Viewers of The Piano were moved to tears as the popular show returned to Channel 4 for a second series on Sunday.
A man with dementia impressed the crowd, host Claudia Winkleman and judges Mika and Lang Lang as he played at Manchester Piccadilly station.
Duncan, 80, was seen with his wife Fran, with the couple having been married for 42 years.
He started playing the piano when he was just four years old but he was diagnosed with dementia six years ago.
Contestant Duncan told how he is still able to play but the couple spoke of how life has changed for both him and Fran since his diagnosis.
A man with dementia moved viewers of The Piano to tears as the show returned to Channel 4 for a second series on Sunday
Duncan, 80, was seen with his wife Fran, with the couple having been married for 42 years
He started playing the piano when he was just four years old but he was diagnosed with dementia six years ago
Fran said: ‘There is a vulnerability there now that wasn’t there before and there is an awful lot more that I need to do… the future is unknown.
‘Duncan is everything to me, I would have him in any situation rather than not have him.’
Duncan took to the piano at the station to play a song dedicated to his wife, named Theme for Fran.
He said: ‘It just gives me such total feeling about the girl I found and the girl I married, the girl I love and always will.’
After Duncan’s performance, presenter Claudia told Mika and Lang Lang: ‘He is going to the concert, it is not a debate.
‘It is important to have somebody like that and the fact he can speak through the piano.’
At the end of the episode, Mika and Lang Lang did choose Duncan to go through to the final, leaving the musician shocked.
He said: ‘I am absolutely stunned, I think it will change my feelings for the future because I’ve always had this secret dream of somebody saying yeah, I really like.’
Contestant Duncan told how he is still able to play but the couple spoke of how life has changed for both him and Fran since his diagnosis
Fran said: ‘There is a vulnerability there now that wasn’t there before and there is an awful lot more that I need to do… the future is unknown’
Duncan impressed the crowd, host Claudia Winkleman and judges Mika and Lang Lang as he played at Manchester Piccadilly station
Fran said of her husband: ‘Duncan is everything to me, I would have him in any situation rather than not have him’
At the end of the episode, judges Mika (left) and Lang Lang (right) did choose Duncan to go through to the final, leaving the musician shocked
The moment moved viewers to tears, with many taking to social media to express their feelings.
One person wrote on Twitter: ‘I was doing well until Duncan started playing and now I am in bits.’
While someone else shared: ‘Fran & Duncan. How beautiful. Total devotion to each other. Dementia is not only heartbreaking for the sufferer but so cruel to their loved ones. It’s unspeakably cruel to watch the person you love fade away.’
Another person wrote: ‘Duncan has dementia, but speaks through music. Great to have #ThePiano back.’
And someone else posted: ‘Duncan on #ThePiano I’m gone!’
One other viewer wrote: ‘Duncan on the piano, his love for Fran spoke through every note played of his music, totally beautiful.’
‘Wow that was emotional Duncan needs to get to the final,’ shared another viewer, while someone else posted: ‘No. Absolutely gone. Duncan and Fran have broken me.’
Another viewer commented: ‘#ThePiano an Oasis of peace & sanity, so needed. I hope Ellis & Fred get opportunities from this but Duncan was a well-deserved winner. He has the most beautiful touch.’
The moment moved viewers to tears, with many taking to social media to express their feelings
‘Bless Claudia Winkleman. That reaction to Duncan getting the news was just wonderful. She really is the perfect presenter of The Piano,’ wrote someone else.
While someone else wrote: ‘First episode of The Piano was simply wonderful! Duncan stole my heart as he did at the final concert too. The camaraderie between Claudia, Mika and Lang Lang is always lovely to see as well.’
Viewers of Channel 4’s The Piano were left captivated by the victorious performance on the show’s debut from then-13-year-old blind and autistic girl, Lucy Illingworth.
The teenager from Halifax in West Yorkshire moved viewers to tears with an awe-inspiring recital of Debussy’s Arabesque, leading judges Lang Land and Mika to call her a ‘genius’.
One year on and the moment was nominated for a BAFTA, in a category with scenes from Doctor Who, Succession and Happy Valley.
Also since her amazing performance on the Channel 4 talent show, Lucy has performed to a packed Royal Albert Hall, and left the King and Queen speechless as King Charles III’s Coronation concert.
So, where is Lucy now, as The Piano returns to find another hidden musical star?
On her way to The Piano’s final, Lucy wowed passers by at Leeds train station with her rendition of Chopin’s Nocturne in B-flat minor, with the video being viewed over five million times online.
