Cutting Edge - The Artful Codgers
Thursday, 15 May 2008
Cutting Edge tells the story of the audacious pensioners from Lancashire who conned the art world with a series of fakes sold to museums, galleries and collectors all over the world.
Masterminded by 84-year-old George Greenhalgh, and aided by his mother, Olive, 83, son Shaun, 47, faked paintings, sculptures and ancient artefacts in the garden shed of their shared council house in Bolton
The Artful Codgers uncovers the secret world of the most unlikely art forgers in history, interviewing the police who uncovered them, the experts they deceived and their friends and neighbours in suburban Bolton.
Shaun Greenhalgh, the 47-year-old talent behind the fakes, had lived at home all his life, until he was sent to prison in November 2007.
In police interviews, heard here for the first time, he said he turned to forgery because he believed he'd never be recognised as an artist in his own right and that the art world was only interested in works of art if they were by a famous name.
During a 17 year crime spree, Shaun and his parents systematically deceived the art world, including dealers, auction houses, museums and private collectors.
Finally, in November 2005, their cottage industry in art and antiquities began to unravel when a minor error in an 'ancient' Assyrian tablet Shaun had knocked up in their garden shed was spotted by the British Museum.
This episode is on CHANNEL 4, Thursday 15 May 2008 @ 9-10pm.
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