New Faces

New Faces was a British television talent show popular in the 1970s and 1980s, presented originally by Derek Hobson. It was produced by ATV Network Limited for the ITV Network. The first run of the show was from 29 September 1973 to 2 April 1978 and was recorded at the ATV Centre, 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 being "hard" on contestants. 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 'mean' 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.

One winner, Marti Caine, returned to present the show when it was revived for two years between 1986 and 1988 by Central Television. 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.