Series 1

Season 1 · 2022 · 6 episodes

Renowned artists create portraits of people with extraordinary stories.

1Episode 1Musician and art collector Tinie matches members of the public with extraordinary stories to a selection of distinctive and celebrated portrait artists. The artists are then challenged to turn these personal and powerful experiences into compelling portraits. Artist Roxana Halls is known for challenging how art depicts women. She has been given the task of depicting the unbreakable bond between Georgia and Melissa, twins who survived a near-fatal crocodile attack whilst swimming in a lagoon in Mexico. This traumatic event has left its scars and changed their perceptions of body image, family and their own inner strength.
2Episode 2Photographer Christy Lee Rogers meets Cee Cee, a model with albinism, and helps her work through her struggles with self-belief by taking her on a breathtaking underwater photoshoot.
3Episode 3Street artist Dale Grimshaw gets to know Patrick, who was famously photographed carrying an injured man to safety during a Black Lives Matter demonstration in 2020.
4Episode 4Kelvin Okafor, a hyperreal artist who specialises in pencil portraits, meets and draws Catrin Pugh, a survivor of a bus crash that left her with burns across 96 per cent of her body. Kelvin goes to Wales to talk to Catrin’s family about how they supported her during her physical and mental recovery. Kelvin describes Catrin as the phoenix who rose from the ashes. After 650 hours of work, is Catrin prepared to see every detail of herself through his eyes?
5Episode 5Thomas Croft, the artist behind Portraits for NHS Heroes, meets Mark, a former Royal Marine who survived an explosion during a foot patrol in Afghanistan in 2007. The injuries Mark sustained resulted in a triple amputation - he lost both legs and his right arm. Despite this traumatic experience, Mark has become an inspiration. He is a charitable fundraiser, a mentor and role model to other amputees and an ambassador for the Royal Marines Association. Thomas is renowned for his ability to tap into the emotions of his subjects, and together he and Mark explore how we perceive bravery, masculinity and family.
6Episode 6Portrait artist Caroline Pool paints Alec Burrough, an 88-year-old dairy farmer from Devon who refuses to slow down. Portrait artist Caroline Pool paints Alec Burrough, an 88-year-old dairy farmer from Devon who refuses to slow down. Despite having worked on the farm for 70 years, Alec continues to get up at dawn to care for his cows and ride his tractor, working alongside three generations of his family. Caroline is known for creating allegorical portraits that capture the character and personality of her sitters. She believes it’s more important to capture someone’s individuality than an accurate face.

Episodes