Banksy art painted by Christopher Walken on the set of the TV show

Banksy painted one of his signature mice on the set of the BBC television drama The Outlaws – before actor Christopher Walken painted it as part of the plot, it was revealed.

The show was filmed in the hometown of the secret artist, Bristol.

Banksy agreed to leave his mark on a set wall.

It was then painted by Walken’s character for a scene in the final episode, which was released on BBC iPlayer on Wednesday.

“We can confirm that the artwork at the end of The Outlaws was an original Banksy and that Christopher Walken painted on that artwork while filming this scene, destroying it in the end,” a spokesperson for the show said. .

The Outlaws, written and directed by Stephen Merchant, sees Hollywood veteran Walken as one of a group of petty criminals renovating a building for their community service.

The last episode sees his character discover Banksy’s mouse and two spray cans behind some wooden planks, and ask his supervisor if he should paint on them.

The surveillance officer is looking the other way, so he doesn’t realize it’s a Banksy and tells him that all graffiti needs to be repainted, which he does.

Banksy’s works can be worth huge sums, with his infamous Love In The Bin raising £ 16m at auction last month.

In September, a work painted on the side of a shop in Lowestoft, Suffolk, added £ 200,000 to the building’s asking price, while another piece of his mural art was sold for a “six-figure sum” in February. .