'Fake or Fortune?' returns (ctd.)
June 26 2015

Picture: BBC
I said last week that the new series of 'Fake or Fortune?' returns this Sunday - but in fact that's wrong. There was a potential clash with the final ever episode of Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson on BBC2 at the same time. So the powers that be decided to delay our new series by one week.
The new series will now start next Sunday, July 5th, on BBC1 at 8pm. There are four programmes, and then after that, in the same slot, there will be four repeats from earlier series.
The first artist under examination is L. S. Lowry. Here's what the BBC website says about the programme:
Art detectives Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould return for a brand new series, starting with an investigation into three small pictures by one of Britain's best-loved modern artists - LS Lowry.
Stephen Ames, a Cheshire property developer, has a problem - he's inherited three small oil paintings believed to be by Laurence Stephen Lowry, an artist renowned for his scenes of northern life, but he doesn't have any proof. All he knows is that they were bought by his father Gerald, a self-made businessman with a passion for art, in the early 70s.
The trouble for Stephen is that LS Lowry is probably the most faked British artist, his deceptively simple style of painting making him a soft target for forgers. As a result, the art market has become very wary of newly discovered Lowry works. If he can't find evidence in favour of the pictures, they are worthless.
As they hunt for proof with the assistance of specialist art researcher Dr Bendor Grosvenor, the team encounter unexpected obstacles and extraordinary coincidences, culminating in a groundbreaking scientific discovery that challenges everything we thought we knew about Lowry the artist. But is it enough to prove that the pictures are genuine?
I hope you enjoy it. And, pray, spread the word!