Great British Sewing Bee 2026

[LIZS]

Back on 14th July at 8pm

Just watched and really enjoyed it. A good 1st episode! I'm liking Sophie Willan, and I confess I wasn't expecting to. I thought she might be 'too much' . But she came across as warm and not too OTT.

Beth and Anna will be interesting to watch. It does seem that there are a good number of decent sewers which should make for a good competition.
Thsnk you for the thread @LIZS

I enjoyed Sophie as a presenter, but I’ve enjoyed everything that she’s been in. Alma’s Not Normal is a fabulous series and I enjoyed her on Taskmaster as well, and she’s in Ludwig, and Small Prophets.
I watched them all making their shorts, but I blinked and they were sewing straps and someone said they were embroidering the word music on it. I was very confused, but my DD said I had been asleep for 20 minutes. I had to watch the first half again after she went to bed.
I think the right person went, but it must have been very difficult for her to cope with the bright lights. A past contestant said on Facebook how difficult it was to concentrate with cameras so close, presenters and judges talking to them, usually when they were at a tricky point in the sewing.
Im looking forward to the rest of the series.

Just caught up and loved it. So glad it’s back. I think Anna is going to be very interesting to watch. On GOTW there’s not a chance I’d be parading in a swimming costume amongst strangers and on national tv 😱

After the last series I wasn't sure I'd watch again. Glad I did. Also thought Sophie might annoy me but loved her as a presenter.

My favourite is Rebecca. Anna and Beth seem to be favourites, though Beth really irritates me for unclear reasons. Presuming she reminds me of someone else as we haven't seen much of her yet.

There are some fantastic sewers for this series. I’m really looking forward to see what’s to come.

I really enjoyed that first episode. There’s usually someone who irritates me from the off but that wasn’t the case here.

Anna and Beth my very early front runners which usually means one of the others will win. I really liked Anna’s summer outfit.

i was glad Sam got finished. I liked his made to measure, looked like what my DH would wear.

This will be an interesting series hopefully.

I feel the same about Beth but feel I'm probably being totally unreasonable. Maybe it's the 'Head girl' vibes.

Exactly what I said to DD when we were watching! Anna irritates me, but it seems she’s actually pretty good. I agree her and Beth look like contenders at this stage.

I really liked the summer trousers that went with the black bikini top, I think they were Beth’s? I’d like to get a pattern for those if anyone knows of one.

Beth has scoliosis apparently which must be a challenge for clothes fitting on herself, and also the pain of craning her beck all the time while at a machine.

I’m surprised so many people like Sophie Willan. Like most of these programmes I feel the presenter is superfluous and the judges do more than a good enough job. In the spectrum of presenters she’s not bad but I wish they’d ditch them mostly and the annoying sketches

Hmm … I dunno … I would be perfectly happy without a presenter, but can’t forget Sara Pascoe commenting that Esme and Patrick always teased her by asking if she’d bought her outfit ‘on the High St’.

I am primarily not a High St shopper - but I can quite see that the producers might feel a proportion of the Great British Public require someone more ‘relatable’ and less (adorably) patrician than the experts.

I agree - great opener and Sophie hit the right note. My favourite episodes are when they make things I could see myself wearing.

i do think the younger sewers bring a new approach and ideas and there seems to be a good mix in this series.

We usually watch it but I’ve never been a sewer before. My mum started last year and she’s got me into it! It’s really inspired me to take it seriously.

Ha! Yes. I had second hand annoyance as the presenters distracted the contestants and used up precious time chatting! My skin was prickling! I also find ‘a
good swear’ is essential where a sewing machine is involved so I’m not sure I am
Bee material even if I had the talent!

I think Sophie is a good presenter. Much warmer and more natural than the other comedians. Kiell I love but I don't think it was the right fit for him.

This first episode was OK and more wearable clothes than usual. I was surprised only 1 person went for contrasting pockets on theshorts as nicer to do a unicolour pocket than have a pattern clashing one. I agree easier to do a loose summer dress than trousers and shirt. Has The Fold Line stopped doing her pattern discussion on You Tube?

I really enjoyed this first episode. Surprised I liked Sophie Willan, as I found her annoying on taskmaster, but I thought she was good. My frontrunners also Anna and Beth. Told D1 that there was someone on Bee who lived on a narrow boat in York and loved vintage fabrics and she said "Well of course there is 😂" I think Esmé likes her creativity. Also liked the soprano (can't remember name)who was so brave to attempt the swimwear... Actually they are are all really likeable, normally I take against someone early on.

She said in the email, the morning after, that they've stopped trying to match the MTM as it was getting too difficult.

That’s a shame. I enjoyed watching her videos even when she struggled to find the same pattern. It was particularly hard last year though as so many self drafted

That is the reason they gave for not doing the patterns this year, that there are increasingly more and more self drafted patterns

I agree, I found her incredibly annoying. I don't really understand why they need this extra presenter. All they do is call out the time and they all keep forcing these stupid puns into their speil. They all seem to try too hard, they make Claudia (who I really liked as presenter) look understated, which says it all.

I suggested a reason why they have presenters in my post yesterday …

I don’t think Sophie Willan is especially relatable. Sometimes an ex-contestant works

I think without a presenter, the contestants would spend a lot of time silent and concentrating on their sewing - it would make it easier for the contestants but wouldn’t make great TV. If they used the judges to do the chatting it would put too much pressure on the contestants - you can see they get stressed when the judges do their walk about.

The contestants already have the distraction of the film and production crew. A presenter can certainly take the pressure off. Sophie Willan is doing that very well.