New Faces

For other uses, see New Faces (disambiguation).

New Faces
Genre	Talent show
Presented by	Derek Hobson (ATV era) Marti Caine (Central era)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	6 (ATV era) 3 (Central era)
No. of episodes	167 (ATV era) 39 (Central era)
Production
Production location	Birmingham Hippodrome (Central era)
Running time	60 minutes (Central era)
Production companies	ATV (7 July 1973 - 2 April 1978) Central (19 September 1986 - 3 December 1988)
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	29 September 1973 (1973-09-29) – 3 December 1988 (1988-12-03)
Related
Opportunity Knocks

New Faces is a British television talent show that aired in the 1970s and 1980s. It was presented originally by Derek Hobson. It was produced by ATV for the ITV network.

Original series 1973-1978

The show first aired as a pilot on 7 July 1973 and then as a full series from 29 September 1973 to 2 April 1978, it was recorded at the ATV Centre in Birmingham. The show was noted for its theme tune, "You're a Star!", performed by singer Carl Wayne, formerly of The Move, and it was eventually released, becoming a minor hit.

Winners occasionally went on to greater success in television entertainment. Many top entertainers began their careers with a performance on this programme. The acts were evaluated by a panel of experts, including Clifford Davis, Ingrid Pitt, Mickie Most, Alan A. Freeman, Clive James, Muriel Young, Ted Ray, Ed Stewart, Jack Parnell, Arthur Askey, Noel Edmonds and Tony Hatch. Davis, Most and Hatch were especially notorious for marking contestants harshly. Four judges would make up the panel each week. Tony Hatch made the headlines after one edition for giving a contestant whose act solely consisted of a repetitive and elementary 12 bar blues riff a score of zero. Hatch was deemed unduly severe for this.

Contestants received marks out of ten from the four judges in three categories such as "presentation", "content" and "star quality" - The "star quality" category was later replaced by "entertainment value". The highest score any act could attain was thus 120 points. Patti Boulaye was the only act who ever attained the maximum mark, doing so in the programme's final season. It was seen as a tougher version of the long-running talent show Opportunity Knocks, also shown on ITV.

Whereas Opportunity Knocks relied on public votes, New Faces had a panel that judged the acts - the act who had the highest total went through to the next round.

Revived version

The series was revived by Central for three series between 1986 and 1988, presented by past winner, Marti Caine. Her catchphrase was bellowed at the voting studio audience: "Press your buttons... NOW!". The show also featured a panel of experts including the journalist Nina Myskow, who often made critical comments. In this incarnation, the home audience decided who won by sending in postcards (phone voting was soon introduced by BBC rival Bob Says Opportunity Knocks), though, the audience did vote for its favourite act using a gigantic lightboard known as Spaghetti Junction lighting up to a varying degree as they pushed their buttons.

1986 Final

Key	Winner	Runner-Up	Third Place

Order	Finished	Artist (s)	Act (s)
1	1st Overall in Panellists' Vote	Duggie Small	Comedian
2	7 Points	Walker & Cadman	Comedians
3	5 Points	Billy Pearce	Comedian
4	0 Points	Wayne Denton	Club Singer
5	22 Points	Julie A. Scott	Soprano
6	Public Phone-in Winner/56 Points	Gary Lovini	17-year-old Violinist
7	43 Points	James Stone	Soul Singer
8	? Points	Pauline Hannah	Impressionist
9	? Points	Freddy Philips	Singer/Comedian
10	? Points	Scott Randele	?
11	? Points	Maggie Dee	?
12	? Points	High Jinks	?

Note: The James Stone who appeared in this final is the same one who appeared in the Britain's Got Talent semi-finals of 2008.

1987 Final

Key	Winner	Runner-Up	Third Place

Order	Finished	Artist (s)	Act (s)
1	94 points	Jimmy Tamley	Ventriloquist
2	92 points	Joe Pasquale	Comedian
3	70 points	Brothers Demented	?
4	32 Points	Mike Sterling	Musical Theatre-style Singer
5	26 Points	Richard Courtice	Tenor
6	10 Points	Billy Jones	Rock 'n' Roll Singer/Guitarist
7	? Points	Lea Cassell	Impressionist
8	? Points	Derek Barron	Pianist/Organist
9	? Points	Paul Duffy	Saxophonist
10	? Points	Denny Waters	Comedian
11	? Points	Barbara Allan	?
12	? Points	Stiles and Drewe	Singing Duo

