Fake or Fortune?

All Episodes 2011 - 2023
TV-PG

  • 2018-01-09T20:00:00Zs at 2018-01-09T20:00:00Z on BBC One
  • 2011-06-19T19:00:00Z
  • 1h
  • 1d 18h 50m (43 episodes)
  • United Kingdom
  • English
  • BBC
  • Documentary, Reality
Journalist Fiona Bruce teams up with art expert Philip Mould to investigate the provenance or attribution of notable artworks.

43 episodes

Series Premiere

2011-06-19T19:00:00Z

1x01 Monet

Series Premiere

1x01 Monet

  • 2011-06-19T19:00:00Z1h

Fiona and Philip take a look at a painting they think is an unrecognised work by Monet. They then try to persuade different luminaries from the art world to believe them.

2011-06-26T19:00:00Z

1x02 Homer

1x02 Homer

  • 2011-06-26T19:00:00Z1h

Fiona and Philip take a look at a painting which could be a piece of work by 19th-century American artist Winslow Homer and was discovered at a rubbish tip.

2011-07-03T19:00:00Z

1x03 Van Meegeren

1x03 Van Meegeren

  • 2011-07-03T19:00:00Z1h

Fiona and Philip take a look at the career of forger Han van Meegeren, who managed to fool galleries and buyers in the early 20th century with his fake pieces by Old Masters.

Season Finale

2011-07-10T19:00:00Z

1x04 Rembrandt

Season Finale

1x04 Rembrandt

  • 2011-07-10T19:00:00Z1h

Fiona and Philip stop the auction of a painting that used to be a German national treasure but was stolen from it's Jewish owners by the Nazis during the Second World War. They then follow the story as it is discovered whether it is the work of Rembrandt.

Season Premiere

2012-09-16T19:00:00Z

2x01 Degas and the Little Dancer

Season Premiere

2x01 Degas and the Little Dancer

  • 2012-09-16T19:00:00Z1h

Fiona and Philip examine a painting that owner Patrick Rice thinks is by Edgar Degas. If its genuine, it could be worth about £500,000. They trace the artwork back through time to find out whether it really was created by one of France's greatest artists.

Fiona and Philip take a look at the history of three paintings bequeathed to the National Museum of Wales after their owner died in 1951. It was always thought that the paintings were by landscape artist JMW Turner, but only months after the museum took ownership, experts said that they were fakes.

Season Finale

2012-09-30T19:00:00Z

2x03 Van Dyck: What Lies Beneath

Season Finale

2x03 Van Dyck: What Lies Beneath

  • 2012-09-30T19:00:00Z1h

The tables end up being turned on Philip this week when one of his own pictures are put under the microscope.

Season Premiere

2014-01-19T20:00:00Z

3x01 Vuillard

Season Premiere

3x01 Vuillard

  • 2014-01-19T20:00:00Z1h

Fiona and Philip attempt to help a man who believes he owns a painting by French post-impressionist Edouard Vuillard.

2014-01-26T20:00:00Z

3x02 Constable

3x02 Constable

  • 2014-01-26T20:00:00Z1h

Fiona and Philip attempt to prove that two paintings are missing works by one of the country's best-loved artists, John Constable.

2014-02-02T20:00:00Z

3x03 Chagall

3x03 Chagall

  • 2014-02-02T20:00:00Z1h

Fiona and Philip attempt to help Martin Lang try and prove the painting he bought in 1992 is by modern master Marc Chagall.

Season Finale

2014-02-09T20:00:00Z

3x04 Gainsborough

Season Finale

3x04 Gainsborough

  • 2014-02-09T20:00:00Z1h

This week the focus is on Britain's public art collections, in which 17,000 paintings are listed as `artist unknown'. Philip identify several works they believe are by Thomas Gainsborough.

Season Premiere

2015-07-05T19:00:00Z

4x01 Lowry

Season Premiere

4x01 Lowry

  • 2015-07-05T19:00:00Z1h

Fiona and art experts Philip Mould and Bendor Grosvenor attempt to help a man who has inherited three paintings supposedly by LS Lowry.

2015-07-12T19:00:00Z

4x02 Renoir

4x02 Renoir

  • 2015-07-12T19:00:00Z1h

Nicky Philipps needs help in determining whether a mysterious painting housed at Picton Castle in Pembrokeshire is a genuine piece of work by French Impressionist Pierre Auguste Renoir.

2015-07-19T19:00:00Z

4x03 A Mystery Old Master

4x03 A Mystery Old Master

  • 2015-07-19T19:00:00Z1h

Fiona and Philip are at a church in Lancashire, once patronised by Yorkshire's famous Bronte sisters, that is the home of a painting thought to have been made by an Italian old master.

Season Finale

2015-07-26T19:00:00Z

4x04 Munnings and Churchill

Season Finale

4x04 Munnings and Churchill

  • 2015-07-26T19:00:00Z1h

Fiona and Philip attempt to help Under-Sheriff and Secondary of London Charles Henty find out whether two paintings in his possession are as valuable as he believes.

