'Fake or Fortune?'

June 20 2011

Picture: BBC

Many thanks to those of you who have written to say that you enjoyed the programme last night. If you missed it, it's on iPlayer here.

The reaction so far has been very encouraging. I'm told we averaged 3.9m viewers, which is quite good for a 7pm Sunday slot in the summer. The Times gave us 5/5 stars ('This Gripping programme took us to a very dark place: the art world'); The Guardian liked 'this fascinating new series'; The Telegraph called it 'aesthetically pleasing, quietly enjoyable'; and Metro 'fascinating'. Sorry if this all sounds a bit self-congratulatory...

Tom Sutcliffe in The Independent seemed to like the programme, but thought one scene 'didn't feel right': 

It was implied, for example, that Bruce and Mould had to wait on tenterhooks for their emissary to return to London from Paris before finding out the final verdict, though it seems frankly inconceivable that he wouldn't have called them on the phone the moment he got the news.

Well I can assure Tom that Philip and Fiona (and nor I) had any idea of the final verdict before John House delivered it. 

•