MYSTERY, intrigue and some shady dealings involving the Nazis provided the basis for some interesting viewing on Sunday.

In Fake or Fortune? newsreader Fiona Bruce has been teaming up with art expert Philip Mould to try and unravel the truth surrounding some recently-discovered works of art.

This week a painting was put up for sale at an auction in South Africa but our experts suspected it could possibly be a lost Rembrandt, seized by the Nazis from its original Jewish owners.

Freed from her newsreader’s desk, Ms Bruce leapt into action as though she were auditioning for a remake of the Avengers, even donning a striking leather jacket for her mission.

Having got the owner to withdraw the painting from the sale, off she jetted to Cape Town to grab the picture and return with it to London.

From there, the detective work kicked in big style, with art experts poring over every brushstroke and with the viewers being given a history lesson into how the Nazis looted some of the world’s great art collections.

In the end it turned out that it wasn’t a Rembrandt but it was over 400 years old and painted by a student of the great master.

But it had certainly been purloined by the Nazis, which opened up a whole new can of worms as to who actually owned the picture.

Not even the interpid Ms Bruce could determine who that was.

Still, it was fun watching.