Chatsworth in frame for new series of Painting Birds with Jim Moir - aka comedian Vic Reeves - and celebrity guests

Painting Birds with Jim and Nancy Moir was due to return to Sky Arts from April 17, but has been rescheduled to launch on May 8 with the second episode, shot at Chatsworth, airing on Wednesday, May 15, at 9pm.

Few details have been released on the episode, but it has been revealed that it will focus on dippers, the chocolate-brown aquatic songbirds often spotted bobbing along the Derwent in pursuit of food.

Speaking to the Daily Mail this week, Jim said: “It's birds, beautiful scenery and our relationship. Other shows with husbands and wives seem to rely on bickering. We never squabble off camera or on.”

Each week in the series, Jim and Nancy venture to a different part of the UK to spot and paint the species native to that region. Along the way they meet ornithologists, local artists, and famous friends who have a go at creating a bird-inspired artwork.

Celebrity guests for series two include Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins, photographer – and Beatle offspring – Mary McCartney, Eastenders actor Nitin Ganatra, singer-songwriter Imelda May and the comedians Stephen Mangan, Joe Pasquale and Ronni Ancona.

The series opens with a trip to Battersea Power Station in London to see pair of nesting peregrine falcons, and later episodes feature puffins along the coast of Northern Ireland, black grouse in north Wales and crested tits in Scotland.

The Moirs also explore an array of artistic techniques, creating linocuts of stilts and golden plovers in Wrexham, learning about local community project the Hide Sculpture in Dublin and using traditional Chinese ink and calligraphy brushes to paint Loch Mallachie in the Scottish Highlands.

The first run of the programme was broadcast in 2023 and became a cult hit with audiences and a fitting counterpart to Gone Fishing, the BBC series co-created by Moir’s former comedy partner Bob Mortimer.

Phil Edgar-Jones, director of Sky Arts and Entertainment, said: “We’re delighted to welcome back Jim and Nancy Moir for a second series of Painting Birds – a real treat that explores our beautiful airborne wildlife through the prism of Jim’s exquisite paintings.”

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