The Worst Episodes of Fake or Fortune?

Episode Rankings

1. #1 Worst Episode
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   0.0/10(0 votes)

   #1 - What Happened Next? John Lennon's Piano

   S14:E68/26/2026

   The team revisit the fast-growing market for rock music memorabilia. Armed with fresh research, can they finally solve the mystery of John Lennon’s piano and Ronnie Wood’s guitar?

   Director:Unknown

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Unknown

   Writer:Unknown
2. 

   6.1/10(25 votes)

   #2 - Music Memorabilia

   S12:E310/10/2024

   The programme ventures beyond fine art to investigate two pieces of rock memorabilia: a silver guitar said to have belonged to Ronnie Wood and a piano linked to John Lennon. Manufacturing records, photographs, witness testimony and instrument specialists are used to determine whether either object can be securely connected to the musicians.

   Director:Christopher Boreham

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Christopher Boreham

   Writer:Unknown
3. 

   6.8/10(32 votes)

   #3 - A Sculpture in the Brambles

   S9:E17/28/2021

   At a Norfolk country house, Fiona and Philip investigate an abstract metal sculpture that has spent years serving as a doorstop and garden water feature. Its owners believe it may be an early work by Henry Moore, but analysis of its materials and history leads the team toward another artist connected with the property.

   Director:Nicky Illis

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Nicky Illis

   Writer:Unknown
4. 

   7.4/10(16 votes)

   #4 - Arshile Gorky

   S11:E410/17/2023

   A canvas given to the owner’s late husband by Arshile Gorky’s widow may conceal an important early painting beneath a layer of white household paint. Research in Britain and the United States identifies possible lost compositions, while conservation tests raise a difficult question: whether removing the white layer would reveal a masterpiece or destroy part of the artist’s own history.

   Director:Matthew Smith

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Matthew Smith

   Writer:Unknown
5. 

   7.5/10(29 votes)

   #5 - Giacometti

   S7:E59/9/2018

   A damaged plaster sculpture resembling Alberto Giacometti’s early Gazing Head is subjected to provenance research and CT scanning. The initial investigation ends without a firm ruling, but later discovery of a signature leads the Giacometti Foundation to authenticate the sculpture; it subsequently sells for more than half a million pounds. The Giacometti episode was originally intended for Series 6 but was delayed while the foundation continued its examination. It was later rebroadcast with an update after authentication.

   Director:Robert Murphy

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Robert Murphy

   Writer:Unknown
6. 

   7.6/10(27 votes)

   #6 - Landseer

   S9:E38/11/2021

   An oil painting of a dramatic battle scene may be Sir Edwin Landseer’s lost Time of War, believed to have been destroyed after the 1928 Thames flood. Fiona and Philip investigate whether the picture survived under another identity or is instead a later copy of the missing Victorian work.

   Director:Nicky Illis

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Nicky Illis

   Writer:Unknown
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7. 

   7.6/10(28 votes)

   #7 - Modigliani

   S10:E28/30/2022

   A delicate drawing of a mother and child, inherited through the Sitwell family, is examined as a possible work by Amedeo Modigliani. The paper, perforations, handwriting and dedication all appear consistent with the artist, while research links the sketch to a 1919 London exhibition organized with Modigliani’s dealer Léopold Zborowski.

   Director:Christopher Boreham

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Christopher Boreham

   Writer:Unknown
8. 

   7.6/10(19 votes)

   #8 - Sisley

   S10:E39/6/2022

   An American couple asks the team to investigate a river landscape believed to depict Moret-sur-Loing by Alfred Sisley. Its technique impresses specialists and appears closely related to accepted works, but the official Sisley committee remains unconvinced, leaving an enormous difference between its potential value and its worth as merely “in the style of” the artist.

   Director:Guy Arthur

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Guy Arthur

   Writer:Unknown
9. 