Viewers of Channel 4 ‘s The Piano were left captivated by the victorious performance on the show’s debut from 13-year-old blind and autistic girl, Lucy in the show’s 2023 debut
She went on to put in the ‘best performance’ at the show’s concert finale at the Royal Festival Hall
In the months after the programme aired, Lucy left the newly-crowned King and Queen speechless during a performance at their Coronation concert (pictured)
The pianist, who was born with cancerous tumours in her eyes and is largely non-verbal, was put forward by her mother Candice forward for the competition as she wanted to show others how ‘amazing’ she was and raise awareness of her condition.
Her performance has landed her and the programme in the Best Moment category at the BAFTA Television Awards – which take place on May 12.
Other nominees in the category are: David Beckham teasing Victoria about her ‘working class’ upbringing in their Netflix documentary, Ncuti Gatwa being revealed as the 15th Doctor in Doctor Who, Catherine Cawood and Tommy Lee Royce’s final showdown on BBC One’s Happy Valley, Bill and Frank’s Story in Sky Atlantic series The Last Of Us and Logan Roy’s death in Succession on the same channel.
Since recording the show, hosted by Claudia Winkleman, Lucy has been learning more and more pieces by artists including Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Duke Ellington and Stevie Wonder.
Less than two months after her win aired, Lucy wowed the newly-crowned King and Queen, as well as tens of thousands more spectators, at Charles’ Coronation concert in Windsor.
She was on the bill alongside world-renowned artists like Lionel Richie and Nicole Scherzinger.
A few months later, in October 2023, Lucy played to the Royal Albert Hall, with a repeat of her show-stopping Arabesque rendition from The Piano as well as playing Bach’s Prelude in C to a full house at Classic FM Live.
The radio station’s post of the performance online received their largest viewing figure ever with over 11million views.
Pictured: The blind musician (centre) at the Coronation concert with mother Candice, left, and her teaching assistant Lisa, right
Lucy performed with The Piano judge and pianist Lang Lang at 2023’s Royal Variety Performance at the Royal Albert Hall (pictured together)
The pianist is set to star in a 70-minute Channel 4 documentary, The Incredibly Talented Lucy, which will focus on her and her music teacher Daniel Bath (pictured with Lucy)
Lucy returned to the venue two months later to play the ITV Royal Variety performance.
That will not be the talent’s final TV appearance, as she is set to star in a 70-minute Channel 4 documentary, The Incredibly Talented Lucy.
The film will focus on Lucy and her music teacher Daniel Bath, who have been working together since the former was just three years old.
Lucy had started plaing the keyboard even earlier – aged two, and received lessons from Daniel through the musical charity The Amber Trust.
Daniel recalled previously: ‘I first met Lucy in ball pool at school and I couldn’t see anyone in the room at first. And then I saw this little hand sticking out of the ball pool.
‘And someone said “Oh that’s Lucy”. So I put a little keyboard under the hand, and the hand started playing, rather mutinously, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
‘And I thought: “Here’s a girl for whom music is really important.”
‘And it could it be a way of unlocking her language, her social skills, and above all, her enjoyment of life.’
Lucy was born with cancerous tumours in her eyes and is largely non-verbal
She started playing the keyboard age two, and had lessons with Daniel from a year later
Daniel said lessons were hard at first as Lucy couldn’t listen to a piece for more than 10 seconds before she got impatient and would push his hands out of the way
The family upgraded her keyboard and realised she was composing music in her head while sitting on the sofa. She was also able to play back music after listening to it just once.
‘From a fairy tale book with a piano on it, she started playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star but it was pitch perfect. It was such a moment to hear that,’ Lucy’s mother Candice recalled.
Daniel said lessons weren’t easy at first as he had to figure out how to teach and make the most of her talent.
When he first started teaching, Lucy couldn’t listen to a piece for more than 10 seconds before she got impatient and would push his hands out of the way.
By her teenage years, he would play the entire the piece to Lucy before asking her to recite what she remembered hearing.
He said: ‘You can’t teach Lucy, you can only guide her in the journey.’
They teach the hands separately, with Daniel saying he has to physically pick her hands up at times so they can jump over each other.
They teach the hands separately, with Daniel saying he has to physically pick her hands up at times so they can jump over each other
By her teenage years, Daniel would play the entire the piece to Lucy before asking her to recite what she remembered hearing
Lucy’s appearance on The Piano has been nominated for a BAFTA Television Award
The pair work together with Lucy putting her hand underneath Daniel’s, with Daniel still playing, pressing her fingers down gently before she tries the piece on her own.
‘She loves to improvise, she loves playing jazz and the social interplay of that’, he added.
Lucy reacts to the music with her body, especially her head and leg, which Daniel said he sometimes has to hone her energy to her fingertips.
This was apparent in her uniquely captivating performances on The Piano, which could earn Lucy a BAFTA on Sunday, May 12.
