The Big Painting Challenge

The nationwide search for Britain's best amateur artist returns, with Mariella Frostrup and the Rev Richard Coles taking over hosting duties. In the first edition, 10 contestants put their still life skills to the test, with some words of advice from Diana Ali and Pascal Anson. The artists must first paint a table laden with objects, before being split into two groups and challenged to produce a homage to either Van Gogh or Lichtenstein. Judges Lachlan Goudie, Daphne Todd and David Dibosa assess their efforts and decide who should be eliminated from the contest.

Mariella Frostrup and Rev Richard Coles take the contestants on a trip to Hastings, where they must put their landscape painting skills to the test by working in the open air - and the weather turns out to be against them. The first challenge sees them capturing the town's newly refurbished pier on canvas, before they are turned in the opposite direction to paint the view of the shoreline from the pier. A panel made of local residents choose their favourite painting, before the judges announce who will be leaving the show.

Mariella Frostrup and Richard Coles bring the contestants to Whipsnade Zoo to paint the animals, giving them a chance to demonstrate their ability to capture a sense of a living creature. The first challenge involves flamingos, which have a body shape that is harder to depict than it seems. The artists are then challenged to paint elephants, before the public panel vote for their favourite.

With the competition hotting up, our seven amateur artists head to the world-famous National Portrait Gallery in London to face two portraiture challenges, as they fight for their place in next week's semi-final.

It's the semi-final of the painting competition hosted by Mariella Frostrup and the Rev. Richard Coles, and the five remaining amateur artists are facing their toughest challenge yet - capturing the human body in movement. With their place in the final at stake there is no room for any mistakes as they focus on their first challenge. For two hours a solo dancer spins, pliés and pivots in front of our artists, which they must try to accurately capture on canvas. With mentors Diana and Pascal on hand to help, all the painters are pushed out of their comfort zone. But that was just the warm-up act: for the main event a troupe of ballerinas appear and perform selected extracts from Swan Lake. Even the judges admit that this is a challenge that they wouldn't want to have to tackle! All five amateur artists step up to the plate and give it their best shot, with some stunning results, but only four of them can make it on to next week's final. Who will the public viewing panel choose to go straight through, and who will the judges send home?

With the winning post in sight, our amateur artists have two nail-biting challenges remaining. With Mariella Frostrup and the Rev. Richard Coles overseeing proceedings, it's the last chance for the finalists to impress the judges with everything they've learned throughout the series. The starting point this week is Queen's House, Greenwich, where we soak up 400 years of history and art in these magnificent surroundings. There is a surprise in store for the artists as they are given their first test: they have to paint a portrait, but their sitters are only revealed to them at the start of the challenge. Will all of our artists be happy with who they come face to face with? For the final challenge of the series, we test not only our artists' skills but also their sea legs - with a trip on the Thames. They are faced with the magnificent view of the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich – practically unchanged since it inspired Italian master Canaletto over 250 years ago. If that wasn't enough to contend with, mentors Pascal and Diana take a step back to see who has absorbed their artistic advice and who has completely ignored it. Judges Daphne, David and Lachlan have the tricky task of deciding who will be the winner of the Big Painting Challenge 2017.