I Had The X Factor... 25 Years Ago: A Wonderland Special Wonderland

Live from the Birmingham Hippodrome, New Faces of '86.

MUSIC: "Carmina Burana" by Carl Orff

New Faces was the biggest programme on television.

-We go over to our panel for their comments.

-It's very powerful.

-Absolutely fantastic.

-Whatever it is, he's got it.

It was the most incredible moment of my entire life.

No mistakes, Wayne. Don't fall over. This is live television.

I wanted to be a star.

My wife said to me, "Show business, it'll crack you open".

You know what?

It's done a good job.

Looking back, how important was that night?

Well, it's more important...

winning the lottery couldn't top it, you know.

Sitting at the side of the Queen would not top winning a show like that.

Meeting...

..any idol... shaking hands with God...

..could not top winning New Faces.

-No way.

-You really felt that?

-Yes. Yeah...

..because no one in the world wants to know a loser.

They don't want to know you.

Good evening, and welcome to the grand final of New Faces '86.

For the next 90 minutes, ladies and gentlemen, we'd be delighted

if you'd sit back and enjoy the stars of tomorrow.

# Gone away is the bluebird... #

Vinny was one half of a comic double act.

# ..He sings a love song as we go along

# We're walking in a Winter Wonderland

# In the meadow we can build a snowman... #

-How confident were you?

-Very.

I had 100% faith in making it big to be a funny man.

Why d'you cause me all this chaos, aggravation, all the time?

Because there's something wrong with your throat.

What's wrong with it?

It wants cutting.

Jim, your comments, please, on Walker and Cadman.

What can you say? I mean, the audience loved them, we all loved them.

-I'd like to see their whole act. I think it would be marvellous.

-Thank you. Thank you, Jim.

APPLAUSE

Me and Mel looked at each other, we opened a bottle of champagne, and we said, "Cheers, Vin!

"We're on our way now!" And we was on our way.

We was on our way to being big stars.

The other acts on stage that night included Billy, another comedian...

I've had a walk round Birmingham today. I saw this sign, it said "Topless Restaurant".

And I went in, and there were no roof on it.

And it were raining. It took me an hour and a half to eat me soup.

# Can you hear my heart?

# Beating like a drum... #

..Wayne, a club singer...

# It's because tonight of all nights

# You and I will be one... #

# I knew before... #

..Julie, a soprano...

# ..Burnt out ends of smoky days... #

..and Gary, a 17-year-old violinist.

Were you a natural show-off?

Definitely. In everything I did,

I showed off, and I wanted all the girls to look at me.

I'd worked so hard to get to this point, and this is the reward, you know. "I'm going to be famous".

APPLAUSE

I absolutely brought the house down.

And I was very confident. I was just waiting for them to tell me how wonderful I was, you know.

Bill, what do you think to Gary Lovini?

Well, he totally tore this audience apart...

-Didn't he, just?

-..And I can guarantee my mum sitting at home saying to my dad,

"Hey, Albert, what a lovely-looking lad he is!"

I thought he was terrific at his act, but if you're asking me to decide whether

there's a new face of a star in the making,

I would say not a star for me, because I don't understand where the act can go.

We shall see. It depends on the people out there.

Come on, everybody.

I actually didn't care about fame.

For me, the stage was an escape from home.

The final act was James, a soul singer from Liverpool.

James, why is a bit of that photograph missing?

Well, my adoptive mother, Lily,

there's lots of pictures which she was in, and I have cut them out.

I don't know exactly what the dealings were

between my real mother and my adoptive parents,

but it went wrong, horribly wrong.

My adoptive parents, both of them were mentally ill.

I was always on pins awaiting something.

Either Tommy would kick off, or she would,

she would get angry and nasty, and I would have to leave the room.

"What's wrong?" "Leave the room, go, go." "But what is wrong?"

"Leave the room." You would go.

There were some really scary moments.

It turned to shit, basically.

Are you OK James? Do you want to take a minute?

I'm fine. I have been there loads of times.

But yeah, it's like, well,

all you have to do is say to a child...

"..It doesn't matter..."

-Do you want to take a minute?

-Yeah, please.

