It's SEW exciting!

Host SARA PASCOE and judges PATRICK GRANT and ESME YOUNG share behind-the-seams secrets on the new series

There’s a buzz of excitement in the air this week as The Great British Sewing Bee returns to BBC1 for a ninth outing with a new collection of 12 amateur stitchers all hoping to prove they can work wonders with a needle and thread.

Having seamlessly taken over from Joe Lycett last year, Sara Pascoe returns as host, while Patrick Grant and Esme Young are back in the judging hot seat with more tricky tailor-made tasks up their sleeves.

Classics with a Twist is the theme for the opening episode, with the competitors asked to put their own stamp on a top in the Pattern Challenge, give a fresh take on a classic pencil skirt and blouse in the Transformation Challenge, plus design an ontrend cut-out dress for the Made-to-Measure showstopper.

Here, Sara, who turns 42 on 22 May, Patrick, 51, and Esme, 74, tell us why working on this series has been sew much fun, both on- and off-screen…

We can’t wait to see the new stitchers in action! What’s the standard like this year?

SARA Very high. Even more impressively, lots of the sewers only started relatively recently. We have a really good age range [from 20 to 73 years old] and lots of interesting people with really important jobs – we’ve got a breast surgeon, a nurse, a police dispatcher and a postman! 

PATRICK Last year, there were five people who could easily have won, but this year, it’s maybe a little tighter than that! And I don’t think we’ve ever had a group before that’s nailed Transformations from the very start!

ESME Yes, they are great! I always go on about this, but I really like how they learn from each other. It’s great to see how people develop over the series.