Original version

The BBC East region started on 1st May 1959 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One East.

BBC One East

Fake or Fortune?

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media: Arts

Journalist Fiona Bruce and art expert Philip Mould investigate mysteries behind paintings.

Fiona Bruce teams up with expert Philip Mould to investigate mysteries behind intriguing works of art. Are they potentially priceless or crafty copies?

BBC Two

BBC Four

BBC One London

London

Simulcast of network BBC One in high definition. From 03/11/2010

BBC One HD

The BBC West region started on 1st September 1957 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One West.

BBC One West

Simulcast of BBC One Scotland in high definition. From 14/01/2013

BBC One Scotland HD

The BBC South West region started on 20th April 1961 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One South West.

BBC One South West

Simulcast of BBC One Northern Ireland in high definition. From 24/10/2012

BBC One Northern Ireland HD

The BBC South region started on 5th January 1961 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One South.

BBC One South

Simulcast of BBC One Wales in high definition. From 29/01/2013

BBC One Wales HD

BBC One West Midlands

BBC One region covering Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire.

BBC One East Midlands

BBC One North West

The BBC North East & Cumbria region started in 1959 (tbc) as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One North East & Cumbria.

BBC One North East & Cumbria

BBC One Yorkshire

BBC One Oxfordshire

Formerly part of a wider BBC One South East region that included London and part of the South region. Separated from BBC One London 2001-09-03 following reorganisation of the South East region.

BBC One South East

BBC One Cambridgeshire

BBC One Channel Islands

BBC One Yorks & Lincs

BBC One Scotland

Scotland

BBC Northern Ireland region started on 19th April 1955 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One Northern Ireland.

BBC One Northern Ireland

BBC One Wales

Wales

BBC Two Scotland

BBC Two Northern Ireland

Until 03/01/2009 BBC Two Wales (analogue) was known simply as BBC Two Wales. BBC Two Wales (digital) was BBC 2W. From 03/01/2009 BBC Two Wales schedules on both analogue and digital became identical

BBC Two Wales

BBC Two England

England

Simulcast of network BBC Two in high definition.

BBC Two HD

BBC Four HD

Fiona Bruce

Philip Mould

Lucy Swingler

Judith Winnan

Francis Welch

Fake or Fortune?: Series 7: A Double Whodunnit

Documentaries

A Double Whodunnit

Series 7

BBC One - Fake or Fortune?, Series 7, A Double Whodunnit

The team investigate two rare portraits of black Britons from the 18th and 19th centuries.

Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould are in Scotland for a double investigation. Can they prove who painted two rare portraits of black Britons from the 18th and 19th centuries?

In this episode, Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould investigate two rare portraits of black British subjects from the 18th and 19th centuries.

Painted with extraordinary skill and sophistication, both pictures are highly unusual in their positive depiction of black sitters at a time when Britain was still heavily engaged in slavery.

But this is also an intriguing double whodunnit. Who are the artists who broke with the conventions of the time to paint these exceptional works?

The first case is a double portrait featuring Dido Belle, a former slave who became a member of the aristocratic Mansfield family.   The painting is on display at Scone Palace in Scotland and was commissioned by the first Lord Mansfield, Dido Belle’s guardian, sometime in the late 1770s or early 1780s at the height of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. In recent years, Belle’s incredible story has inspired books and a feature film about her life. Now the current Lady Mansfield is determined to discover the name of the artist who painted her.

The second painting is even more unusual – two beautifully dressed black girls holding a book in what appears to be a tropical landscape. Early clues suggest this could be a political painting somehow connected to the campaign to abolish slavery in Britain’s colonies. Could the sitters themselves be slaves, but if so why are they wearing such fine clothes?   

The quest to solve both mysteries throws up some prime suspects from a golden era of British portraiture. But is new forensic and documentary evidence enough to convince a sceptical art world?

Fake or Fortune?: Series 7

BBC One

Fiona Bruce and art expert Philip Mould investigate mysteries behind paintings.

Fiona Bruce teams up with art expert Philip Mould to investigate mysteries behind paintings.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Fake or Fortune?

Series 7

A Double Whodunnit

Contributors

Genres

Formats

Brand

Series

BBC One East

About BBC One