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Niki Pilkington

A Welsh illustrator based in New York, Niki created the images for The Untold

'This was a dream commission in all aspects: the series covers relatable stories of ordinary British people, allowing the audience to intimately listen-in as we discover the very extraordinary events within them. This suited my style perfectly as I try to capture the ordinary in the extraordinary every time I put pencil to paper. I had a lot of scope and plenty of freedom to move in the direction I chose.

The detailed pencil drawings aim to depict the ordinary, whilst the neon element works as the tool to inject the extraordinary

The final illustrations highlight some of the issues in the stories without giving too much away. I wanted to play with the quintessentially 'British' feel, without being too obvious or cheesy. The detailed pencil drawings aim to depict the ordinary, whilst the neon element - which is sort of my signature - works as the tool to inject the 'extraordinary' and to bring these 'everyday' British scenes to life.'

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  • The Untold podcast is presented by Grace Dent and produced by some of the UK’s finest documentary makers.

  • Extraordinary stories of real-life people in 21st-century Britain.

  • Some of the most inspiring and astonishing moments from The Untold.