[1] Una Stubbs and Richard Bacon hosted this series, in which 10 amateur painters took on three specially designed challenges each week, using a wide range of mediums.
The ten contestants were:- Jan Szymczuk Paul Bell (Winner) Melvyn Flint Amy Goldring Richard Anthea Lay Alison Stafford Claire Parker Anne Blankson Hemans Heather Harding Mariella Frostrup and the Rev Richard Coles took over as hosts for series 2.
Colour key: Six well known figures - Jane Seymour, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, Phil Tufnell, George Shelley, Amber Le Bon and Josie d'Arby - took part in a celebrity version of the contest.
Mariella Frostrup was presenter and judges Daphne Todd and Lachlan Goudie returned to critique and review the work.
[4] Sam Woollaston of The Guardian described the first series as "nothing original" to other tried and tested formats, though it did set out to prove painters weren't all "white, upper-middle-class retirees in smocks and straw hats" and worked much better than other programmes because of its visual subject matter.