The Secret Painter

A true story about class and ambition, loneliness and community, success and failure; told with real heart and humour it reminds us that the extraordinary can be found in the most unexpected places

Joe Tucker's Uncle Eric was a beloved yet unconventional figure throughout Joe's life. A shambolically dressed man who lived with his mother for almost eighty years, he had an almost compulsive need to charm strangers with working men's club comedy routines, and appeared to exist only for daily trips to the bookie – and yet had also amassed over five hundred of his own remarkable paintings without anyone ever realising his achievements.

Towards the end of his life, Eric requested an exhibition of his work. As Joe and his family sorted through hundreds of paintings of street scenes, circus and theatre performers, and busy pubs, they began to ask more questions about Eric's life: why had this fanatically sociable man never left his mother's home? Had Eric ever experienced love when he painted it so beautifully? And what had driven him to create so much, yet share it so rarely?

In this touching, funny and thoughtful investigation of the nature of expression, the ownership of art and the secret lives of those nearest to us, Joe Tucker brings us into his uncle's extraordinary and compelling world, and perhaps more importantly, brings Eric Tucker's life's work into ours.

About the Author

Joe Tucker originally trained as an animation director at the National Film & Television School, where his award-winning graduation film, For the Love of God, was selected for festivals including Cannes and Sundance. He has since worked as a director of music videos and commercials and as a television scriptwriter. With his script writing partner, Lloyd Woolf, he has created and written series for BBC One, BBC Three, Sky and Comedy Central, including the Rose D'Or nominated Witless and the critically-acclaimed Click & Collect.