The second series of New Faces began on 6 April 1974 and was once again recorded at Birmingham’s ATV studios on Broad Street just a few days before the broadcast date.

The new format for the second series means that the winner of each Saturday’s show is guaranteed six weeks’ work on one of the leading club circuits.

In a change to the voting system viewers were no longer able to phone in their votes and the studio judges scoring was also altered.

In addition a number of acts would be chosen by impresario Alan Blackburn for a summer season in Ramsgate.

On the judging panel for the first of twelve heats were Clifford Davis, Arthur Askey, Noele Gordon and Tony Hatch. The opening episode gave a chance to artists from the previous series who had received top placing through viewers’ votes.

The winning act, returning from their appearance in episode three of the first series, were four-piece group Art Nouveau from Manchester.

The remaining acts making up the line-up of heat one were;

• Runner Up: Les Dennis (comedian) – show 1.10
• Third Place: Pete Conway (comedian) – show 1.13
• Sight ‘n’ Sound (four-piece group) – show 1.1
• Just Oliver (singer) – show 1.5
• Mel Dean (comedy/musical act) – show 1.9
• The Farrells (vocal trio) – runners-up on an unknown show in series one
• Kenny Robson (ukelele player & tap dancer) – unknown show series one

Kenny Robson was a young performer from Essex, trained in the music hall tradition, as a versatile tap-dancer, guitarist, singer, juggler, George Formby impersonator and ukelele player.

The other acts represented areas across England;

• Birmingham – Sight ‘n’ Sound
• Stoke-on-Trent – Pete Conway
• London – The Farrels
• Blackburn – Just Oliver
• Manchester – Mel Dean
• Liverpool – Les Dennis