The Happiness Patrol

] [cite web
url= http://www.shannonsullivan.com/drwho/serials/7l.html
title= The Happiness Patrol
publisher = A Brief History of Time Travel
last = Sullivan
first = Shannon
date = 2007-08-07
accessdate = 2008-08-30]
* Working titles for this story included "The Crooked Smile".Brief | id=7l | title=The Happiness Patrol]
* In the story, the Doctor sings "As Time Goes By", the song famously sung by Dooley Wilson in the 1942 film "Casablanca".
* Helen A was originally a Margaret Thatcher parody, although most of this element was eventually toned down.
* John Normington played Morgus in "The Caves of Androzani", and later appeared in "Ghost Machine", an episode of the "Doctor Who" spin-off "Torchwood".
* The production team considered transmitting this story in black and white to fit with its intended film noir atmosphere. A fan myth holds that the third episode was supposed to be animated, but this was never the case.http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/happinesspatrol/trivia.shtml]

Broadcast and reception

* Bassett's complained over the similarity between the Kandy Man in this story and [http://www.cadbury.com/ourbrands/otherfavouritebrands/candy/bassetts/Pages/Overview.aspx their trademark character] . The BBC agreed not to use the Kandy Man again.
* In "The Discontinuity Guide", Paul Cornell, Martin Day and Keith Topping argue that there is a gay subtext to the story: "there's entrapment over cottaging, the TARDIS is painted pink, and the victim of the fondant surprise is every inch the proud gay man, wearing, as he does, a pink triangle." [cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/happinesspatrol/detail.shtml |title=The Happiness Patrol — In Detail |accessdate=2008-10-02 |last=Cornell |first=Paul |authorlink=Paul Cornell |coauthors=Martin Day and Keith Topping |date=1995 |work=The Discontinuity Guide |publisher=Reprinted at bbc.co.uk] The story ends with Helen A's husband abandoning her and leaving with another man.
* In 2005, this story came 24th in Channel 5's "The Most Shameful TV Moments Ever"; with the claim that here was where "Doctor Who" finally "jumped the shark" and ran out of ideas).

Commercial releases

This serial was released on VHS on 4 August 1997.

In print

Doctorwhobook
title=The Happiness Patrol
series=Target novelisations
number=146
featuring=


writer=Graeme Curry
publisher=Target Books
coverartist=Alister Pearson
isbn=0 426 20339 9
set_between=
pages=
date=15 February 1990
preceding=Planet of Giants
following=The Space Pirates|A 140 page novelisation of this serial, written by Graeme Curry, was published by Target Books in February 1990. It is the 146th Doctor Who novel.

References

External links

*BBCCDW|id=happinesspatrol|title=The Happiness Patrol
*Doctor Who RG | id=who_7l | title=The Happiness Patrol
*OG|7l|The Happiness Patrol
* [http://nzdwfc.tetrap.com/archive/tsv42/sts-happinesspatrol.html "Script to Screen: The Happiness Patrol", by Jon Preddle ("Time Space Visualiser" issue 42, January 1995)]

Reviews

*OG review | id=7l | title=The Happiness Patrol
*DWRG | id=happ | title=The Happiness Patrol

Target novelisation

* [http://www.personal.leeds.ac.uk/~ecl6nb/OnTarget/1990/happines/90happin.htm On Target — "The Happiness Patrol"]