People are losing their faces to an alien intelligence inhabiting TV signals called The Wire. It is very hungry (see Paradise Towers!)

 Eddie, the father of the family that the Doctor and Rose meet, is a total fascist and is making life hard for his family and for anyone wanting to know what is happening to the people in the street. The Doctor finds that Eddie's mother-in-law has lost her face but before he can follow any leads he's knocked out by the police who dash off and hide themselves behind an old wooden gate.

A detective is putting the faceless people away and is unable to find out who is causing it. The Doctor investigates and finds the cage of the faceless ones but, unfortunately, Rose is also investigating and, after discovering Mr Magpie, loses her face as a result.

Mr Magpie, the TV seller, is being coerced by The Wire, who's ultimate goal is to eat 20 million humans while they're watching the coronation. This will enable it to manifest. With the help of Alexandra Palace Television transmitter The Wire looks like it will achieve its goals.

 I've never really liked historicals, prefering something like The Impossible Planet, but when it contains such rich characters, situations and story telling, and it's over in 45 minutes, then it's definitely worthwhile. I didn't really like all the angled camera angles initially but I quickly got used to it and it added a certain atmosphere to the story.

There's a particular scene where the Doctor finds Mr Magpie's shop and discovers that all the faces of the victims are trapped in TV sets. Rose's face is in black and white calling 'Doctor', 'Doctor' silently. The lighting and the angles make it a very scary scene.

 Mark Gatiss' script was lovingly and accurately realised in this episode and the cast were superb. I especially liked the actress who played The Wire as she didn't go over the top with her 'hungry, hungrrrrryyyyy' routine like other actors have done in the past. (See Paradise Towers!)

I especially liked a few of the gags and I'd be really interested in reading a novelisation as, apparently, Mark had written lots of who references into the original script, as well as a number of Doctor speeches. (Hmm, I wonder if there were any Paradise Towers references?)

Definitely worth watching. 8/10