairy Bikers, is making a hash of an A-line skirt. “It’s more Coco the Clown than Coco Chanel,” he wails in the first of three Children in Need specials.
The four celebrity sewers – Myers, DJ Edith Bowman, Wendi Peters (Cilla from Coronation Street) and Dr Dawn Harper (Embarrassing Bodies) – descend into nervous giggles when they are challenged to follow a pattern by Bee judges Patrick Grant (sporting a borderline Jason King moustache) and May Martin.
The quartet, with comedian Jenny Eclair in the Claudia Winkleman cheerleading role, grapples with automatic sewing machines (some are rank sewing novices) as the clock ticks.
The competition returns for three special editions as 12 celebrities take to their sewing machines in a bid to raise money for this year's BBC Children in Need appeal and inspire viewers to get creative. The first four celebrities to face the expert eye of Savile Row's Patrick Grant and sewing tutor May Martin as they take on an A-line skirt pattern challenge are doctor and TV presenter Dawn Harper, Hairy Biker Dave Myers, radio DJ and presenter Edith Bowman and actress Wendi Peters. Jenny Eclair presents. Another celebrity sewing contest can be seen on Thursday.
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