* Art of the Heist (2007)

Art of the Heist is a revealing series which examines some of the greatest art thefts of our times, re-stages the robberies, and follows the story to find out what happened in the end. While a surprising number of works of art are traced and recovered in elaborate sting operations over the years, many are not, which has led in turn to intriguing - and occasionally ludicrous - conspiracy theories...

Series 1:

In a plot hatched by prison inmates, three masterpieces by Renoir and Rembrandt worth $80 million are stolen in an armed daylight raid on the National Museum in Stockholm.

Episode 2: The World's Biggest Heist
$500 million worth of art, including rare masterpieces by Vermeer and Rembrandt, was ripped from the walls of a Boston gallery in a single night in 1990. 16 years later, no one has been charged and the priceless paintings are still missing.

Episode 3: The Forger and the Conman
The devious tale of two Englishmen who conned a gullible art market for more than a decade: John Myatt, art teacher and master forger, and John Drewe, expert provenance faker.

Episode 4: The Search for The Scream
The unsolved mystery of the 2004 theft of Edvard Munch's iconic painting, The Scream. But how could thieves ever hope to sell such an iconic image? It turns out that masterpieces are stolen for many reasons.

Episode 5: Chasing Cezanne
The twists, turns and double-dealing behind the thirty-year mystery of the lost Cézanne still life, Bouteille et Fruits, one of the most influential paintings in art history.


Episode 6: Den of Antiquities
The complex trail of deception of the American art dealer who bought priceless Cypriot mosaics chipped from the walls of a Greek Orthodox church by Turkish looters.

Series 2:

Episode 1: The Lady in Gold

Since Klimt's golden Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer was seized by the Nazis, Ferdinand's American-based niece has been fighting to get it back, suing the state of Austria in the process.

Episode 2: The Pharaoh's Head
The 1994 hunt for thousands of stolen Egyptian artefacts, including panels of a tomb in the City of the Dead and the head of most prosperous Egyptian Pharaoh, found in Devon.

Episode 3: Miami Sting
The dramatic story of an elaborate sting operation in Miami in which one of the world's leading experts in Rubens puts his life on the line to recover two precious paintings.

Episode 4: The Man Who Stole the Mona Lisa
In 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre. The police were baffled, and in a bungled investigation a young Pablo Picasso was arrested. But did he commit the crime?

Episode 5: The Russian Conspiracy
During an inventory check at the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, $5 million worth of artefacts were found to be missing. Could the museum curator have been a thief?

Episode 6: On the Trail of Moche Gold
In 1988, a golden headdress was looted from an ancient tomb in north Peru. Follow the trail of the crime and how the headdress was recovered by Scotland Yard.

Episode 7: The Disappeared
Masterpieces stolen form the National Art Gallery in Buenos Aires were sold for arms by the oppressive military junta, in a complex heist that involved many shady characters

Episode 8: The Thieving Don Juan
A £35 million gold sculpture is stolen in Vienna. Who could have pulled off the heist: a Balkan warlord or a handsome Austrian pin-up? Narrated by Kenneth Cranham.