Extraordinary Portraits

Twenty six years ago Araf was working in the family business near Glasgow when his mother suffered a cardiac arrest. Watching the paramedics at work awakened something in him and he decided to pursue a career in the Scottish Ambulance Service, becoming both the first Muslim and the first South Asian paramedic north of the border.

When he is not saving lives on the road, Araf works with local mosques and gurdwaras, equipping them with first-aid knowledge and providing a bridge between communities.

Attempting to capture this remarkable man is photographic artist Brock Elbank. Brock began his career in high-end fashion, but his love of celebrating people who may go unrecognised in society has led him down a very different path. His photographic projects focus on idiosyncratic and unique features, such as scars, birthmarks and skin conditions such as vitiligo.

Brock is fascinated by capturing the private stories behind the public persona, but will he find a way to tell Araf's story in a single photograph?

Jules leads a small but dedicated team at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, caring for patients in the final weeks, days and hours of their lives. She's made it her life's mission to make people's last days as pleasant as possible, arranging everything from last-minute marriages to taste-for-pleasure sessions.

Outside of work she runs ‘grief cafes' for staff, where she helps them come to terms with their own bereavements.

Jules has been matched with Belinda, a nomadic painter currently living in Devon. Born in Mombasa, she grew up in Spain, trained in London and has lived and worked in New York, France and Pakistan. This melting pot of influences and cultures has informed and inspired her singular magical realism style of painting.

Belinda credits the experience of always being the outsider in a new place with helping her to develop a unique perspective, and her refusal to be tied to reality gives her paintings a dreamlike quality. How will she go about depicting someone whose working life is spent on threshold between life and death?

The Edwards family has worked for the NHS for almost as long as there has been an NHS.

Grandmother Bea came to the UK as part of the Windrush generation and was employed as a health worker. Her daughter Gerrie has been a matron for 36 years and brought her whole family into the service: Calvin, her husband, retrained as a mental health nurse at the age of 49, and their three daughters all work for the NHS in Nottinghamshire. Rhishana, the oldest, is a senior assistant in recruitment, Brianna is a paediatric critical care nurse, and Samara, the youngest, a student nurse.

To do this family justice Bill Bailey has matched them with Adebanji Alade, the London-born, Nigerian-raised President of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters. No stranger to creating epic works of art, Adebanji is tested to the limit as he strives to capture The Edwards' enduring commitment to caring for people, which is almost as long-standing as the NHS itself.

Transporting vital documents, samples and people, porter Holly - who joined Torbay Hospital in Devon during the pandemic - walks the equivalent of three marathons in a week.

The decision to change careers and apply for a job at the NHS came after her eight-year-old daughter Renae was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Holly was overwhelmed by the care and support her family received from everyone at the hospital and wanted to give back to the service.

After five years of remission, daughter Renae has fully recovered and aspires to join the NHS as a midwife one day.

Award-winning artist Mark Draisey had a 30-year career as a caricaturist and illustrator, but changed paths in 2016, when he reignited his love for portrait art. Meeting Holly and family, Mark wrestles with how to portray and do justice to Holly and Renae's incredible story.