Will you welcome James Stone!

BAND PLAYS

# I'm a gin soaked bar-room in Memphis... #

I could sing, show off, be Mr Cool

for people, that was a real good trip, that was.

But I was a troubled young man.

# She gives me the honky The honky, the honky

# She gives me the blues She gives me... #

After I finished a show, wherever it was, I would disappear quickly.

I couldn't talk to people, my heart would pound, and I would panic.

APPLAUSE

What did you think to James Stone?

I thought he was absolutely marvellous. He really nailed it there for the audience,

and got everybody going with him.

-Bill?

-I think James Stone is a star.

Well, thank you panel.

The lines are now open. Lift your receivers and dial NOW!

The morning after the grand final, all of the acts awoke

to find themselves famous.

You come from nothing, and then the next minute you are literally

thrown into the lights of stardom.

People respect you more.

You get more respect, people see you in the street.

"There's Vinny, get his autograph."

It makes you believe that you are important, it really does.

New Faces transformed Vinny's career.

His double act was now in demand in theatres around the country.

And he was on stage all year round.

Oh yes.

-Do you love being on here then?

-Yeah, it's amazing.

When it's going well, the laughter that you get, it's better than food.

Actually you don't hear laughter, you hear a roar.

Then you pause, then it's another roar,

it's like 1,200 lions roaring at you.

It's like, "Wow!" You are on your way.

Everything is a bit of fun when you're on stage,

even when your offstage.

There's a switch that goes... in your head to say,

"Now it's fun time."

This was the 24-hour party place. This place never closed.

I was brought up on a little old council estate in Wigan.

I didn't expect to mingle with such things

like Oliver Reed, Roy "Chubby" Brown.

Over here, there would be all the groupies, if you like.

I would be up the bar here with a couple of women,

me and my other partner, that I used to have,

we used to stand here at the bar.

I remember asking a young lady here to marry me actually.

At this bar here.

All my money were going here.

Every penny I used to have would go behind that bar,

so that's called partying.

I'd walk home the next day with not a penny in my pocket.

But then again I would go on stage again and get my wages again,

come back down to The Dutchman again, partying again.

"Let's get to the bar. Let's have some fun with the girls. Come on!"

-And that is what we used to do.

-Was it good times?

It was brilliant times. We had a really good time.

After New Faces all of a sudden people were pointing at you,

nudging as you went past. They would come up

and find an excuse to talk to you.

People would get tongue-tied when they're talking,

they would get nervous when they talk to you.

Billy's performance in the grand final got him

taken on by one of the biggest, comedy agents in the country.

I always felt as if I was waiting in the wings.

And when it was suddenly my chance to walk out,

I could never have been more ready than I was then.

He shot to fame out of his New Faces appearance

and his rapid-fire humour,

Please welcome comedian Billy Pearce.

-'I appeared on television ever such a lot.'

-Have you been in showbiz long?

What time is it now?

The BBC gave him a TV series.

APPLAUSE

Suddenly I'm earning £3,000 or £4,000 a night.

Turning over half million pounds a year, plus.

This house is so massive compared to where I used to live.

I just kept running round and shouting really.

I would have like five people with me all of the time,

and another man on the phone ringing me all the time every day.

Two or three times a day telling me what's happening, and where I'm going.

How much money I am going to be earning,

and who's interested in me for this, that or the other.

I even had a driver for two years.

This guy would press all my shirts and everything.

It's crazy, isn't it?

Where you unfaithful to your first wife?

Yes.

Oh, aye.

I had one night stands then.

I could get away with that and never make any arrangements

to see them again or anything, because I was married,

and I had to be very careful what I did, not to get caught.

It's a miracle I didn't get caught really.

What I got up to.

My favourite one, I went to Benidorm,

and I finished up with two sisters!

That was good fun.

Did you feel guilt?

-Yeah.

-Did you think you were doing something wrong?

Yes. Definitely. Without a doubt.

Why did you keep doing it?

I didn't get married to be unfaithful to my wife,

that's not why I got married. I thought I'd be happy with her,

but as it happened, I wasn't.

Maybe if I was at home and doing a nine to five job.

