Bake Off crew whip up contemporary keyboard stars in new TV contest – with a secret



Claudia Winkleman will host The Piano, which poses as a documentary to take undiscovered keyboard expertise all the style to a London live performance finale

Claudia Winkleman filming a part for The Piano at St Pancras station in London. {Photograph}: Gavin Rodgers/pixel8000Claudia Winkleman filming a piece for The Piano at St Pancras station in London. {Photograph}: Gavin Rodgers/pixel8000Michael HoganSat 17 Sep 2022 12.30 EDTFinal modified on Sat 17 Sep 2022 17.16 EDT

The delicate, soothing (though every now and then tear-inducing) paintings of creating improbable desserts and biscuits has for a few years drawn large audiences to The Nice British Bake Off. Now its creators want to do the equal with one other calming and commonly genteel exercise: piano playing.

This seek for undiscovered ivory-tinkling experience may very well be documented weekly in The Piano, with a view to comply with newbie pianists the entire method to a finale live performance at London’s Royal Pageant Corridor. It pursuits to faucet into the “avenue piano” phenomenon, which has spawned viral movies of people playing in public, and is the brainchild of Richard McKerrow, co-founder and revolutionary director of Love Productions, which moreover makes The Nice Pottery Throw Down and The Nice British Stitching Bee.

The brand new sequence, due to air subsequent 12 months, grew out of a communication with Channel 4’s chief content material officer, Ian Katz. “4 years in the past, we had been every attending to know the piano and talked about how nice these public pianos have been,” says McKerrow. “We surpassed the one in St Pancras station [in London] every day on our commutes. Ian requested: ‘Might you make a present roughly it?’ I jumped on the danger.”

Judges Lang Lang and Mika are from extraordinary worlds, classical and pa, nonetheless their bromance is unbelievable

What started out as a heartwarming one-off documentary quickly developed into one thing bigger. Opening rounds had been filmed at 4 mainline stations spherical the UK – St Pancras, Leeds, Glasgow Central and Birmingham New Road – with 20 beginner pianists acting at every. Subsequent comes a significant twist.

“Immediately we had a brainwave,” says McKerrow. “What if it’s a opposition nonetheless they don’t understand it? The pianists suppose they’re in a documentary, then we inform them it’s a contest too. I can’t contemplate one other present that’s ever achieved that.” The high-quality contestants undergo to play contained in the grand finale reside efficiency at London’s Royal Pageant Corridor.

The Piano is perhaps hosted by way of Claudia Winkleman. Hopefuls is perhaps evaluated through the use of two “maestros” in Chinese language classical virtuoso Lang Lang, and Lebanese-born British pop celebrity Mika, remaining seen co-hosting Eurovision.

“We by no means dreamed we’d get such massive names,” says McKerrow. “They agreed to do it for no longer a lot cash because of the truth they cherished the idea and are smitten by the instrument. Lang Lang and Mika are from unique worlds, classical and pop, nonetheless their bromance is tremendous. It reminds me of Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry whereas Bake Off started – the high-quit professional and the home baker, bringing their info collectively.”

Contestants are drawn from a in depth pass-segment of society. “Even by Bake Off’s large necessities, the casting is various,” says McKerrow. “They span from six-year-olds to 95-year-olds. There are autistic, blind and disabled pianists. For lots of them, the piano is their get away. It’s magical and emotional. The tune is eclectic too, ranging from hip-hop to jazz to classical. It’s a comparable artform to Bake Off in some strategies. Pianists and bakers coaching their capacity for themselves nonetheless the outcomes are shared with others. Meals and monitor are international languages.”

The Nice British Bake Off crew, from left, Matt Lucas, Prue Leith, Paul Hollywood and Noel Fielding. {Photograph}: Mark Bourdillon/Channel 4/Love Productions

The trendy sequence of Bake Off launched remaining week. Channel 4 determined to maneuver beforehand with its broadcast regardless of large TV agenda adjustments after the Queen’s lack of life. “It was a atypical time to be landing however felt one way or the other appropriate,” says McKerrow. “At a time of nation large mourning, Bake Off is therapeutic. It brings folks collectively.”

The thirteenth run of the hit cake-making contest represents a homecoming. The manufacturing is again at Welford Park, Berkshire, after two years of filming in a Covid-safe bubble at Down Corridor Resort, Essex. “Welford is our spiritual home, so it’s good to be again,” says McKerrow. He teases shock to return again this sequence, which embrace a fancy-dressed subject week and a no-recipe technical assment.

The UK judges are additionally working collectively on the US mannequin for the primary time. Hollywood turn out to be already a resolve on The Nice American Baking Present. Prue Leith now joins him as a result of the gathering returns after a three-12 months hiatus due to lockdown. What many guests don’t realise is that The Nice American Baking Present is filmed at Pinewood Studios, with the bakers delivered over to the UK in the course of the competition.

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“We’ve now received British judges and we’re capturing it proper right here,” laughs McKerrow. “It’s getting further British every 12 months.”

It has been a tough two years for Love Productions, whose inventory in change is actual codecs with large casts and crews. Throughout lockdown, it centered on finding methods to make its current assortment accurately in bubbles – each to keep up its groups employed and audiences entertained.

This supposed new duties have been placed on protect. Now McKerrow and co are firing on all cylinders once more. Subsequent to hit our shows is The Massive Blow Out, a hairstyling contest coming to E4 in a fortnight.

In the meantime, Bake Off: The Musical premiered at Cheltenham’s Everyman theatre in the summertime season and is in talks to switch to London subsequent 12 months. “Fingers crossed,” says McKerrow. “It’s an fascinating time.”