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Extraordinary Portraits
Bill Bailey matches NHS workers with some of the UK’s best artists.
Bill Bailey matches extraordinary NHS workers with some of the UK’s best artists. In this episode, Martin is taken on by Nick. Inner-city trauma surgeon Martin treats two stabbings a day and two shootings a week, and most of his patients are still children. But it’s his work outside the operating theatre that’s saving the most lives. Sculptor Nick Elphick aims not just to replicate the human form but to express a deeper meaning within his pieces. Will he be able to capture everything that Martin is?
Junior doctor Grace is paired with painter Jemisha Maadhavji. Grace was still a student when a man jumped from the third floor of a shopping centre and landed on her, causing life-changing injuries. Painting this remarkable young doctor is Jemisha, an artist whose vibrant works of art are inspired by subjects who don't fit conventional social labels.
Araf, a paramedic, is paired with acclaimed photographer Brock. For 26 years, Glaswegian Araf has been saving lives on the road and changing opinions off it. Attempting to capture this remarkable man is photographic artist Brock Elbank. Brock began his career in high-end fashion, but his love of celebrating those people who often go unrecognised in society has led him down a very different path.
End of life care nurse Jules is matched with magical realist painter Belinda. Following the death of her father, Jules is on a mission to make people’s last days as pleasant as possible, arranging everything from Taste for Pleasure sessions to last-minute marriages.
In this episode President of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, Adebanji Alade, takes on the whole Edwards family. Adebanji is no stranger to creating epic works of art, but here he’s tested to the limit: six people from three generations, spanning 60 years of dedicated service with a strong work ethic and an even stronger family bond.
In this episode, hospital porter Holly is matched with classicist painter Mark. Holly joined the NHS as her way of giving back to the service that saved her eight-year-old daughter’s life when she was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Award-winning artist Mark Draisey also had a change of career when, in 2016, he reignited his love for portrait art after a 30-year career as a caricaturist and illustrator.
