Sky Arts to install Fake

Fake! The Great Masterpiece Challenge sends ordinary people to spot artwork copies

Sky Arts in the UK has ordered a series that requires members of the UK public to visit art galleries and spot masterpieces that have been replaced by fakes.

Fake! The Great Masterpiece Challenge will follow members of the public of all ages and experience as they use their detective skills to spot seven copies hanging on the walls of galleries in London, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Liverpool and Manchester.

Those who correctly identify the fakes are then in with a chance of being invited to take part in the series finale and win a specially commissioned copy of their own.

Phil Edgar-Jones, director of Sky Arts, said: “We wanted to tell the story of British art with a sense of fun, and in a way that would encourage us all to take a closer and more critical look at the works of great British artists.”

Each programme in the series, which airs later this year and is being produced by IWC Media, will explore a particular period of British art, featuring interviews with curators and contemporary artists.