Fake or Fortune?

Development

The series originated from Philip Mould's 2009 book Sleuth, after which it was originally to be titled. Mould has said that producer Simon Shaw suggested the format after a fisherman brought a watercolour painting found near a rubbish tip to BBC's Antiques Roadshow, where Mould identified it as a genuine Homer valued at £30,000. Each episode focuses on a painting or group of paintings, usually tied to one artist, with Mould and Bruce travelling nationally and internationally to study works at exhibitions, meet experts and follow local leads.

Series 7, episode 5 marked the show's first sculpture investigation, a piece attributed to Alberto Giacometti. Art historian Bendor Grosvenor assisted for the first five series until a disagreement over his new BBC Four series Britain's Lost Masterpieces ended his involvement in 2016. Expert conservator Simon Gillespie has regularly appeared, and from series 6 Professor Aviva Burnstock, Head of the Department of Conservation and Technology at the Courtauld Institute of Art, became a recurring advisor. Investigations proceed on multiple fronts: establishing provenance by working backwards from the present day, forensic testing of materials to determine time frames, and examining the artist's unique style and quirks.

The evidence is presented to the relevant artist authority to assess legitimacy and possible addition to the catalogue raisonné. The team does not always succeed; Mould considered the series 4 case of a Churchill painting one of the most unsatisfactory endings before it was finally authenticated in 2020. On 16 January 2025, the BBC announced the series' tender would be auctioned as part of its competitive tender policy, allowing independent companies to bid on production.

Episodes

The third series comprises four episodes, the first airing on 27 December 2013 on Sweden's SVT, with episodes 2 and 3 following weekly. Philip Mould described this Swedish premiere ahead of the British broadcast as a "weird BBC World cock-up". Filming for the fifth series began on 24 November 2015.

The "Giacometti" episode, originally planned for series 6, was postponed and premiered as part of series 7 in 2018, then rebroadcast as part of series 8 in 2019. That rebroadcast added information unavailable at the time of first broadcast. The Coronavirus pandemic disrupted production, but in September 2020 Philip Mould announced pre-production of the ninth series had started.

Reception

The programme has drawn audiences exceeding five million UK viewers. Sam Wollaston of The Guardian, describing the outcome of the first episode of series one as a "scandal", found the programme "incredibly interesting" and praised its focus on a single case rather than flitting between three. Ceri Radford in The Daily Telegraph said she was "flabbergasted" at the result but concluded the series was "aesthetically pleasing, quietly enjoyable" and unafraid to thwart expectations. Tom Sutcliffe in The Independent offered a mixed view, noting cliffhanger tension and thrilling discoveries but suspecting some elements were "a little too good to be true".

The record audience came on 12 July 2015 with a peak of 5.8 million for episode 4.2 "Renoir". Michael Hogan of The Daily Telegraph, reviewing a seventh-series episode, called arts programming "an increasingly endangered beast on prime time television" and praised the series for flying the flag "in quietly thrilling fashion". Benji Wilson, writing for the same newspaper during the ninth series, described the show as "the art world's answer to Line of Duty". Carol Midgley of The Times called the first episode of the thirteenth series, "The Mystery of Churchill's Garden", an engrossing trip through art history and Churchill's life.

Did You Know?

• The programme had its North American premiere on Canada's TVOntario in 2011.
• Series 4 has been available on Netflix (as Season 1) since December 2018.
• The programme airs on ABC in Australia.