Extraordinary Portraits - Episode Guide

Artist Roxana Halls is known for challenging how art depicts women. She has been given the task of depicting not one, but two sitters as she explores 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 perception of body image, family and their own inner strength.

Celebrated international photographer Christy Lee Rogers helps Cee Cee, a model with albinism, on her journey from self-proclaimed "ugly duckling" to elegant swan, as she shares her struggles with how she is perceived by the outside world and her own self-belief. Christy helps Cee Cee to love herself as she is and find the natural beauty she hid for so many years in a breath-taking underwater photoshoot.

Dale Grimshaw, famed for creating street murals with a Fine Art approach, builds a special bond with Patrick, a personal trainer from South London. Patrick was photographed carrying an injured English Defence League member to safety during a Black Lives Matter demonstration in 2020 and was propelled into the media spotlight both here and around the world. This powerful image and act of kindness was hailed as a symbol of unity and humanity.

Armed with spray cans and oil paint, Dale learns more about the man behind the headlines and aims to use his unique skill and vision to create a portrait that captures the real Patrick.

Kelvin 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?

Thomas 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, mentor and a role model to other amputees, and is an ambassador for the Royal Marines Association. Thomas is renowned for his ability to tap into the emotions of his subjects, and together, Thomas and Mark explore how we perceive bravery, masculinity, and family.

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 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 over an accurate face.

In this unlikely match, painter Stuart Pearson Wright is challenged to capture charity fundraiser Harriet Middleton's joy and love for her Shetlander heritage.

Cancer survivor Harriet volunteered her knitting skills to help raise over £100,000 to buy the island's only hospital an MRI scanner. Now she is paired with an artist who has been called one of the most gifted portrait artists of his generation. Stuart is well known for his figurative paintings and irreverent, sometimes humorous tone.

This link-up will see Stuart swap his paintbrush for knitting needles and forego his studio for the Scottish Isles to create a portrait that does the island proud, just as Harriet did.

Charlotte Banfield has cerebral palsy and autism. Bullied at school and once afraid to leave the house, she is now an adaptive surfer. Her match is Bella Kotak, a fine-art, fashion and portrait photographer who is inspired by fairy tales and nature. Can Bella transform this shy surf champion who was once afraid of water into the main character of her own fairy tale?

Bella travels down to Charlotte's hometown of Cornwall to immerse herself in the surfer's paradise of Newquay and meet the woman who gave Charlotte the confidence to believe in herself and the water, her mum.

In this transformative portrait, we see a beautiful friendship form and a magical work of art made.

This week, experimental artist Lo Lo celebrates the bravery of Jahmal Howlett-Mundle coming out as a bisexual footballer.

Jahmal's story hit the headlines when phone footage of him coming out to his teammates went viral. Once crippled with anxiety, the semi-professional footballer and teacher found solace in sharing his truth - and who better to transform this into a work of art than Lo Lo, a non-binary painter, sculptor and filmmaker.

As a multidisciplinary artist, Lo Lo uses gut instinct to choose the medium of their work. Through collaboration and shared experience, a deep connection is made between this artist and sitter and the result is a soul stirring portrait that questions what it means to be a professional athlete today, illuminating the multiple layers of our psyche that make us who we are.

Karenjeet Kaur Bains is a record-breaking British powerlifter and Team GB's first female Sikh Champion. Amar Stewart is a British artist based in North Carolina's vibrant art scene.

Famed for his paintings of hip hop stars depicted as royalty, Amar is self-taught and doesn't play by the rules, and this masterpiece will be no different. In his exploration into the woman behind the powerlifter, Amar meets her mother, who was denied the same athletic opportunities, and her father/trainer, who is proud that his daughter is smashing stereotypes as well as records.

Amar Stewart explores his own heritage as he paints Karenjeet, who summons the power of her ancestors to gain strength before she competes, smashing through gender stereotypes in the Asian community and celebrating her Sikh faith.

In this Scottish link up, contemporary portrait painter Ross Muir depicts the strength and hope he sees in Jamie Dalgoutte, a young man who went through the care system and is now helping to build a future for himself and others.

Jamie was in care with 14 different families before the age of six, and he now devotes his time to promoting positive change in the system by working with people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

An ability to turn negatives into positives ignites a deep connection with this pairing, as Ross shares his own experience of battling drug addiction and finding light in discovering his passion to paint. Entirely self-taught, Ross uses unconventional methods, taking inspiration from the world of art and music and applying his unique, contemporary twist.

