The opening episode of the 13th series is – as usual – careful and measured, a tone you will find either calming or tedious. Personally, I find myself lulled into a pleasantly geeky stupor as Bruce and Mould strive to trace the provenance of a painting purchased by carer Barry James from an antiques fair in 2022. Could it have been made by Winston Churchill in June 1916 at Herstmonceux Castle, as an inscription on the back of the canvas suggests?
Painting owner Barry James bought the painting at an antiques fair (Photo: BBC Studios)
Despite his wealth of experience, Barry has struggled to be taken seriously by auction houses in the past. “The way I speak, the way I dress, I just don’t look like the typical art person,” he explains to Bruce and Mould. Luckily, they’re just the double act to whisk him – and us – behind the rarified art world curtain, leaving no expert unconsulted along the way.
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Although Kennan is able to place Churchill at Herstmonceux in the summer of 1916, as hoped, the archival evidence suggests he was there in August rather than June. Talk about a fine-toothed comb – these teeth are microscopic, and they’re tearing Barry’s Niagara dream to shreds! If Fake or Fortune? were a person, they would be an absolute jobsworth – mildly infuriating, sure, but all the more satisfying when the checks and balances come out in Barry’s favour nonetheless.
An X-ray reveals another painting under the surface (Photo: BBC Studios)Infuriatingly, no official bodies want to give a verdict, each nominating the other to make a definitive call. A lesser programme might fudge the ending for a happily-every-after conclusion, but Barry is left to ponder the promising but inconclusive results for himself. He decides to hold off selling the painting in hopes of securing more concrete evidence in the future – an eminently sensible decision, fitting for the most sensible television I have ever watched.
‘Fake or Fortune?’ continues next Monday at 9pm on BBC One
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