When Amanda Keller was filming this season of The Piano, alongside Guy Sebastian and Andrea Lam, she bumped into two very familiar faces at Broadway Sydney Shopping Centre: her sons, Liam and Jack. The two, both in their twenties, had turned up to see their mum at work.
“Aren’t they sweet?” Amanda says to TV WEEK. “They’ll come along to a shoot day and lurk around, and are slightly embarrassed to be caught on camera, but do the right thing.”
“I think they’re interested in what I do and the fact that I’m standing around a shopping centre that’s not far from where they live. My younger son’s studying media, but they’re both very supportive boys, so they make an effort. It was lovely.”
Amanda was wearing a microphone when she was chatting to her sons that day, and one of the show’s producers overheard the conversation.
“Liam gave me a big hug and said, ‘Oh, we’re proud of you, Mum,’ and [the producer] heard that and she’s got two small boys who are two years apart, same as mine, and she got all mushy about that and just thought that my sons are so lovely.”
There are a lot of people getting mushy on The Piano this season – no one more so than host Amanda herself. In the first episode, she was moved to tears by a song performed by Erin, the daughter of rugby league legend Steve Mortimer. Erin wrote the song for Steve, who is suffering dementia. Amanda’s husband, Harley Oliver, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2017.
“My husband’s not well,” she explains. “As Erin says, the slow changing of someone who you love is really hard.
“That story is incredible. To have such a public person like her dad, for her to share what’s going on privately with them, that’s a hard choice for them to have made. Erin was just amazing.”
This is Amanda’s second season hosting The Piano. Growing up, she never learnt to play the instrument herself, but she still feels an emotional connection to it.
“A huge, deep sadness is that I lost my mum 20 years ago. She was a very, very good pianist, but when she left home and married my dad, they didn’t have room for a piano in their home and so it was never really part of my upbringing. But I wear Mum’s rings when we’re filming because I know that she would just love, love, love this show. So it’s nice for me to have that connection to her.”
For Amanda, hosting The Piano and hearing so many people’s stories has been an “exhausting privilege”. At the end of each day’s filming, she would be left feeling drained.
“I’ll tell you what, I had a big glug of red wine,” she says with a laugh. “I don’t want to make it about me, but standing up for that long, my feet hurt, my hips hurt and my heart hurt. It’s absolutely draining, but in the best way.”
At least Amanda’s hips didn’t hurt as much during season two as they did during season one, thanks to her decision to “go into training”.
“Last time, my hips were really sore – I was standing up on the concrete – so this time I went to see my physiotherapist and worked on strengthening my ligaments and all that kind of stuff so I could stand up all day,” she explains. “I just learnt to manage my own physical health a bit better.
“My emotional health will always be all over the shop, as it would be for anyone hearing those stories, but at least physically I was OK.”
This year has seen a big change for 64-year-old Amanda in terms of her radio career, with her long-running show with Brendan “Jonesy” Jones moving from the breakfast slot to the drive slot on the Gold Network. She finds doing drive “much calmer on my nervous system”.
“I find that I still wake up early, but not having to hit the ground running and be fuelled by adrenaline that early in the morning I think is really good for me.
“I just take the dog out for a walk and get a coffee and give her a little plate of bacon. Don’t tell Chris Brown that I said that!
“So I’m enjoying the slower start to the day.”
Speaking of Chris Brown, the TV vet who presented The Living Room with Amanda from 2012–22 is still very much part of her life, along with presenters Miguel Maestre and Barry Du Bois.
“We were all texting each other this morning,” Amanda says. “Barry lives not far from me, so it’s easy for us to catch up for a cuppa. But we’re always in contact with each other. Someone will send an old photo of us all, and we’ll all just jump on and make rude jokes about each other.”
She says she would love to work with Chris, Miguel and Barry again.
“Of all the shows I’ve done, every day, someone will talk to me about that one. Everyone misses The Living Room.”
Amanda is also hoping that The Piano keeps going.
“I hope we get another crack at it because I just love The Piano,” she says.
“I feel in a way that this show brings together every-thing I’ve done, in terms of interviewing, being off the cuff, just sitting quietly with people, being a mature person in understanding how people’s lives can play out…
“A lot of my history has led me to this show, I think.”
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