Award-winning painter Laura Quinn Harris is famous for the amount of detail she puts into her works. Laura started life in academia before finding her creative side, something that links her to her sitter - inspirational rapping teacher Christian, who went viral when 50 Cent shared a clip of him performing in front of a class.

Laura's meticulous portraits take hundreds of hours to complete, but before she can begin she needs to see Christian in action, taking his blend of accessible teaching and mental health awareness into the classrooms. She wants to portray Christian's many sides in a single painting - but will her love for visual pattern and his love for rhyme pattern create the perfect recipe for a powerful portrait?

Martin treats an average of two stabbings a day, and two shootings a week. A statistic made even more shocking because most of his patients are still children. His work outside the operating theatre is also making a difference - he spearheads a violence-reduction initiative that's seen the numbers of patients re-admitted to hospital with a stab wound fall from 45 percent to around four percent.

Nick Elphick is a Welsh figurative sculptor based in Llandudno. He works in a variety of mediums and scales, but always with the same aim - not just to replicate the human form, but to express a deeper meaning within his pieces.

Will this master of human form be able to encapsulate something of the multi-faceted surgeon?

Grace was 22 and a fourth-year medical student when a man jumped from a third-floor balcony and landed on her.

Despite sustaining a life-altering spinal cord injury Grace continued her medical studies and is now a practising junior doctor in a busy London A&E department. Grace she sees what she calls her "visible scar" as an advantage in her role: being in a wheelchair brings her closer to eye-level with the hospital beds, making it easier to connect with her patients.

Twenty-six year-old figurative artist Jemisha is inspired by subjects who don't fit conventional social labels - which makes her the perfect artist to capture Grace. Known for her vibrant portraits, detailed with carefully curated prints and colours, Jemisha is interested in ‘the outsider' - an approach has landed her work in Vogue India.

Twenty six years ago Araf was working in the family business near Glasgow when his mother suffered a cardiac arrest. Watching the paramedics at work awakened something in him and he decided to pursue a career in the Scottish Ambulance Service, becoming both the first Muslim and the first South Asian paramedic north of the border.

When he is not saving lives on the road, Araf works with local mosques and gurdwaras, equipping them with first-aid knowledge and providing a bridge between communities.

Attempting to capture this remarkable man is photographic artist Brock Elbank. Brock began his career in high-end fashion, but his love of celebrating people who may go unrecognised in society has led him down a very different path. His photographic projects focus on idiosyncratic and unique features, such as scars, birthmarks and skin conditions such as vitiligo.

Brock is fascinated by capturing the private stories behind the public persona, but will he find a way to tell Araf's story in a single photograph?

Jules leads a small but dedicated team at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, caring for patients in the final weeks, days and hours of their lives. She's made it her life's mission to make people's last days as pleasant as possible, arranging everything from last-minute marriages to taste-for-pleasure sessions.

Outside of work she runs ‘grief cafes' for staff, where she helps them come to terms with their own bereavements.

Jules has been matched with Belinda, a nomadic painter currently living in Devon. Born in Mombasa, she grew up in Spain, trained in London and has lived and worked in New York, France and Pakistan. This melting pot of influences and cultures has informed and inspired her singular magical realism style of painting.

Belinda credits the experience of always being the outsider in a new place with helping her to develop a unique perspective, and her refusal to be tied to reality gives her paintings a dreamlike quality. How will she go about depicting someone whose working life is spent on threshold between life and death?

The Edwards family has worked for the NHS for almost as long as there has been an NHS.

Grandmother Bea came to the UK as part of the Windrush generation and was employed as a health worker. Her daughter Gerrie has been a matron for 36 years and brought her whole family into the service: Calvin, her husband, retrained as a mental health nurse at the age of 49, and their three daughters all work for the NHS in Nottinghamshire. Rhishana, the oldest, is a senior assistant in recruitment, Brianna is a paediatric critical care nurse, and Samara, the youngest, a student nurse.

To do this family justice Bill Bailey has matched them with Adebanji Alade, the London-born, Nigerian-raised President of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters. No stranger to creating epic works of art, Adebanji is tested to the limit as he strives to capture The Edwards' enduring commitment to caring for people, which is almost as long-standing as the NHS itself.