Season Premiere

2016-07-17T19:00:00Z

5x01 Freud

Season Premiere

5x01 Freud

  • 2016-07-17T19:00:00Z1h

The team investigate a portrait which may have been one of Lucian Freud's first creations.

2016-07-24T19:00:00Z

5x02 Delaroche

5x02 Delaroche

  • 2016-07-24T19:00:00Z1h

The team try to prove the authenticity of a suspected lost masterpiece by Paul Delaroche.

2016-07-31T19:00:00Z

5x03 Rodin

5x03 Rodin

  • 2016-07-31T19:00:00Z1h

A sketch of a dancer believed to have been drawn by Auguste Rodin is investigated.

Season Finale

2016-08-21T19:00:00Z

5x04 Portraits

Season Finale

5x04 Portraits

  • 2016-08-21T19:00:00Z1h

Featuring works claimed to be by Willem de Kooning, Philip Mercier and Adolph von Menzel.

Season Premiere

2017-08-20T19:00:00Z

6x01 Constable

Season Premiere

6x01 Constable

  • 2017-08-20T19:00:00Z1h

The team try to find out whether a painting is a lost masterpiece by John Constable.

2017-09-03T19:00:00Z

6x02 Tom Roberts

6x02 Tom Roberts

  • 2017-09-03T19:00:00Z1h

Is a purchase from an online auction site a lost work by Australian artist Tom Roberts?

Season Finale

2017-09-10T19:00:00Z

6x03 Gauguin

Season Finale

6x03 Gauguin

  • 2017-09-10T19:00:00Z1h

The team examine two pictures believed to be by Paul Gauguin, a giant of 19th-century art.

Season Premiere

2018-08-13T19:00:00Z

7x01 Nicholson

Season Premiere

7x01 Nicholson

  • 2018-08-13T19:00:00Z1h

Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould examine a still life that may have been painted by prolific artist William Nicholson, but which has been rejected by leading experts on his work. They discover a useful source of evidence in Nicholson's own paint box, but as they delve into the painting's history, they discover it may have been connected to one of the 20th century's greatest art crimes. Fiona meets a reformed forger to discover if he ever faked a Nicholson while Philip takes the painting to Canada to compare it to another of the artist's works.

2018-08-19T19:00:00Z

7x02 Toulouse-Lautrec

7x02 Toulouse-Lautrec

  • 2018-08-19T19:00:00Z1h

Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould must prove that a sketchbook is the work of a young Toulouse-Lautrec, overturning a decision made by a committee of experts on the artist. The drawings in the book are of a very different subject matter to Lautrec's famous works, and are dated to when he was a teenager - a period of his life that is largely a mystery. To get to the truth, Fiona and Philip travel to the town in the south of France where Lautrec grew up and visit the grand family home where he spent much of his youth.

2018-08-26T19:00:00Z

7x03 Henry Moore

7x03 Henry Moore

  • 2018-08-26T19:00:00Z1h

Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould investigate a small watercolour sketch that could be the work of sculptor Henry Moore. The piece was found in 2012 in a hoard of artwork stolen by the Nazis. While the unidentified piece has many characteristics of Moore's work, none of the other artworks recovered were by British artists, so it remains a mystery how it came to be there. The team must not only find out who created it, but also who it belonged to, since it may have been looted from Jewish owners during the Holocaust and will need to be returned to surviving descendants.

2018-09-02T19:00:00Z

7x04 A Double Whodunnit

7x04 A Double Whodunnit

  • 2018-09-02T19:00:00Z1h

Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould investigate the origins of two paintings by unknown artists dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries, which unusually for the period, depict black subjects. One is a portrait of Dido Belle, a famous former slave adopted into an aristocratic English family in the 1760s, while the other depicts two children against a tropical landscape, and is believed to have been painted as a protest against the slave trade.

Season Finale

2018-09-09T19:00:00Z

7x05 Giacometti

Season Finale

7x05 Giacometti

  • 2018-09-09T19:00:00Z1h

The team try to find out whether a white square of plaster is an early work by Giacometti.

Season Premiere

2019-07-25T19:00:00Z

8x01 The Lost Gainsborough

Season Premiere

8x01 The Lost Gainsborough

  • 2019-07-25T19:00:00Z1h

The team investigate an 18th-century landscape that could be a lost work by of one of the biggest names in British art, Thomas Gainsborough.

2019-08-01T19:00:00Z

8x02 Cosway or Lawrence?

8x02 Cosway or Lawrence?

  • 2019-08-01T19:00:00Z1h

Can the team prove that a portrait attributed to pioneering female artist Maria Cosway is actually an undiscovered work of the great Regency artist Sir Thomas Lawrence?

2019-08-08T19:00:00Z

8x03 De Chirico

8x03 De Chirico

  • 2019-08-08T19:00:00Z1h

Bought for just £1, could a small still life be the work of one of the masters of early 20th-century art, Giorgio de Chirico?

