Aliens Kidnap Humans from Gatwick Airport and Steal Their Bodies: THE FACELESS ONES

At Gatwick Airport Polly witnesss a murder carried out with alien technology, Ben mysteriously disappears and Polly all of a sudden claims to not know who The Doctor and Jamie are. Soon, The Doctor uncovers an alien invasion already in progress, What is Chameleon Tours - an airplane company which offers cheap package holidays to students? And why are so many airport personnel acting so strangley?

Cast

Patrick Troughton (Dr Who), Anneke Wills (Polly), Michael Craze (Ben), Frazer Hines (Jamie)

Colin Gordon (Commandant), Wanda Ventham (Jean Rock), Bernard Kay (Crossland)

Donald Pickering (Blade), Pauline Collins (Samantha Briggs), James Appleby (Policeman)

George Selway (Meadows), Victor Winding (Spencer), Peter Whitaker (Inspector Gascoigne)

Christopher Tranchell (Jenkins), Madalena Nicol (Nurse Pinto), Gilly Fraser (Ann Davidson)

Brigit Paul (Announcer), Barry Wilsher (Heslington), Michael Ladkin (RAF Pilot)

Leonard Trolley (Superintendent Reynolds)

UNCREDITED CAST: Roy Curtis, Vic Taylor, Roger Jacombs (ATC Technicians)

Robin Burns, Charles Erskine (Workmen), Jean Myers, Pearl Hawkes, Joy Burnett, Joanna Lawrence

Marjorie Sommerville, Ralph Rankissoon, George Wilder, Basil Tang, Graham Tonbridge,

Nigel Bernard (Airport Passengers (Madrid)), Crawford Lyle, Taggart Rushton (Airport Police (Immigration Desk)

Barry Dupres, Robin Dawson, Roy Pearce, Pat Leclerc (Chameleons)

Geoffrey Witherick, Kedd Fenton (Airport Police (Concourse), Pamela Hinton, Michael Barry, Lisa Noble

Joanna Robins, Sandy Duke, Alan Norburn, David Seaforth, Chris Hodge

Barry Noble, Don Simons (Airport Passengers), Ann Barber, Tina Simons, Valerie Vyner, Maria Hauffer

James Holbrook, Mike Briton, John Dickinson, Gary Leeman, Gloria Foster, Denis Testar, Penelope Daiton

Tony Mead, Richard Kitteridge, Donald Sinclair (Chameleon Tours Travellers)

Peter Roy (Airport Police Sergeant [Sgt Erskine]), Peter Blair Stewart (Airport Policeman)

Joanna Robins, Tina Simons, Maria Hauffer, Donald Sinclair, Gary Leaman, Barry Noble (Miniaturised Young Chameleon Tours Passengers), John Evans, Steve Pokol, Audrey Stewart. Audrey Searl

Ann Gabriel, Tony Lang (Airport Personnel in Plane (Chameleons)

Robin Dawson (Airport Policeman (Guarding Meadows), Roy Pearce (Airport Policeman (in Car Park)

Donald Sinclair (St Johns Ambulance Man), Peter Roy (Chauffer)

Terence Denville (Double for Blade), Elizabeth Smith (Double for Nurse Pinto)

Crew

David Ellis, Malcolm Hulke (Writers), Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop (Title Music)

Gerry Davis (Script Editor), Daphne Dare (Costumes), Gillian James (Make-Up), Howard King (Lighting)

Gordon Mackie (Sound), Tony Imi (Film Cameraman), Chris Haydon (Film Editor)

Geoff Kirkland (Designer), Peter Bryant (Associate Producer), Innes Lloyd (Producer), Gerry Mill (Director)

UNCREDITED CREW: Sue Marlborough (Assistant Floor Manager)

Richard Brooks (Production Assistant), Pat Heigham (Grams Operator)

Broadcast

EPISODE	DATE	TIME	VIEWING FIGURE	CHART POSITION	APPRECIATION INDEX
1	08/04/1967	5:50-6:15pm	8.0M	47th	51
2	15/04/1967	5:50-6:15pm	6.4M	70th	50
3	22/04/1967	5:50-6:15pm	7.9M	43rd	53
4	29/04/1967	5:50-6:15pm	6.9M	62nd	55
5	06/05/1967	5:50-6:15pm	7.1M	39th	55
6	13/05/1967	5:50-6:15pm	8.0M	33rd	52

Connections in the Who-Niverse

The Doctor hides out at Gatwick Airport. I wouldn't hide behind a wheel would you?