Do you think things would have been different

if you had been at home doing a nine to five job?

I don't think... I wouldn't have been with her.

I wouldn't have been good enough for her. I wouldn't have been with her.

Most of my girlfriends, I have to say,

have been with me because I've been in show business.

The glamour and the money and all that.

They haven't been with me for me, as a person,

the person you see sat here now.

With a heart and a soul and all that.

I'm just an ordinary, everyday bloke.

It made it difficult for me to trust women as such.

After New Faces, you have to milk this opportunity while you can.

New Faces didn't make Wayne a TV star,

but demand for him in the clubs shot up.

A lot of people say I was a workaholic.

I'd sometimes work seven evenings a week.

We were driving many hours to a venue and then having to perform,

and then driving many hours back.

That was me. I was work and work was me.

I was never one that thought

my career would bring plenty of women to me,

but because you're up on the stage, you get many admirers.

He's tall, handsome and has got a good voice.

Did you feel like being on the road and family life were in conflict?

Yes.

Wayne's partner was Dawn, a local beauty queen.

I was very career-minded and Dawn knew this.

I remember when she told me that she was pregnant.

I wanted to be loyal and be that father,

but I also wanted to do my job and that, you know?

It was that doubt that I had which, unfortunately...

I met another girl.

Love is something that comes and goes, I think.

I'm not God's gift to women to look at and I've never felt that way.

I think the show business has helped me find the girls, shall I say?

And people might think that I've never really loved.

And people might be right.

# It won't be easy You'll think it's strange

# When I try to explain how I feel... #

'If I hadn't done New Faces, then the dream might have died.'

I might not have pursued the career that I did

if I hadn't had that little taste of stardom.

Bill, bearing in mind this is live television,

what could you do with Julie A Scott?

Quite a lot.

Whether she's got that thing that transcends talent

that an Elaine Paige has got or a Barbara Dixon's got,

it's difficult to tell at first hearing.

-However, I actually thought she was a bit special.

-Great.

Once you get that taste of the theatre and being on the television,

the dream's alive, isn't it?

You really think, this is it.

JULIE PERFORMS VOCAL EXERCISES

Do you think men and women have a different experience

of working in show business?

Yes, I do. Most definitely.

I think men get the chance to have it all,

whereas, women always have to sacrifice something.

-Nearly ready, nearly ready. Hiya!

-We have two minutes.

-That's good.

Gosh, the motion of the ocean.

Please put your hands together and welcome the lovely,

the charming, Julie A Scott.

# My dearest dear... #

In the early days, I would say

I wanted children, but my career was in its infancy

so I was putting all my energies into that.

Then New Faces came along when I was 29.

'Then you put it off for a little while'

and then the years fly by, don't they?

Now I'm too old.

You can sort of beat yourself up about it,

but I would never do that

because I wouldn't change what I've done for the world.

'So, no babies.'

I really, now, as I sit here, I'd think I would've...

I wished I would've had one.

# If you touch me

# You'll understand what happiness is... #

'That would have been nice.'

-Do you think you'd have enjoyed being a mum?

-Yeah, I think so.

Yeah, I think I would've made a good mum.

# ..A new day has begun. #

How many wives and children did you have?

Three wives and eight children. Yeah.

Do you feel like you've had a lot of ex-wives and a lot of children?

No. Not at all. No, it's just a drop in the ocean, that.

I'd get married again. I'd get married 20 times.

If I have to get married 200 times to find the love...my proper...

my soul mate, my twin soul, I will find my twin soul.

-Were you a good husband?

-I think so.

-What Drew you to Vinny?

-I found him completely fascinating.

I was bowled over by his looks, his personality.

I think just seeing this person who was so zany and so...

"Everything will be fine, you know.

"We can do this, we can do that, there's not going to be any problem."

That was quite attractive at the time.

Were you in love with Tracey?

Absolutely, and still am. I still do.

I got pregnant, actually, very quickly after

Vinny and I started to live together.

I wanted to have a family so from my point of view,

I was so excited about being pregnant

and starting this family with Vinny.

When the children were born, how was he as a father?

The day-to-day nitty-gritty of life were not there, ever.

