'Inspector Gascoigne was murdered with a ray gun.  A weapon that has not yet been developed on this Earth!'

The TARDIS makes a hazardous return to 1960's Earth, materializing on a runway at Gatwick Airport!  The Doctor and his friends realize that all is not well when Polly witnesses a murder, and then both she and Ben vanish.

Aided by the plucky Samantha Briggs, and helped and hindered by Inspector Crossland of Scotland Yard and the airport Commandant, the Doctor and Jamie piece together a number of clues.  A sequence of mysterious events seems to center around Chameleon Tours, whose package holidays are designed to entice young people to foreign shores.  Just how far-flung are the horizons they offer, and why are none of their passengers coming back?  Who are the faceless ones, and what hideously deformed creatures are involved in the operations being conducted at the airport medical center?

The Doctor believes there's a connection between Chameleon Tours and the odd behavior of key airport personnel- but in seeking to prove his theory, and rescue Ben and Polly, he becomes embroiled in a plot to steal the identities of thousands of young people.

• OK, pathetic fanboy moment approaching.  Ready?  Listen for three well known actors who have made multiple appearances on Doctor Who.  They are...

• Wanda Ventham (who plays Jean Rock here) would later return as Thea Ransome in "Image of the Fendahl" and Faroon in "Time and the Rani."

• Donald Pickering (who plays Captain Blade here) appeared earlier as Eyesen, the prosecutor trying to convict Ian in "The Keys of Marinus" and near the end of the series as Beyus in "Time and the Rani."

• And then there's Bernard Kay (Inspector Crossland) who played Tyler in "The Dalek Invasion of Earth," Saladin in the Hartnell classic "The Crusade" and the geologist Caldwell in "Colony in Space" with Jon Pertwee.

• "The Faceless Ones" is the last story for Ben and Polly.  Its also Benless and Pollyless for much of the time.  They disappear (more or less) in the first episode and don't reappear until the last 5 minutes of episode 6.  A shoddy send off for two excellent companions.

• Episodes 1 and 3 of this story do exist on video.  They were included in one of the final VHS releases of the range along with episode 1 of "The Web of Fear."
   
• More recently episodes 1 and 3 were included on DVD in the boxset Lost in Time.

• The audio recording of this story was done by Graham Strong  using home audio equipment when the story originally aired.

• Mark Ayres, of the Doctor Who Restoration Team, did extensive work on this audio release by digitally remastering these recordings.