Pauline Collins returned to the revived series of Doctor Who to appear as Queen Victoria for the series two episode Tooth and Claw; she was also invited to be a regular companion to replace Ben and Polly - an offer which was declined. James Appleby was a Guard for The Masque of Mandragora; he was an uncredited extra for The Dalek Invasion of Earth, The Romans and The Massacre. Wanda Ventham returned as Thea Ransome in Image of the Fendahl and Faroon for Time and the Rani. Peter Whitaker can be seen wandering the background in The Seeds of Death, The Mutants, Genesis of the Daleks, The Pirate Planet, Logopolis and Remembrance of the Daleks. Donald Pickering was the prosecutor Eyesen for The Keys of Marinus and he too returned for Time and the Rani to play Beyus. Christopher Tranchell was previously Roger Colbert for The Massacre and later played the Time Lord Andred for The Invasion of the Time - spoilers he later marries Leela. Bernard Kay was in two very close William Hartnell serial (The Dalek Invasion of Earth and The Crusade), he later played Caldwell for Colony in Space.

Death the Constant Companion

Inspector Gascoigne is murdered by the Chameleon posing as Spencer, after he discovered what was going on with Chameleon Tours. The RAF Pilot is attacked by the Chameleon's spaceship causing his aircraft to crash to the ground, closer examination showed he died from electrocution. The Nurse Pinto (Chameleon) is killed when an arm-band device is removed from the real Nurse Pinto. The Director (Chameleon) is shot and killed by the duplicate Spencer. The duplicate Jamie is also killed by the duplicate Spencer. Jenkins (Chameleon) is also killed when an armband is removed from the original Jenkins. Another Policeman is killed by a Chameleon

Episode Cliffhangers

(1) Spencer and Blade guide a hooded figure across the Airport Concourse and into the medical bay. The figure sits down on a bench, but this isn't a human. It's alien with a misshapen head. The creature begins to breath heavily

(2) The Doctor returns to the to Chameleon Airlines hangar where he discovers a weapon disguised as a pen, and the 'real' Meadows in a case. Meadows has been placed in a deep trance. The duplicate Spencer lures The Doctor into an office. A door slams shuts and the room is filled with freezing gas.

(3) Crossland is taken to the flight deck of a Chameleon Tours Airplane. The duplicate Blade activates some control, to show Crossland the secret of Chameleon Tours. Crossland stares at screen and watches in horror, as all the airplane passengers disappears, leaving behind empty seats a silent cabin.

One of the scary Chameleons. They look even creepier from the back than the front

(4) The Doctor follows a blip on the air traffic control systems and realises the Chameleon Tours Plane isn't falling down - its going up. The airplane continues it descend upwards and leaves Earth's atmosphere... ... to board a giant spaceship hanging above the planet Earth

(5) The Doctor and Nurse Pinto leave with the airplane with other disguised Chameleons. Together, they hope to evade capture to explore the Chameleon spaceship. However, their cover is blown and they are surrounded by Chameleons

(6) The Chameleon body-snatching plan is over, and the captured humans will be returned. On Earth, Ben and Polly discover they have landed on the exact same day they left with The Doctor. They decide to resume their normal lives. The Doctor and Jamie say goodbye to their friends, before heading off to find the TARDIS.