It was sort of just living in this world of...

being with the right sort of people, show business people,

talking about show business.

Mixing with maybe lots of glamorous women,

dancers and that sort of thing. Living that lifestyle.

Just totally divorced from what was really going on in his life.

Which was more important? Being a star or Tracey?

Being a star.

In 1988, we topped the bill at the Wellington Pier.

That was the last time

I was really on stage as a professional entertainer.

The following summer, 1989,

there was no working whatsoever.

How did it affect him when his career started to fail?

I think he found it very difficult to cope with

because he really didn't believe that it could possibly fail.

He wouldn't look at any other type of work.

It wasn't as though he was saying, "OK, this has dried up.

"I'm going to have to look out for a job in a shop,

"or do some other form of work to support the family."

It was only the entertainments business that he would look at.

We lost our home because we couldn't pay the mortgage.

-Were you ever tempted to get a normal job?

-No, never.

Why?

Because I really thought that I was going to be a massive star.

And...

Family life wasn't enough for him.

He needed the outside world to know about him.

He needed for everybody to know about Vinny Cadman as a star.

It's like a love relationship with it, really.

I remember saying to my partner once I'd sleep on the stage.

I would, in the theatre.

When I walk into a theatre, it's so wonderfully nostalgic, if you like.

I feel at home in a theatre.

And it's been taken away from me, really.

'What did you think of James Stone?

'I thought he was absolutely marvellous.

'I thought he was a fabulous talent.'

APPLAUSE

'You know that's a face you're going to see around for a long time.

'That's what New Faces should be about. I think it's superb.

-'I think James Stone is a star.

-Thank you.'

APPLAUSE

My career, it didn't dramatically change after New Faces at all.

It wasn't suddenly all Aston Martins and big houses.

It was still the nitty-gritties.

I was still travelling many, many hours in the car.

'Still going to places with no dressing room.'

Got changed in there.

Some embarrassing situations in there.

I didn't even think about that.

I didn't think, "I've been on television, I deserve better."

James was being managed by an agent in Wales called Christine.

She and her husband invited James to move in with them

so he could leave Liverpool behind.

I actually cut off from everybody in my life.

Family I grew up with, I cut off completely

and lived my life here for those 13-14 years.

And it was like being a monk.

-No girlfriends?

-No.

I stayed away from that area for, say, 12 years I was celibate,

is the word. 12 years.

And did it seem strange moving in with your manager or not?

Not really. Not really at all.

Because I didn't see her as my manager.

I just thought of her as a person who's... well, a nice person.

-Nice person.

-Did it feel like you'd found a home?

I'll be honest with you and say yes.

I'll be perfectly honest with you and say now you're asking me that,

I'd never thought of it before, but now you're asking, yes, it was.

It really was. Used to...

-..cycle all around there and keep fit.

-What are you thinking, James?

-Why are you feeling...?

-I just miss her.

I just really miss her, you know.

Chris died six years ago.

James, is there a sensitivity here about talking about Chris

and the finances?

-Yeah, there is a bit, to be honest with you.

-What is that?

Well, it's just that where did the money go?

That's it, basically.

Although she put James up, Chris never gave him his earnings

while he was with her.

It was because I met somebody else, another act.

They were telling me how well they were doing

and they weren't even working as half as I was, even then.

And I was wondering why they've got this property and this...

Things. They've got things.

They're saying, "I've got this thing, I've got that thing.

"I'm going on holiday with the missus, we're going here."

I'm thinking, "How come I can't afford to buy...?"

And it was only then it started, "Grow up. Grow up."

Well, I said, "Chris, I don't wish to rock the boat or anything,

"but I think it's about time I knew where all this money's going."

She didn't like that.

-Was it an argument with Chris about it?

-No, there wasn't an argument, just a bad feeling.

She took the time to write it out. I never read it.

I just went, "Chris, I'm not interested." I just ripped it up.

"I don't want to know."

So, in total, this would have been hundreds of thousands of pounds, wouldn't it?

It would have amounted to that easily.

-And you don't know where it went?

-No. I don't want to know. It's gone.

-Do you feel any sense of anger towards her?

