Missing from the archives for decades, classic Doctor Who story The Faceless Ones is once again available for fans to enjoy with all-new animated visuals.


Though huge swathes of vintage TV was once junked by the BBC and other broadcasters – in an age before regular repeat showings and home media releases – stories like The Faceless Ones have been restored by applying animation to the surviving soundtracks.

To mark the adventure’s release in DVD, Blu-Ray and SteelBook editions, the official Doctor Who YouTube account have dropped a thrilling new trailer that, much like the restoration itself, breathes exciting new life into a piece of television over 50 years old.

1967’s The Faceless Ones, which sees the second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) and his companions uncover a sinister alien plot at Gatwick Airport, is the latest story missing from the archives to get the animated treatment.

The team behind the animation have inserted a number of Easter eggs for eagle-eyed fans to spot, including a nod to the latest series of Doctor Who to air on BBC One.

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Next up is a restoration of another lost Troughton story, 1968’s Fury from the Deep, which is available to pre-order now from Amazon ahead of a release later in 2020.

Speaking to RadioTimes.com to promote the new version of The Faceless Ones, actress Anneke Wills – who made her final appearance as companion Polly in the story – revealed how Patrick Troughton felt “anxious” when he replaced William Hartnell as Doctor Who’s lead in 1966.

“He felt the whole onus of this was on his shoulders,” Wills explained. “He didn’t so much trust [series producer] Innes Lloyd and and the directors, he trusted me and Michael [Craze, companion Ben Jackson] and so he would always run things by me and Mike.

“We’d go to the pub and he’d say, ‘OK guys, what do you think? Bit over the top?’ and Mike was wonderful for saying, ‘Right over the top, darling! If you’re gonna do that, I’m not working with you!’ – and he trusted us to tell it like it was. So in that way, we became very bonded, because we helped him through. By the time we were doing The Faceless Ones, he was just in the role.”


Doctor Who: The Faceless Ones is out now on DVD, Blu-ray and as a Steelbook