Fun Facts

(1) The serial incorporated a few stock footage shots of aeroplane in flight. The clips came from Film Centre International. Technically speaking it might actually count as surviving footage since all episodes from 2 and 6 remain missing to this day; (2) The character of Samantha Briggs was originally called Mary Dawson, and then Cleopatra Briggs before her final name was arrived at. Nurse Pinto was originally called O'Brien, whilst Blade was originally called Quinn; (3) Chameleon Tours went through a name change during the writing process. It was originally called Pied Piper Tours; (4) The story was originally set Heathrow Airport (or London Airport) as it was

The Doctor, Jamie and Polly hide behind the wheel of a plane. Great, nice place to hide, out in the open.

called back then. Heathrow may not have allowed location filming to be carried out on their premises; but we'll never know that story; (5) The company Shawcraft Models contribued their services for the final time for The Faceless Ones. The production office parted ways with them, apparently after a few mishaps occured the filming process; (6) It seems that Patrick Troughton was unhappy that both Anneke Wills and Michael Craze were leaving, as they helped him settle into his role as The Doctor; (7) Apparently, and according to Anneke Wills, she was invited to remain with the show - but not Michael Craze - she declined and decided to leave the show with her co-star together; (8) To help create his Chameleon Duplicate character, Frazer Hines spoke with his normal accent for such scenes, instead of the Scottish accent he used for Jamie; (9) Both Ben and Polly were slated in to appear in episode three, as Polly was originally rescued by Ben and Samantha during the episode's events

Recording Days

Recording took 13 days to complete between Friday 10 March - Saturday 6 May 1967. A impressive four days were spent at Gatwick Airport to capture a majority of the location scenes. The production team were present at Gatwick on Friday 10, Monday 13 - Tuesday 14 and Friday 17 March. Two days were spent at Ealing Film Studios Stage 3 on Wednesday 15 - Thursday 16 March; whilst a remount day took place on Tuesday 11 April. The actual studio sessions were complete Lime Grove Studio D on Saturday evenings between Saturday 1 April - Saturday 16 May 1967. Actors Anneke Wills and Michael Craze were not present for episode 3-5, the recording of episode 6 on Saturday 16 May marked their final day on the show; their depature scene had already been recorded on location.

Verdict

The Faceless Ones occurs in what is arguably ‘the less creative period’ in Doctor Who. Storylines were becoming more and more recycled week up week, the same scenario becoming commonplace, and almost compulsory in design. The Faceless Ones goes a step further, taking the cliched body-snatcher narrative, and adding an existential crisis where an entire species’ existence hangs in the balance. 

Why is Polly acting so strange? And why does she claim she doesn't know The Doctor?

Undoubtedly overlong, the narrative hangs on various threads where expositional dialogue, a handful of

locations (within the same building), convenient plot progressions, and a lot of running back and forth aim to convince the audience, that six-parters generally work well with the series format. They do not. The Faceless Ones is the first serial that breaks the four-part barrier which doesn’t feature the Daleks. It’s a bold attempt to stretch the series format, but a lot of major plot progressions do occur off-screen or simmer for a while before boiling over, and characters must inform the audience of these development, so they can keep up. Whilst flawed in various aspects, the finished product is something to be admired.

It's a pity that two-thirds are currently missing from the BBC Archives, but the restored animation versions do suggest a steady standard of production values. In what is a more visually told story (the miniaturised humans, the aeroplane leaving Earth’s atmosphere, the Chameleons melting when ‘killed’), but the animation does do the visual service. A majority of the footage where the Chameleons are shot straight-on is also lost, and they themselves are nightmarish begins. The ‘body snatchers’ aren’t invading Earth, or holding a planet hostage, they're simply trying to save the species from extinction. The existential crisis they face is dually felt by the audience since we also require an image we recognise in order to function. They can be desperate for survival (killing Inspector Gascoigne) or ruthless (the murder of a Policeman) if it means all their scheming will come to nothing. The Doctor himself seems remarkable impressed with them, wanting to find out what makes them ‘tick’ rather than destroying them to save the day. We never see the Chameleons again but does hope that they successfully find a more morally driven plan to save their own skins. 

Escapist in nature, The Faceless Ones marks the beginning of a new era for Doctor Who and makes a courageous attempt to push the boundaries of the show, which were otherwise restricted in previous years. The familiar world of an earthly airport becomes the centre of an alien plot, and the levels of energy never seem to die out. ****