-No.

-None?

Not one iota of anger do I feel towards Chris. Not one.

If she was there now I'd say, "Chris, can I make you a nice Chinese meal?"

In that fucking wok. I used to make it in that.

So, yeah, I love this place. I love Chris and Danny.

I love all my people.

She was, she was like a mum.

What I do is totally different from anybody, you know, with a normal job.

It's totally different, you know. You never get fed up being on stage.

Gary became a cruise ship entertainer.

-Hello?

-Daddy!

-Daddy's home.

-How are you doing? OK?

-Yeah.

You get to your ship, you're in the Jacuzzi,

having a nice relaxing day in the sunshine.

You think, "No, this is not bad." It's great.

He may be young but, my goodness, he's good on the fiddle.

Straight after New Faces, he was in demand on light entertainment

programmes for two years.

What is so good about fame?

When you're famous, it literally is all about you, and it's...

Yeah, not anybody else, you.

HE LAUGHS

And everyone's looking at you, everyone wants to meet you,

everyone wants to touch you, everyone wants to kiss you,

everyone wants to be around you, everyone wants to sit with you.

It's just me, me, me time. Me, me and more me.

Who was the driving force in settling down?

Me, I suppose.

Definitely Emma, yes. Because I'd got the best of both worlds.

I was still cruising when we first met.

-The partying was still happening.

-So I suppose it was me that decided.

-At some point I went, "Gary..."

-So she gave me an ultimatum.

"Do you want to marry me or not?"

It was six years down the line and Gary still hadn't proposed, so...

I think he was obviously the heartthrob violinist

that everybody wanted a little piece of.

I suppose I was the lucky one that got the whole piece.

THEY LAUGH

Having the kids has brought us even closer together,

and, you know, we love them more than life itself.

I'm very lucky.

-Do you feel lucky?

-Yes, I do.

I've got a lot of showbiz friends, and most of them

have been married at least two or three times.

14 years ago I met Kerry.

She was a professional dancer and I thought she was absolutely

beautiful, and I thought I'd made a bit of a coup there, to be honest.

Over a period of time, I just fell head over heels in love with her,

so I bought an engagement ring and she said yes.

APPLAUSE

And one night I was staying with a friend of mine

and, after a few bevvies, he said to me, "I think you're stupid.

"What are you doing? She's a lot younger than you.

"She's only after you for your money and your name,"

and all this sort of thing.

He was quite scathing about my stupidity.

It did upset me and I said, "Look, only time will tell.

"You may be right, who knows?"

Kerry and I were together,

but careerwise, things were changing rapidly.

It's like being demoted, so one minute you're kingpin,

up there enjoying the success and everything, then gradually

all that kind of peters out.

Billy decided to start a business abroad.

A showbiz friend of mine

knew of this club in Portugal that was sat there doing nothing.

If it was working properly you could make 10,000 a night out of it.

It turned into a massive great big venture,

which initially it wasn't going to be like that.

It just had a life of its own and completely took us over, really.

Did you invest a lot in it?

Um, yes. I invested everything into it.

I remortgaged my house three or four times, actually,

I blew all my savings.

It was like gambling, and you think,

"If I just chuck another £50 at it I might win."

Do you think part of the motive was a desire to provide for Kerry?"

Yes.

How hard were you drinking?

I was drinking 24/7.

I was actually drinking round about 18 hours a day.

When you were drinking that much, were you worried about yourself?

No. No.

Not one iota. It made me feel on top of the world.

One night I left the pub at 1am. I'd had a lot to drink.

I got in the car, the police pulled me up within about 10 seconds.

He said, "You've been drinking, I can smell it a mile off."

I said, "I've had a couple."

And his mate said, "A couple of gallon, you mean."

The judge said, "We are looking for a custodial sentence."

And I said, "What does this mean?"

And the copper said at the side of me, "You're going down, lad.

"You're going down."

I couldn't sleep.

The prison officers kept coming to my cell and asking me

was I OK every hour.

And I kept saying, "Yeah, I'm fine." They knew I wasn't OK.

I'd already ruined my life as a comedian.

I'd already ruined my life as a...