   7.6/10(17 votes)

   #9 - Joshua Reynolds

   S11:E210/3/2023

   A painting bought online for £2,700 as “in the manner of” Sir Joshua Reynolds is found beneath extensive later overpainting. Careful cleaning reveals a more ambitious composition, but the investigation must establish whether any part of the work was actually painted by Reynolds or whether it is an accomplished pastiche assembled in his style.

   Director:Rachel Jardine

   Writer:Unknown

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   Director:Rachel Jardine

   Writer:Unknown
10. 

    7.6/10(22 votes)

    #10 - The Mystery of Churchill’s Garden

    S13:E17/21/2025

    A carer named Barry asks the team to investigate a garden scene he bought for £140 at an antiques fair. An inscription on the reverse claims that Winston Churchill painted it at Herstmonceux Castle in June 1916, possibly depicting his wife Clementine. Fiona and Philip must identify the precise location, reconstruct the picture’s history and decide whether the stylistic evidence can support an attribution potentially worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

    Director:Unknown

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Unknown

    Writer:Unknown
11. 

    7.6/10(18 votes)

    #11 - What Happened Next? A Double Whodunnit

    S13:E58/18/2025

    Fiona and Philip return to the two portraits of Black British women investigated in Series 7. New research and growing interest in Black social history have changed the significance of both paintings, including David Martin’s portrait of Dido Belle and Lady Elizabeth Murray and Emma Soyer’s Two Girls with a Book. The programme examines what happened to the works after their original attributions were established.

    Director:Unknown

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Unknown

    Writer:Unknown
12. 

    7.7/10(14 votes)

    #12 - Fabergé or Fauxbergé

    S14:E17/16/2026

    Fiona and Philip unravel the mystery of a suspected Fabergé flower, kept hidden in a shoebox in Liverpool but believed to have belonged to royalty – and worth a small fortune!

    Director:Unknown

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Unknown

    Writer:Unknown
13. 

    7.8/10(33 votes)

    #13 - Degas and the Little Dancer

    S2:E19/16/2012

    Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould investigate Danseuse Bleue et Contrebasses, a small painting believed to be by Edgar Degas. Although its history appears to lead back to the artist’s studio, the work is absent from the accepted catalogue of Degas paintings. Provenance research and scientific testing are used to determine whether the owner possesses a modest imitation or a valuable lost work.

    Director:Robert Murphy

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Robert Murphy

    Writer:Unknown
14. 

    7.8/10(35 votes)

    #14 - Gainsborough

    S3:E42/9/2014

    The team selects two publicly owned paintings from the BBC’s Your Paintings project for investigation: Imaginary Landscape and a portrait of Joseph Gape. Research, conservation evidence and specialist analysis are used to determine whether both neglected works can be connected to Thomas Gainsborough and restored to his accepted body of work.

    Director:Ben Southwell

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Ben Southwell

    Writer:Unknown
15. 

    7.8/10(38 votes)

    #15 - Toulouse-Lautrec

    S7:E28/19/2018

    Two sketchbooks preserved for decades in a French garden shed may contain youthful drawings by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. The team travels to the artist’s family home and uses handwriting, paper and technical analysis to challenge an earlier rejection by the authentication committee.

    Director:Rachel Jardine

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Rachel Jardine

    Writer:Unknown
16. 

    7.8/10(21 votes)

    #16 - Camille Pissarro & Paul Cézanne

    S11:E310/10/2023

    The team investigates two disputed French drawings: a market scene attributed to Camille Pissarro and a delicate tree study believed to be by Paul Cézanne. Technical examination, family provenance and research in France provide strong evidence, but each work faces a separate authentication authority and a very different final judgment.

    Director:Julia Foot

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Julia Foot

    Writer:Unknown
17. 

    7.9/10(24 votes)

    #17 - Renoir

    S4:E27/12/2015

    Artist Nicky Philipps asks the team to examine Boats on the Seine at Argenteuil, an unsigned painting held at her family’s former home, Picton Castle. Conflicting catalogues disagree over whether it is an authentic Pierre-Auguste Renoir, sending the investigation through gallery records, provenance research and scientific analysis in search of evidence capable of resolving the dispute.

