The Faceless Ones Episode 1

The one where the Doctor is asked for his passport...

Ooh, a new title sequence! Although the new look opening titles had been running since the previous serial, The Faceless Ones Episode 1 is the first time we can actually see them (until somebody finds an episode of The Macra Terror). It's quite strange to suddenly see Patrick Troughton's face in the howlaround effects, and despite it being a happy, smiley Doctor, the visual effect is quite disconcerting. His face fades into solidity, but just as it first appears it looks mutated and fractured, and as if he has more than two eyes. Weird... I can understand why some contemporary viewers were freaked out by the Doctor Who titles when they were growing up! It's also strange to see the new titles over the original theme tune, but this would change with Episode 2 with the debut of a revamped theme too.

The episode opens with some exciting location footage at Gatwick Airport. It's the first time we've had any location footage since The Underwater Menace, and the first time the Doctor has visited contemporary Earth since The War Machines. In fact, this episode feels very much like The War Machines, with its modern-day setting and plenty of warehouses and creeping about.

Rather thrillingly, the TARDIS materialises on a runway in the path of an aeroplane, and it's most amusing to see the Doctor and Jamie scarper, leaving poor old Ben and Polly behind. And when Ben and Polly scarper, they leave the TARDIS doors wide open! Chased by policemen, the Doctor tells his friends to "scatter", which some do more successfully than others. The Doctor, Jamie and Polly all run off in one direction, while Ben decides to split, tripping up in the process and running in the general direction of his pursuer!

Although the first five or so minutes are a simple repetition of various characters hiding, running and escaping, we are drip-fed the beginnings of an intriguing mystery, with secret rooms, hidden cameras, and Polly witnessing the murder of a man (actually a police inspector) by an airport official. It's sedately paced, but there's enough going on to draw the viewer in - the fact it's flight personnel up to no good at an airport is suitably intriguing. There's some lovely doomy music burbling away underneath it all too, an almost funereal underscore from stock.

The Faceless Ones is one of those serials that people don't talk about very much, probably because two-thirds of it are missing, and possibly because it's not a classic. But it does feature some of my favourite character actors of all time, such as Colin Gordon as the fabulously world-weary Commandant, the handsome Christopher Tranchell in his second of three Doctor Who roles, and the stunningly beautiful Wanda Ventham as Jean Rock. I'd watch anything if it had Wanda in it, she's like a goddess walking among us mere Earthlings (I was over the moon to see her pop up in the Absolutely Fabulous movie, for instance). Colin Gordon was one of those actors who always turned in solid, dependable performances throughout the 1950s and 60s, but who sadly died far too young, at the age of 61 in 1972. Plus, there's a lovely moment in this episode where Jenkins calls Control and says: "Number 1 has just gone to the hangar area", which reminded me of Gordon's fantastic turn as Number 2 in The Prisoner (twice!) in October and November 1967 (perhaps The Prisoner was Colin's very next job after Doctor Who?).

It's great watching the scenes between Patrick Troughton and Colin Gordon, with the Commandant increasingly irate and frustrated at the strange little man's allegations of a murder and an abduction without so much of a scrap of evidence. You can also see the beginnings of the remarkable chemistry between Troughton and Frazer Hines in the scenes where they're trying to convince Jenkins they've found a body, and that they've not just disembarked from Flight 729 from Madrid at all. Most of the business is unspoken, in looks and gestures, but the repartee is clear to see, and would develop into one of Doctor Who's greatest pairings over the next two years.

There's some pretty drab set design from Geoffrey Kirkland, especially in the airport environs (I know this is an airport, but talk about plain!). The hangar design is serviceable, but overall, the design is terribly dull and lacking in imagination, which is surprising considering Kirkland's future - within a decade he was designing top Hollywood films, going on to lend his talents to movies such as Midnight Express, Fame, Mississippi Burning and even Michael Jackson's Disney extravaganza Captain EO. He was nominated for an Oscar for his work on The Right Stuff in 1983, and won BAFTAs for design work on Bugsy Malone and Children of Men. So it's most surprising to see that he didn't show much of this potential in The Faceless Ones!

Airports in the 1960s were such relaxed places, weren't they? People could just wander around wherever they wanted, it seems, and although Jenkins is quite a stickler in asking for the Doctor and Jamie's passports, his method of restraint is a simple raised arm, rather than alarm bells, handcuffs and arrest warrants. It's amusing to see the Second Doctor frustrated by officialdom, something we'd become used to seeing in the Pertwee era.

The episode is a definite slow-burn, but the glimpses we get of something alien are downright terrifying. At one point, Blade randomly opens a cupboard and injects something into a proffered alien hand, all warty and flaky. Why there's a creature in the cupboard isn't explained, but it's just weird. And then they drape an overcoat over this "something" and accompany it to the airport medical bay, and we see it stagger its unsteady way across Gatwick's central concourse, director Gerry Mill teasing us all the time by focusing only on its feet and mottled hands.

When we do finally see the creature - and only from behind at that - it's an arresting, lip-curling sight. It's a seemingly mutated creature, heaving through exhaustion and apparent near suffocation, head stooped away from the viewer. After the tantalising build-up, this partial reveal for the cliffhanger is starkly effective, and I'd imagine gave a few children bad dreams for the next seven days!

PS: Seeing as Gerry Mill treats us to a lingering look at the police bike numberplates, I thought I'd look them up to see whatever became of them. 532 PPL is a 650cc Triumph first registered in July 1960, and it's still taxed and serviced as of January 2018! Whereas 452 YMF has disappeared, and is no longer recognised by the DVLA. Sad.

First broadcast: April 8th, 1967

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: There's some nice interplay between Troughton and Hines; it's as if we're watching the genesis of their "special relationship" on camera. And that cliffhanger has to be one of the most quietly effective of 1960s Doctor Who.
The Bad: Poor Michael Craze. After four cracking weeks where he got to show a different side to Ben, here he's almost abandoned altogether by writers David Ellis and Malcolm Hulke.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

NEXT TIME: Episode 2...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Episode 2; Episode 3; Episode 4; Episode 5; Episode 6

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site: http://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/the-faceless-ones.html

The Faceless Ones is available on BBC soundtrack CD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Faceless-Frazer-Hines/dp/0563535016. Episode 1 and 3 are the only surviving episodes, and can be found on the Lost in Time DVD box set here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Lost-Time-DVD/dp/B0002XOZW4