Transporting vital documents, samples and people, porter Holly - who joined Torbay Hospital in Devon during the pandemic - walks the equivalent of three marathons in a week.

The decision to change careers and apply for a job at the NHS came after her eight-year-old daughter Renae was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Holly was overwhelmed by the care and support her family received from everyone at the hospital and wanted to give back to the service.

After five years of remission, daughter Renae has fully recovered and aspires to join the NHS as a midwife one day.

Award-winning artist Mark Draisey had a 30-year career as a caricaturist and illustrator, but changed paths in 2016, when he reignited his love for portrait art. Meeting Holly and family, Mark wrestles with how to portray and do justice to Holly and Renae's incredible story.

Clare was only 25 years old when she was first diagnosed with cancer. Following surgery it looked like she was in the clear, but four years later a routine checkup showed the cancer was back, and this time it was incurable. As she turned 30, Clare set up her own charity, with the aim of offering the sort of support and community to young cancer patients that she desperately sought when she was first diagnosed.

Attempting to capture this remarkable woman on canvas is Oriane Pierrepoint, a realist painter and charcoal artist based in south Wales. The pressure is high, as Oriane knows this portrait will serve as a lasting legacy to Clare's determination and achievements.

Comedian and art lover Bill Bailey matches a life-saving railway worker with a celebrated artist to create a well-deserved portrait.

East Londoner Rizwan stopped someone trying to take their own life in his first week of working for London Underground. In eight years, Rizwan has stopped another 28 people from coming to harm. His training teaches him how to spot vulnerable people, but his gift is how he relates to them individually. Attempting to capture this remarkable man in a portrait is multimedia artist Jack Dickson, who describes himself as an ‘artistic magpie'. He collects clues about his subjects' lives and then builds them into multilayered visual artworks.

What will Rizwan and his family think of the finished result?

Comedian and art-lover Bill Bailey tasks former goalkeeper and painter David James to create a portrait of ex-footballer Gill, who competed for England in the unofficial 1971 Women's World Cup.

Gill was just 14 years old when she was picked to represent England at Copa 71 in Mexico. But when the tournament was over, she and her teammates were hit with a ban by the Football Association, which had forbidden women from playing on professional pitches. Many of her teammates never played again, but Gill went on to be a founding member of Arsenal Women and inspire a whole new generation.

To capture Gill, Bill has chosen a fellow footballer; former England goalkeeper turned painter David James, an artist who has donated his work to charities and created paintings to support some of his favourite causes.

Comedian and art lover Bill Bailey matches former soldier and fundraiser Christian with a sculptor to create a lasting legacy.

When ex-paratrooper Christian struggled to fit back into civilian life, he spiralled into a cycle of depression and debt. Deciding to take matters into his own hands, Christian left home with just £10 in his pocket and two days' worth of rations. His goal was to walk the entire coastline of the UK, and he returned six years, and 19,000 miles, later with a partner, a child and having raised half a million pounds for a charity helping ex-servicemen.

Taking on the massive challenge of capturing this remarkable man is Hywel Pratley, an acclaimed sculptor with a royal pedigree, who works in both clay and bronze.

Comedian and art lover Bill Bailey matches foster carers Marva and Lionel with a young artist to create a stunning portrait of the deserving couple.

Marva and Lionel decided to make a difference by becoming foster parents to teenagers looking for a loving home. Thirty years later, they have fostered almost 200 young people in need.

The task to capture Marva and Lionel on canvas falls to Manchester-based artist Chloe Cox. The self-taught painter has had a meteoric rise and has already been commissioned by HM the King and the Windrush Commemoration Committee. Now, she is on a mission to make the people we see on gallery walls more representative of society. What will Marva and Lionel make of the finished work?

Comedian and art-lover Bill Bailey matches 20-year-old Millie; a campaigner challenging the stereotypes around Down's Syndrome, with Karen Turner; an award-winning, self-taught painter.

Twenty-year-old Millie is a drama student and social media influencer who is campaigning for equality around pregnancies involving foetuses with Down's Syndrome.

When Millie discovered that a healthy foetus with Down's Syndrome could be terminated right up until birth she took the issue to government, demanding a change in the law.

To capture Millie; Bill has chosen Karen Turner, an award-winning, self-taught painter who celebrates people in society who aren't always represented on canvas.
But how will she reflect this charismatic young campaigner?