Extraordinary Portraits

Extraordinary Portraits returns to honour everyday people whose remarkable stories deserve to be told through art. Host Bill Bailey, pairs sitters with some of the UK’s most accomplished portrait artists, matching personal stories with an artistic style best able to capture their spirit. Each episode follows the creative journey as artists immerse themselves in their sitter’s world, listening, observing, and uncovering the details that shape the final work, from hyper-real oil painting and sculpture to experimental multimedia.

This series features an extraordinary range of subjects: a man who fought off a terrorist with a narwhal tusk, Britain’s oldest female Ironman, survivors of the Post Office scandal, brothers living on borrowed time, and the recipient of the UK’s first successful womb transplant. Along with a pop star who takes on the challenge of portraying a lifelong animal rescuer.

Uplifting, poignant, and deeply human, each portrait becomes more than a likeness, it is a lasting celebration of modern Britain.