Season Finale

2019-08-15T19:00:00Z

8x04 A Venetian View

Season Finale

8x04 A Venetian View

  • 2019-08-15T19:00:00Z1h

The team investigates a beautiful 18th-century Venetian view. Could this be a work by one of the Italian masters - either Francesco Guardi or Michele Marieschi?

Season Premiere

2021-07-28T19:00:00Z

9x01 A Sculpture in the Brambles

Season Premiere

9x01 A Sculpture in the Brambles

  • 2021-07-28T19:00:00Z1h

A sculpture found in the long grass of a Norfolk home bears striking similarities to the work of Henry Moore. Could it be a lost work by one of the greatest 20th-century artists?

2021-08-04T19:00:00Z

9x02 Gerome

9x02 Gerome

  • 2021-08-04T19:00:00Z1h

Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould investigate a small oil painting of a man praying in a mosque, a scene filled with meticulously painted and intriguing detail. Its owner, Jon Swihart, bought it at auction in 1999 and believed it to be the work of the nineteenth-century French artist Jean-Leon Gerome, who was a leading figure in the Orientalist genre of painting.

2021-08-11T19:00:00Z

9x03 Landseer

9x03 Landseer

  • 2021-08-11T19:00:00Z1h

The team investigate a powerful scene of the aftermath of battle; could it be a work by celebrated Victorian artist Edwin Landseer, thought to be destroyed by a flood in 1928?

Season Finale

2021-08-18T19:00:00Z

9x04 A King's Last Supper

Season Finale

9x04 A King's Last Supper

  • 2021-08-18T19:00:00Z1h

Anglesey farmer Huw Lewis bought a small painting depicting the Last Supper for 50 pounds on the internet. Can the team prove it's an 18th century work by the artist Benjamin West?

Season Premiere

2022-08-23T19:00:00Z

10x01 Ben Nicholson

Season Premiere

10x01 Ben Nicholson

  • 2022-08-23T19:00:00Z58m

When Ian and Julie moved into their Surrey cottage nearly 20 years ago, they discovered a curious wall painting in one of the bedrooms. They had no idea who put it there. Julie wanted to get rid of it as it didn't match her decor plans, while their four-year-old wanted to colour it in with her crayons.

2022-08-30T19:00:00Z

10x02 Modigliani

10x02 Modigliani

  • 2022-08-30T19:00:00Z1h

Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould investigate a delicate sketch depicting a mother and child, purported to be by one of the modern art world's most famous names, Amedeo Modigliani. Its owner, Henrietta Sitwell, inherited the work and always believed it to be genuine. However, a leading auction house recently cast doubt on its authenticity. If the work is genuine, it could be worth up to £100,000. If not, just a few hundred.

2022-09-06T19:00:00Z

10x03 Sisley

10x03 Sisley

  • 2022-09-06T19:00:00Z1h

Fiona Bruce, Philip Mould and the team help Americans Kim and Chuck, who believe their landscape painting is by one of the founders of Impressionism, Alfred Sisley, building a case to prove its authenticity. Kim and Chuck bought the work at auction near Chicago and believe it to be genuine. However, the painting was turned down nearly 10 years ago by the authentication committee, so the team will have to find new evidence to persuade them to change their mind.

Season Finale

2022-09-13T19:00:00Z

10x04 Flemish Old Master

Season Finale

10x04 Flemish Old Master

  • 2022-09-13T19:00:00Z1h

Fiona and Philip visit a church in Port Glasgow to investigate whether a mysterious work depicting Christ after the crucifixion could be a lost masterpiece by one of the great painters of Northern Renaissance art.

Season Premiere

2023-09-26T19:00:00Z

11x01 Elisabeth Frink

Season Premiere

11x01 Elisabeth Frink

  • 2023-09-26T19:00:00Z58m

A sculpture found at a car-boot sale in Essex bears striking similarities to the work of Elisabeth Frink. Can the team prove it’s part of an edition sculpted by her in the 1950s?

2023-10-03T19:00:00Z

11x02 Joshua Reynolds

11x02 Joshua Reynolds

  • 2023-10-03T19:00:00Z58m

A painting bought from an online auction in Monaco described as 'in the style of Sir Joshua Reynolds' looks promising, but could something murkier be lurking beneath the paint?

2023-10-10T19:00:00Z

11x03 Cezanne and Pissarro

11x03 Cezanne and Pissarro

  • 2023-10-10T19:00:00Z58m

Could two simple sketches be by great French artists Pissarro and Cezanne? The team set out to gather evidence to prove they’re genuine.

2023-10-17T19:00:00Z

11x04 Arshile Gorky

11x04 Arshile Gorky

  • 2023-10-17T19:00:00Z58m

Could a mysterious canvas covered in white paint be hiding a lost painting by one of the most important painters of the 20th century, Armenian-American artist Arshile Gorky?

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