The Piano (TV series)

*The Piano*
The Piano
Genre	Music competition
Created by	Richard McKerrow
Presented by	Claudia Winkleman
Judges	Lang Lang; Mika
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	13
Production
Running time	60 minutes (inc. adverts)
Production company	Love Productions
Original release
Network	Channel 4
Release	15 February 2023 –; present
Related
	The Great British Sewing Bee; The Great Pottery Throw Down

The Piano is a televised British music competition show that aired on Channel 4 since 15 February 2023 and is hosted by Claudia Winkleman with Lang Lang and Mika as judges.

On 14 July 2023, it was announced that the show was recommissioned for a second and third series alongside a Christmas special and a documentary on the first series winner Lucy Illingworth.^[1]

Format

Amateur musicians are invited to publicly perform on street pianos in the concourses of major UK railway stations. Performed pieces include classical standards, contemporary chart hits, and original compositions, with some performers accompanying themselves with vocals.^[2]

For the first series the competitive element was kept secret from the performers — the judges observe the performances from a nearby room, selecting one performer from each location to perform at an end-of-series concert at the Royal Festival Hall.^[3]

Series overview

Series	Episodes	Premiere	Finale	Winner
1	5	15 February 2023	15 March 2023	Lucy Illingworth^[4]^[5]^[6]
2	7^[1]	28 April 2024	9 June 2024	Brad Kellaher
3	7^[1]	TBA	TBA	TBA

Series 1 (2023)

The first series aired from 15 February to 15 March 2023 and ran for five episodes. The heats were held at London St Pancras, Leeds, Glasgow Central and Birmingham New Street with the final being held at the Royal Festival Hall. The series winner was Lucy Illingworth, a young blind girl who is also autistic. Illingworth went on to perform at the Coronation Concert and a commemoration of Fanny Waterman.^[4]^[5]^[6]

Series 2 (2024)

The second series aired from 28 April to 9 June 2024.^[7] The heats took place at Manchester Piccadilly, Cardiff Central, Edinburgh Waverley, London Victoria and Liverpool Lime Street. The series was won by Brad Kellaher.

Reception

The Guardian awarded the first episode four stars out of five and asking if it could be considered "Bake Off for pianos".^[2]^[8]^[3] The Mirror considered the show to be "brilliantly simple" and life-affirming.^[9] In contrast, the i considered the show to be "aimless fluff".^[10]

International versions

Fremantle holds international format rights.^[11] They have sold it to broadcasters in Denmark, Germany, Netherlands and Spain.^[12]

Region/country	Local title	Network	Winners	Judges	Presenter(s)
Denmark	TBA	TV2	Series 1: TBA	TBA	TBA
Germany	The Piano	VOX	Series 1: TBA	Mark Forster Igor Levit	Annika Lau
Netherlands	De Piano	RTL 4	Series 1: TBA	Roel van Velzen Dominic Seldis Daria van den Bercken	Chantal Janzen
Spain	El Piano	LaSexta	Series 1: TBA	Pablo López Mika	Ruth Lorenzo