In 2023 I was invited to take part in the third series of Extraordinary Portraits focusing on key workers in the NHS, hosted by Bill Bailey for the BBC. The concept and proceedure was completely different to the way I normally work. For a start, I had no idea who I was going to be painting, or what their story was, until the first day of filming when I was introduced to Holly, a hospital porter based at Torbay Hospital in Devon. We then spent two days recording her work and home life around Teignmouth where I got to meet her eldest daughter Renée who was the reason Holly made a career switch to work for the NHS following the successful treatment her daughter recived for a brain tumour.

Slowly, I built up an idea of how I was going to portray Holly, but I was not granted the luxury I usually have of an open schedule as the great reveal had to happen one month later, whether the painting was dry or not. It was a facinating, and often fun experience, however the grand finale was somewhat tainted by the sad loss of my dog Hugo, who featured quite prominently in the programme, a week before the final, very emotional, day of filming.

The full episode can be viewed on the BBC iPlayer.