Malcolm J Stewart, in his review of “The Happiness Patrol”:
In the commentary accompanying this story, it is revealed that, when initially interviewed for the DVD, scriptwriter Graeme Curry’s response was to question why it was being released at all, given how little people liked it.
Curry should have had more faith in his own work. There are problems with The Happiness Patrol, but they’re not weaknesses in vision or approach. They’re the effects of institutional neglect: a cheap-as-chips studio system that increasingly wasn’t up to the job of making drama of this kind.
No, looking back, it’s clear that for Doctor Who to become the show it needed to be, it wasn’t Doctor Who that needed to change. It was the BBC.
Compare this to the faith that the BBC puts into Doctor Who today.
BBC politics have always fascinated me and I think that interest started because of how Doctor Who was treated in the 80s.
Join Adam, Andi and Stephen as they start to tackle one of the most controversial stories in Doctor Who’s history. Does it deserve it’s terrible reputation? Do we really need constant cutaways to court? How many crash zooms can one face stand? Will Adam give in to Andi’s utterly random demands to put the song Sex Dwarf into this episode? And is the world truly ready for a sexy William Hartnell Halloween costume?
Now this is actually quite brilliant.
In a break from our planned schedule Adam and Not Andi (or Steve as he prefers to be known) take a trip back to the 90s and look at Virgin’s The New Adventure books. They talk about their influence on current Who, favourite authors, misconceptions, violence, swearing and what exactly is the best way to get this unfortunate taste out of their mouths.
Talking Who’s podcasting special, featuring Adam from The Naked Scarf, James from The Doctor Who Podcast, Phil from Who’s He and Laura from The Ood Cast.
Adam and Andi examine their first 11th Doctor story. They tackle such topics as The Power Of Love, Amy Pond’s true occupation, the career of James Corden and why exactly Andi wouldn’t want to flat-share with the 5th Doctor.
Producer Marcus Wilson revealed in the latest Doctor Who Magazine that two classic monsters will return in season seven. And while the Daleks have to be considered almost a dead certainty for one of those two slots, especially considering they had only a very brief cameo in the last series, it’s anyone’s guess what the other monster will be.
Fingers crossed it’s the Ice Warriors. Also I wouldn’t shed a tear if the Daleks had another year off.
Inspired by Alan Moore’s run on DC Comics’ Swamp Thing and armed with new companion Ace, a trouble Dorothy Gale with a dark past who came closer to the Doctor and understanding him than any of his pre-2005 waifs and strays ever had before, script editor Andrew Cartmel began to construct darker, more intense stories that suited the darker, more intense delivery of Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor, the cosmic chessmaster who moved his enemies and allies across the board with an enthusiasm that bordered on callous.
Love the fact that Happiness Patrol is on there.
