Show twenty three of the series saw the return of Les Cocks, but this time not as producer, instead he joined the professional panel of Tony Hatch, Jack Parnell and Jimmy Henney to provide his expert opinion on the seven new acts looking to progress further in the series.

The acts were;

• Alana (girl vocalist) from Norwich
• Guy Gregory (vocalist) from London
• Scoby Smith (five-piece group) from London
• Flashmac (five-piece group) from Essex
• Clifford’s Brass Barrell (two trumpeters) from Norwich
• Michelle and Myles (comedy vocal  / instrumental duo) from Leeds
• Mike Cordelia and Superscouse (vocal / instrumental duo) from Liverpool

Both panels agreed that the winning act was South London five-piece group Scoby Smith who were the first act to book themselves a place on the fourth All Winners show of the series.  Their success was despite their lead singer having a bad chest infection which meant his throat and chest were red and inflamed. The same singer appeared on New Faces with a different act the following series fronting the band Teapot Brown.

Runners-up on the professional panel’s scoreboard were comedy vocal duo Michelle and Myles, who would be seen on the show again in the opening show of series five on 11 September 1976.  Their return in series five suggests that they scored above a hundred points in this show and as a result were invited back by the production team.

The acts came together on the Monday morning before the ‘live’ recording of the show on the Tuesday evening, which was then broadcast, as recorded with no edits, to the nation on Saturday.

It soon became apparent that one of the acts hadn’t shown up and the production team quickly had to phone around local acts to see who could replace them at very short notice.  The result of those calls was the addition of trumpeters Clifford’s Brass Barrell to the shows line-up.

The other five-piece group on the show, Flashmac, were contacted by the New Faces production team the Friday before the show was recorded to say that they were unable to get the clearance required for them to perform the song they had chosen, Song In The Breeze by The Outlaws.

Flashmac had been rehearsing the song for months and were understandably devastated by the news, however, they were invited to the studio a day earlier than the rest of the acts so they could rehearse their new song choice, Only A Fool Would Say That. They chose the Steely Dan track as they felt it had musical credibility.

Jack Parnell was impressed with the song and their performance saying ‘he thought that they ‘swung’,  which, coming from a notable musician, they took as a great compliment .

David Caulfield from Flashmac recalls that their prime reason for going on the show was to be on television, the competition aspect didn’t matter that much really. The group were very impressed with the way that they were handled by ATV who made sure that everyone on the show was looked after.

Just twelve months after appearing on the show the vocalist Alana was singing lead vocals for the group Late Night Sound who were the resident band at La Taverna, Epping.

Credit: Huge thanks to David Caulfield (Flashmac) for providing a great deal of the above information about their appearance and the recording of the show.