The Piano review – cockle-warming TV with a major problem at its core

28/04/2024 23:00

As people play their hearts out on station platforms, this is undoubtedly stirring stuff – but there's always been something terribly odd plaguing it too

The new series of The Piano confronts the obvious problem head on. "I thought we were one and done," Claudia Winkleman says to the talent show's judges, Mika and Lang Lang, because everyone will know now that the pair are hidden away somewhere, assessing all the amateur musicians who step forward to take their place at the public pianos stationed at various – well, stations – and selecting the winner from each concourse, who will go on to perform in a special concert at the end of the series.

No matter, says Mika, wholly unconvincingly. It was the stories of the people that drove the series, not the big reveal. So, that apparently dealt with, on we go.