Doctor Who animations coming to BritBox for Christmas 2021

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The British TV streamer will add two more Second Doctor stories to their line-up. 

In an announcement of their December highlights, BritBox have revealed that they will add the animated versions of Fury from the Deep and The Faceless Ones to their classic Doctor Who line up on December 23rd.

Both stories, featuring the Patrick Troughton’s Second Doctor and Jamie (Frazer Hines), are recreated animated using audio recorded at the time. They were previously released on home formats in 2020.

The Faceless Ones

Missing from the archive save for episodes one and three, 1967’s The Faceless Ones sees the Doctor, Ben, Polly and Jamie arrive at Gatwick Airport in the present day. They’re soon caught up a scheme by ‘Chameleon Tours’, a front for a desperate race of aliens who are abducting plane loads of young holiday makers. This is the final adventure for Ben (Michael Craze) and Polly (Anneke Wills), who choose to stay on Earth at its conclusion.

Fury from the Deep

Entirely missing from the archive in its original form, 1968’s Fury from the Deep finds the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria arriving at a Sea Gas refinery off the English coast. There, an infections seaweed takes hold controlling the minds of all who encounter it.  A terrific base-under-siege from the season five, this tale also sees a companion exit, with Victoria (Deborah Watling) choosing to remain behind at the story’s end.

BritBox December Highlights

Some of the other notable additions for December are;

Hillsborough (1996)

Grieving families struggle to come to terms with the unexpected and tragic 1989 Hillsborough Disaster. Television film starring Christopher Eccleston, Tracey Wilkinson and Ricky Tomlinson.

Cambridge Spies (2003)

The true story of a group of Cambridge University Students who are recruited to spy for the Soviet Union in the early 1930s. Starring Tom Hollander, Toby Stephens, Samuel West and Rupert Penry-Jones.

A Very Peculiar Practice Seasons 1-2 (1986-1988)

The various misadventures of Stephen Daker, a young doctor who works for the health centre of a modern British university. Starring Peter Davison, Barbara Flynn, David Troughton and Graham Crowden.

Brexit: The Uncivil War (2019)

With an intention to convince the British voters to leave the European Union, political strategist Dominic Cummings decides to start a controversial campaign. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Rory Kinnear.

Upstart Crow: Lockdown Christmas 1603 (2020)

The plague has hit London, and as Christmas approaches, Will and Kate are in wave fifteen of state-enforced home confinement together in Will’s London lodgings. Starring David Mitchell and Gemma Whelan.

The rest…

Additionally, for sitcom fans, there’s also five seasons of The Brittas Empire, four of As Time Goes By, eight of 2Point4Children and two of Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?

For movie buffs, Alfred Hitchcock’s Marnie and the 1933 version of The Invisible Man starring Claude Raines.

If there’s anything else exciting added, naturally CultBox will keep you posted.