Episode 1

Maggi Hambling's self portrait of 1978 was made, according to the artist, when her life was 'in a muddle'. Spiritually in love with one person but having an affair with another, the artist/subject sits centre frame surrounded by the swirl of forms - a teapot and a naked torso, a penguin and a puffer fish, a card trickster and a big tabby cat.

How do these things come together to describe a life? Maggi Hambling takes us on a tour of the picture and reflects on the nature of portraiture - from the great masters such as Rembrandt and Titian to her own celebrated work depicting her friend George Melly.