    Director:Nicky Illis

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Nicky Illis

    Writer:Unknown
18. 

    7.9/10(35 votes)

    #18 - Munnings and Churchill

    S4:E47/26/2015

    Charles Henty asks Fiona and Philip to investigate two paintings discovered in a coal cellar: a winter landscape attributed to Alfred Munnings and a view of a French fountain believed to be by Winston Churchill. Provenance research, eyewitness testimony and specialist examination are used to decide whether either family picture can be accepted as the work of its celebrated supposed artist.

    Director:Simon Mansfield

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Simon Mansfield

    Writer:Unknown
19. 

    7.9/10(29 votes)

    #19 - Rodin

    S5:E37/31/2016

    A family-owned watercolour is said to belong to Auguste Rodin’s celebrated series of Cambodian dancers. With little documented provenance and the shadow of prolific Rodin forger Ernest Durig hanging over the work, the team studies its materials, signature and fluid painting technique in search of a reliable attribution.

    Director:Francis Welch

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Francis Welch

    Writer:Unknown
20. 

    7.9/10(28 votes)

    #20 - Portraits

    S5:E48/21/2016

    Three unrelated portraits are investigated as possible works by Philip Mercier, Adolph von Menzel and Willem de Kooning. The cases produce sharply different outcomes, ranging from a neglected bargain to a convincing forgery and a promising attribution complicated by unresolved ownership history.

    Director:Robert Murphy

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Robert Murphy

    Writer:Unknown
21. 

    7.9/10(27 votes)

    #21 - Gauguin

    S6:E39/10/2017

    Two possible works by Paul Gauguin receive very different investigations. A pencil study resembling a figure from When Will You Marry? is traced through Gauguin’s sketchbook and former owners, while a still life previously sold as genuine is scrutinized for questionable signatures, provenance and style.

    Director:Rachel Jardine

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Rachel Jardine

    Writer:Unknown
22. 

    7.9/10(33 votes)

    #22 - Henry Moore

    S7:E38/26/2018

    A small watercolour from the Gurlitt art hoard is examined as a possible work by Henry Moore and as potentially Nazi-looted art. Infrared analysis, archival records and the history of Hildebrand Gurlitt are used to establish both authorship and an unbroken chain of ownership.

    Director:Lucy Swingler

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Lucy Swingler

    Writer:Unknown
23. 

    7.9/10(33 votes)

    #23 - The Lost Gainsborough

    S8:E17/25/2019

    The team examines an eighteenth-century landscape that may be Thomas Gainsborough’s lost painting Wooded Landscape with Gipsies Round a Camp Fire. Old exhibition records, labels and auction numbers appear to support the attribution, while imaging reveals an earlier portrait hidden beneath the landscape. The case also threatens to overturn Philip’s previous identification of another painting as the missing Gainsborough.

    Director:Nicky Illis

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Nicky Illis

    Writer:Unknown
24. 

    7.9/10(18 votes)

    #24 - Flemish Old Master

    S10:E49/13/2022

    A large depiction of the Lamentation of Christ hanging in a Catholic church in Port Glasgow may be the work of a Northern Renaissance master. Technical analysis and research narrow the possibilities to artists associated with Michiel Coxie, before expert examination points toward a member of Coxie’s own family and workshop.

    Director:Matthew Smith

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Matthew Smith

    Writer:Unknown
25. 

    7.9/10(11 votes)

    #25 - The Last Gift

    S14:E37/30/2026

    The last gift left in the will of a former Kindertransport child is thought to be by Fauvist artist Derain. Will it raise a small fortune for charity or prove a dastardly forgery?

    Director:Unknown

    Writer:Unknown

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    Director:Unknown

    Writer:Unknown