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Portrait Artist Of The Year

Sky Showcase & Sky Arts, 8pm

The reality competition show that’s a refined, cultured cut above the rest is back for its eighth series, presented by Joan Bakewell and Stephen Mangan, and with judges Tai Shan Schierenberg, Kathleen Soriano and Kate Bryan presiding.

Over the course of eight heats, each week nine contestants vie for one place in the semi-final before, in the final episode, one artist wins the prize of a £10,000 commission to paint the violinist Nicola Benedetti for the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

For this opening episode, the three subjects are singer Gabrielle, The Queen’s Gambit star Jacob Fortune-Lloyd (right) and celebrated tattooist Grace Neutral. There’s gently sparkling banter, until the pressure begins to tell as we find out just how well each painter can perform in the allotted four hours before the judges make their call. ★★★★★

Tv On Demand

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2021-10-10T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-10-10T07:00:00.0000000Z

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