The Piano's Claudia Winkleman, Lang Lang and Mika are on this week's Radio Times cover
The stars of Channel 4's musical success story reveal the secrets of the most joyful show on TV.
The story of how The Piano began life may be apocryphal, but it’s worth repeating. A TV executive on his commute walked past an old piano, installed at St Pancras Station to amuse passing passengers, and found the sound of those brave enough to sit on the stool and start playing so uplifting, he decided it must make a television show.
That the show then became one of last year’s most unlikely hits – and Channel 4’s biggest ratings success of recent years – is testament to live music’s power to move an audience. Not to mention our love of plucky amateurs ready to have a go at entertaining us that goes back long before TV talent shows such as The Voice and The X Factor.
But unlike those shows, the contestants in The Piano had no idea they were part of a competition. They thought they were merely playing for the hell of it, thinking they were being filmed for a documentary about people who play pianos in public spaces for the fleeting entertainment of passers-by.
What made the series such a success? In our interview in this week's issue of Radio Times magazine, The Piano’s trio of Claudia Winkleman, Lang Lang and Mika have their say. To their eyes – and ears – the show worked precisely because it didn’t set out to entertain using all the usual props of TV entertainment: shiny floors and showbiz glitz twinned with fake pathos and jeopardy.
But there may have been another key to its success: the simple joy that music can bring, performed at the highest level or by a tinkler of the bar-room ivories. Last September, C4 boss Ian Katz told RT that 2023 spelt the end of mean television. And that he was ready to pronounce a new era of Happy TV. Which may explain why The Piano is back for a second run – especially since he said all this before cycling off to attend a piano lesson. Once you have fallen for The Piano, it’s hard to forget it.
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Also in this week's Radio Times:
- Idris Elba on never having watched HBO's The Wire, being on the 100 most influential list and interacting with fans
- Sean Penn discusses filming Superpower in Ukraine, meeting Vladimir Putin, and hating red carpet appearances
- Richard Armitage chats about his working-class family, growing up in Leicester, studying drama in school and starring in The Hobbit
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The Piano returns at 9pm on Sunday 28th April on Channel 4.
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