The recent installation of a full metal, ITER-like, first wall provided the opportunity to study the impact of the plasma-facing materials on plasma initiation or breakdown. This study for the first time presents a full experimental characterisation of tokamak breakdown at JET, using all discharges since 2008, covering both operations with a main chamber carbon and a beryllium ITER-like main chamber wall. It was found that the avalanche phase was unaffected by the change in wall material. However, changes in out-gassing by the wall and lower carbon levels resulted in better controlled density and significantly lower radiation during the burn-through phase with the ITER-like wall. Breakdown failures, that usually developed with a carbon wall during the burn-through phase (especially after disruptions) were absent with the ITER-like wall. These observations match with the results obtained from a new model of plasma burn-through that includes plasma-surface interactions. The simulations show that chemical sputtering of carbon is the determining factor for the impurity content, and hence also radiation, during the burn through phase for operations with a carbon wall. As seen experimentally, with a beryllium main wall, the plasma surface effects predicted by the model do not raise the radiation levels much above those expected for pure deuterium plasmas. With the ITER-like wall, operation with higher pre-fill pressures, and thus higher breakdown densities, was possible, which helped maintaining the density after breakdown.