..as anything, really.

You know, I ruined my life, I ruined my life, I ruined my life.

I ruined my life as everything.

So, yeah, I was in here for a while.

One morning I was in, the proprietor of this place here came in,

opened the bin and put all the rubbish onto me.

I didn't... I thought, "What the hell was that?"

He said, "What are you doing in my bin?"

And I said, "I'm trying to get some sleep."

-No one wanted to know me at all.

-How long were you here?

On and off for about 12 months.

-Welcome to show business.

-HE LAUGHS

It wasn't nice.

So there we were, out in Portugal. We had a phone call

from the solicitor who was dealing with the legal side of the club,

telling us not to spend any more money, "Don't part with any money,

"don't do anything until you've seen me."

The contract that had been done with this club and the man that owned it,

he was bankrupt and, therefore, our contract was worth nothing.

My partner, the business guy, looked at me and he said,

"What does it all mean?"

And I said to him, "Look, mate, we might as well have set fire

"to the money, that's what it means.

"We might as well get on a plane and go home.

"It's a waste of time, we've blown it, all this money."

It was as if somebody had opened a trapdoor

and you'd fallen through it, or you'd gone in a toilet

and somebody had flushed it and you were flushed away.

And I rang my wife, Kerry, in this state of shock,

and we had a brief conversation.

She said, "Hello, how are you doing?" "I'm all right, how are you doing?"

She said to me, "What's the matter with you?"

Because she knew from the tone of me voice that there was something wrong.

"There's something wrong with you." I said, "Kerry, I've lost everything."

She said, "What do you mean?" I said, "I've had a meeting in this solicitor's

"and it's all worthless. We might as well have set fire to the money.

"I've lost everything.

"I've lost all my money, my future money, your future money.

"You know, I've gambled on the house and everything,

"our ISAs, everything."

And she said, "No, you haven't lost everything."

I said, "But I have. I've been a fool, I've lost everything."

And she said, "No, you haven't. You have not lost everything."

I said, "What do you mean I haven't lost everything?"

She said, "You've still got me.

"You've still got me.

"And if we have to live in a tent,

"so long as we've got each other we've got everything."

# ...Things in life are bad They can really make you mad

# While other things just make you swear and curse

# But when you're chewing on life's gristle don't grumble

# Give a little whistle

# And this will help things turn out for the best

# Always look on the bright side of life... #

'I am the luckiest man in the world.'

I have found the family life that I've never had before,

and I'm enjoying every second of it

and making the most of it while I can.

Billy's friends lent him enough money to keep his house.

HE HUMS

He has since paid them back.

That'll do.

There is somebody in my life now, very, very important.

Or I'm in somebody else's life. And life is good, life is really good.

And it's with the help of somebody. We all need that one person.

I've found the one person.

Three years ago, James entered another TV talent show.

Your name is?

James Stone.

-OK, and, James, and what do you do?

-I sing and perform.

OK, so 52, you've been doing this a long time.

-Yep.

-And you think you're good enough to win this competition?

-Yeah.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

-Shall we do it?

-Yes, please.

# I don't want you sad and blue

# Cos I just want to make love to you... #

Thank you.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

You're kind of like a sexier version of Mick Jagger.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome James Stone.

SONG: "You Can Leave Your Hat On

Come on!

Got this.

# Baby, take off your coat

# Real slow... #

You've come from bingo halls to Britain's Got Talent, 12 million people watching,

I thought that performance was brilliant.

APPLAUSE

Thank you, Piers, thank you very much.

It's interesting, watching that back,

you know, you're actually a very, very talented guy.

You know, you look good, you've got a great voice.

It's kind of like, I think you're in the bingo halls because

of probably bad luck, bad decisions you may have made in your life.

Maybe tonight that performance could change your life.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

How would you describe your financial position?

Dire. Very dire.

No, seriously, we don't worry about it any more,

but we've got absolutely nothing.

We've got a rusty car and some equipment, some speakers,

and the cats...

That's all we've got, you know.

But, hell, I mean, it doesn't really matter, does it? Are we that bothered?

-Sunshine...

-We do buy a lottery ticket.

