Historian Simon Schama has joined with the National Portrait Gallery curators to take a fresh look at the Collection and present a cross-period exploration of the history of Britain through portraiture.

Focusing on the themes of Power, Love, Fame, Self and People, he asks what makes a successful portrait and what this tells us about the individual and collective psyche of the time.

Developed in partnership with the BBC, Simon Schama’s Face of Britain coincides with the broadcast of a five-part series on BBC2 (from 30 September 2015) and the publication of an accompanying book by Viking/Penguin Random House.