Mister Winner (TV Series) The Piano (2020) User Reviews

Refreshingly quirky, gentle comedy with loveable performances

[babyned · 9/10 · 5 April 2024]

Compared to many sitcoms getting commissioned these days, this pre-Covid offering is quite old-fashioned in it's set-up. The template is very much Laurel and Hardy, Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin, but set in modern day Britain.

A house-clearance man gets a gig as a restaurant pianist when he rescues a player-piano from being dumped. Anyone who's ever watched a sitcom will know that things aren't going to go as planned. But the comic performances of Spencer Jones and Lucy Pearman are subtle, silly and endearing enough to make the episode very enjoyable.

This is a refreshing antidote to the current trend of dark, bitter, naval-gazing dramadies that are replacing the traditional sitcom.

The Piano

[Prismark10 · 1/10 · 11 April 2020]

After the pilot was shown in the Comedy Playhouse strand. I did not expect this to go to a full series.

Mister Winner arrives on BBC2 with little fanfare because they know it's rubbish.

The opening scene where Leslie is getting acupuncture done and there is a fire alarm is the only bit that can count as being inspirational and silly.

The rest of it is Leslie finding an old piano but it is not that old. It is computer controlled and knows some latest hits.

So Leslie gets a job in an Italian restaurant where he pretends to be playing the piano for £100 a night and a free meal.

The only good thing to say about it is that the music was nice.