James will say to me, "Well, you're living with James Stone now."

We're sat here at night with nothing to do, watching TV,

and he goes, "Well, that's life with James Stone, isn't it?"

-Life in the fast lane!

-Yeah!

-Just sitting there like...

"What shall we do now, babe?"

THEY LAUGH

When I look back now, I always think...

I must have been OK, cos I'm still doing it at my age now.

And so I have to convince myself, well, you know,

I'm still out there on the boards.

But...

..I envy the people that find their love early on

and stay together for the rest of their life.

I was to blame, really, for not giving my family time.

For my first seven or eight years, I didn't see much of my dad at all,

but, as I've grown older, we see each other quite a lot.

We go to the football every week, that's kind of our structure, we go to the football.

But, obviously, I've got a key to my dad's house

so whenever I feel like going round, I can pop up there and see him,

so it's like become a mate, more than...

I used to protect him when we used go to football, now he protects me!

THEY LAUGH

Do you think there's anything

that you wish your dad had done differently?

Um, not in terms of his career.

I mean, he's good at it and I think that he deserved

to show people that he was good at that career.

Obviously, family life, maybe things could have worked out different,

we don't know, and obviously that's something that only Dad knows.

Don't be late, my darling.

HE LAUGHS

I love you very much.

I can't wait to see you in your dress, my darling.

'We met on a dating agency, an international dating agency.

'We sent e-mails back and forth,

'we then did a video date where I could see her and talk to her

'and she'd talk to me, then I came to see her.'

It was very difficult at the beginning

when I first made contact with Yulia, with the language barrier.

Because she spoke very little English,

it was very, very little, and, of course, when I came over

we had to have a translator, interpreter with us all of the time.

MUSIC: "Wedding March"

I'm very much in love with her, and she is with me,

and that's what it is.

We get married and she will come to live in England.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Back in 1986, I was fortunate to win a TV talent show in England

called New Faces.

So, it seems appropriate that I should sing a song

and dedicate it to my beautiful wife.

This is called Hello Again.

# Hello, my friend, hello

# Just called to let you know

# I think about you

# Every night... #

'I know I'm older and I've been around a long time,

'but it was kind of love at first sight.'

# Hello... #

'I want this girl to be in my life, for the rest of my life.'

APPLAUSE

I think you can be too self-centred at times

and think everything just should be about you.

And, I suppose, for a long time it was.

Now it's me and the dog.

Yeah, she goes everywhere with me.

Here we go, yummy, yummy, yummy. Good girl.

I personally think I'm a very caring person.

I love fussing around after people...

And, I suppose, because I've got nobody to fuss around here,

I love... Now that I've got the dog, I love fussing around after her!

SHE LAUGHS

Do you think...

in a way, your great love affair, the great love of your life,

has been your career, rather than another person?

Um, I suppose you're right.

It's the most long-lasting love affair of my life.

Cos it's been since I was a little girl,

and it'll go with me till the day I die.

Yeah.

The names of the acts that have been in the final tonight

are represented in the stars...

..for you, the people at home, have the casting decision.

Who's it going to be?

I think the only thing we would maybe wish is if there was maybe

-someone like Simon Cowell...

-Yeah.

..that was there at the time at the 1986 New Faces

that would back you and give you the million pound record deal.

I mean, I've got to say, there was absolutely no prize money,

not even a vase saying well done, nothing.

But, you know, when I left school I didn't really know

what I was going to do for a career.

So, everything just happened, you know,

took the decision away from me.

New Faces changed everything.

It was amazing.

I do have a destiny.

And I haven't reached it yet.

What's your destiny?

Well, my destiny once was to be world-famous.

-And what is it now?

-It's still the same.

Still the same.

It is.

'I am still swimming.'

I'm still swimming!

But I've swum downstream this last few years, you know.

And now I'm swimming back upstream.

-Vinny!

-Yes?!

When it was going badly, or when it has been going badly,

-and you're struggling to pay the bills...

-Yeah.

-..and it's causing you suffering...

-Yeah.

-..the fact that your career isn't going well...

-Yeah.

..why haven't you ever gotten just a normal job?

Because it's boring.

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