Famous winners and contestants

• Marti Caine
• Lenny Henry - Multiple wins in 1975.
• Michael Barrymore
• Joe Pasquale - 2nd in 1987. Pasquale won his heat but he came second in the final.
• Roy Walker
• The Chuckle Brothers - 1974.
• Malandra Burrows - 1974, youngest winner at 9 years old.
• Carline and Walling
• Victoria Wood
• Terry St. Clair - 1974.
• Roger De Courcey and Nookie Bear - Winners of the 1976 Grand Final.
• Nicol and Marsh's Easy Street - Runners-up in 1976.
• Mick Miller
• Les Dennis
• Showaddywaddy

• Jim Davidson
• Gary Wilmot and Judy McPhee
• Billy Pearce
• Fivepenny Piece
• Aiden J. Harvey
• Patti Boulaye - Appeared in the last 1970s edition of the show and was the only contestant ever to receive the maximum 120 points.
• Stevie Riks - Highest scoring contestant ever on the show.
• Max Bacon
• Sweet Sensation - From Manchester and fronted by 15 year old Marcel King went on to become the first black British born soul band to hit the number spot in UK charts in September 1974 with hit record 'Sad Sweet Dreamer'.
• Andy Cameron
• Sheer Elegance - Pop trio who went on to have two hit singles in 1976.
• Lance Ellington- 1977 winner sang with the late Bet Hannah as singing duo Koffee'n'Kreme.

Other winners and contestants

• The Glentones - 20 piece High School youth big band playing music from the Glenn Miller era.
• Charlie James - Female singer - Winner, December 1973.
• Mike McCabe - Comedian.
• Martin Berger
• Al Brown - Comedian & Father Of Television Personality Claire Sweeney
• Pete Hartley - Won Audience Vote In 1987
• Pete Price
• Dave Curtis - Vocalist.
• Son Of A Gun - Won in 1975 with 111 points beating Paul Shane, they did a number of TV shows and were signed to RCA. They lost to Lenny Henry in the final.
• M3 - 3 sisters, Maureen Stevens, Mary Stevens, Marilyn Stevens.
• Walker and Cadman
• Professor Steve Green - Pianist and Doctor.
• Dragon's Playground - Band.

• David Gold - Vocalist.
• Jimmy Tamley - Beat Joe Pasquale.
• Crick's Canine Wonders
• Darren Stuart
• Frank Leyton
• Frank Yonco and Kit Connor
• The Mad Hatters
• Rabbit - Cabaret Band.
• Sandra Christie - Voice of Edith Piaf.
• The Libra Brothers. There piece band from Barnsley. Included Gordon Scholey, Charlie Foster and Frank Cawthrow
• Rod and Mark Lyons - Father and Son ventriloquist duo who had a minor hit single in Germany with the Neil Sedaka song "Oh Carol!".
• Ground Pepper .. Band. Song Dracula Mania 1974

Pyramid-Comedy showgroup from Gateshead Allen Meche, Brian Pick and Steve Laidlaw

Transmissions

ATV era

Series	Start date	Final date	Episodes
Pilot	7 July 1973		1
1	29 September 1973	29 December 1973	14
2	6 April 1974	6 July 1974	14
3	21 September 1974	27 July 1975	45
4	20 December 1975	31 July 1976	33
5	11 September 1976	2 April 1977	30
6	10 September 1977	2 April 1978	30

Many of the episodes from the ATV era of New Faces were wiped from the archives with 38 surviving including Episode 14 of Series 1, Episodes 1, 11 & 14 of Series 2, Episodes 1, 36, 40 & 45 of Series 3, Episodes 7, 11, 15, 19, 22-24 & 28-29 of Series 4, Episodes 1, 5, 8, 11, 14-16, 21, 24 & 30 of Series 5 and Episodes 20-30 of Series 6.

Series 3 was not fully broadcast on Scottish Television, with epsoides not being broadcast during the weekends, which resulted in there votes not being counted. Episodes were instead broadcast on a Thursday evening between December 1974 - July 1975.

Central era

Series	Start date	Final date	Episodes
1	19 September 1986	13 December 1986	13
2	4 September 1987	28 November 1987	13
3	10 September 1988	3 December 1988	13

External links

• New Faces at IMDb.
• New Faces at BFI.
• New Faces of '86 at BFI.
• New Faces of '87 at BFI.
• New Faces of '88 at BFI.
• New Faces at UKGameshows.com.