A man from Aylesbury’s 10-year plus journey to prove he owns a unique portrait of Shakespeare has been turned into a documentary, which will be available to stream on Netflix this week.

‘The Stuff of Dreams’ is a 57-minute documentary dedicated to Steven Wadlow’s efforts to prove his Shakespeare portrait is legitimate and comes to Netflix UK on Friday.

In the painting, Shakespeare is 31, with hair and no beard, it is the only portrait painted when Shakespeare was alive.

Steven said: “One expert has suggested, if it were proven to be Shakespeare, it could be worth anything from 100 to 200 million, which is obviously worth investigating further.

Steven Wadlow with his rare portrait. Photo from Barkingmad TV.

placeholder image — Steven Wadlow with his rare portrait. Photo from Barkingmad TV.

“I didn't particularly like it because it used to scare me, wherever you are in the house, it's looking at you. It always used to remind me of those portraits on Scooby Doo.”

Steven’s interest in the painting was sparked after his dad watched an episode of Time Team. Steven added: One night over 11 years ago, mum and dad were watching a programme about Stratford upon Avon when they noticed a painting with a familiar face. My dad phoned me the next day and said, I think the painting in the corner might be Shakespeare.”

A few days later a visiting English and Art lecturer confirmed these suspicions, leading Steven on his 12-year long quest which won over Netflix executives.

Barkingmad TV, the company that has created the documentary that will be available to watch on Netflix UK from Friday, has followed Steven to some of the leading world’s leading art institutions, including the Hamilton Kerr Institute and University College London.

Cutting edge technology revealed underdrawings, including a mysterious coat of arms and overpainting that had been added in order to disguise the true identity of the sitter. At each stage Steven feared his painting could be exposed as a fake, or a later copy like so many other portraits of Shakespeare. However, Steven’s painting passed every test.

Steven’s dad bought the painting from the Great Tew Estates in Oxfordshire, in the 1960s. Today the estate near Banbury is known for its celebrity residents, including the Beckhams, Simon Cowell, Claudia Winkleman, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

“What I discovered was that the manor house had once been home to a portrait of Shakespeare,” Steven said.

Art experts believe that this vanished portrait of Shakespeare was used as the model for the earliest engraving of the bard which appeared on the first folio of his plays printed in 1623.

Steven’s portrait had many similarities with this missing portrait.

“Like my painting, it was oil on panel and like my painting was painted in 1595. 1595 would be very convenient, because in 1595 Shakespeare was 31. On my portrait is a 31,” he said.

Whilst Steven’s research was going well, there was one big problem, companies refused to accept a portrait of Shakespeare with hair and no beard.

Steven said: “You feel like you're banging your head against a wall or trying to get through closed doors because you're not part of the establishment.” This and other challenges Steven has faced will be explored in the soon-to-air documentary.