 This story came about when Script Editor Andrew Cartmel met with writer Graeme Curry in February 1987 and invited him to pitch ideas for Season Twenty Five. This resulted in the development of a story set on a planet where unhappy people were persecuted. This expand into both a commentary on modern-day superficiality and the policies of Margaret Thatcher’s reigning Conservative government - the latter being especially obvious in the character of Graeme Curry’s dictator, Helen A.
Graeme Curry initially titled his story "The Happiness Patrol". This was soon changed to "The Crooked Smile" but by the time it was commissioned, in September 1988, Producer John Nathan-Turner asked that the title revert back to "The Happiness Patrol".
In the course of scripting this story Graeme Curry, with Andrew Cartmel’s agreement, decided to tone down the anti-Thatcher elements. He also curtailed the scope of the piece, which originally spanned several weeks. To compensate for the fact that all the action now took place over a single night. This resulted in having Helen A’s regime already crumbling at the start of the story. Other changes included the removal of a prison area called Arcadia, complete with dozens of fruit machines and an elaborate go-kart game; this was replaced with the far simpler Waiting Zone.
In the Forum, The Doctor and Ace were originally forced to entertain their audience or be executed. This was removed as it was felt to be too similar to elements of "The Greatest Show in the Galaxy" - the story that followed this one.
Initially, Ace tricked Susan Q into helping escape instead of Susan Q doing so willingly.
The snipers were renamed David S and Alex S, from Stan S and Sid S, though billed in the Radio Times, these were never mentioned onscreen.
John Normington, who played the part of Trevor Sigma, previously played Morgus in the 1984 Fifth Doctor story "The Caves of Androzani". He later appeared in the Torchwood story "Ghost Machine".
Among the actresses considered for the role of Helen A were Jill Bennett and Keeping Up Appearances' Patricia Routledge. The part of Helen A eventually went to Sheila Hancock. While Prunella Ransome and Rosalind Ayres were amongst those considered for the role of Susan Q.
Although identified only as ‘Killjoy' in the closing credits to the first episode, the character played by Mary Healey is named Daphne S, as confirmed by the poster at the conclusion of the second episode.
Earl Sigma’s instrument was changed from a trumpet to a harmonica. It was played not by Earl Sigma actor Richard D Sharp but, from out of vision, by musician Adam Burney.
The howl of Fifi, Helen A’s pet Stigorax, was actually the modulated sound of director Chris Clough’s own voice.
The director assigned to this story was Chris Clough. As with the previous season, it had been planned that the final six episodes of Season Twenty Five would comprise of a three-part location-only story ("Silver Nemesis") and a three-part studio-only story ("The Happiness Patrol"). Clough had helmed their Season Twenty Four counterparts ("Delta and the Bannermen" and "Dragonfire", respectively) and so was brought back to handle the two three-part stories in this season as well.
It was Chris Clough and John Nathan-Turner who decided to completely reinvent the visual look of the Kandy Man. In Graeme Curry’s scripts, the Kandy Man was basically human in appearance - the fact that he was made out of sweets was rather subtle. Chris Clough and John Nathan-Turner decided that they wanted the Kandy Man to be much more obviously robotic, and so make-up designer Dorka Nieradzik - using Michelin Tires’ seminal Michelin Man icon as a basis - put together an outfit which looked as though it were literally made of giant candies.
During the studio recording Chris Clough found the studio-bound ‘exteriors’ cumbersome to work in, severely limiting his ability to plan interesting camera angles. To compensate, he wanted to give this story a film noir feel by using various off-kilter perspectives, as was done in the 1949 Orson Welles movie The Third Man. This idea though was vetoed by John Nathan-Turner, who felt the technique would be too disorienting.
For the Pipe People, it was thought for a time that they might be achieved using puppets; eventually, however, the decision was made to employ eight child actors in costume. Conversely, Fifi was actually several different puppets. The idea of hiring an actor to play the creature was dismissed because John Nathan-Turner wanted Fifi to be comparatively small.
In post-production, all three episodes were found to overrun severely, and a number of cuts were made. These included a scene, in the first episode, where the Kandy Man slices off his own finger only to calmly reattach it; Susan Q revealing that she was demoted from Susan L because of a smuggled blue record; The Doctor escaping at the start of the second episode only to return when he realises that Earl Sigma has been captured; and the Kandy Man’s actual death scene in part three, the execution of which had left Chris Clough dissatisfied.
Season Twenty Five was originally scheduled to start in September 1988, with "The Happiness Patrol" due to be the fourth and final story of this season. But due to the BBC's broadcast of the Seoul Olympics the start of this season was pushed back to the beginning of October. Because John Nathan-Turner still wanted to begin the season with "Remembrance of the Daleks" and have the Twenty Fifth Anniversary story, "Silver Nemesis", begin on the 23rd November (the actual date of the anniversary), this left only three weeks in between the two stories. As a result, "The Happiness Patrol" was moved up into this gap - so swapping places with the four-part "The Greatest Show in the Galaxy".
The Doctor is heard telling Ace about the events of the 1974 Third Doctor story "Invasion of the Dinosaurs" - namely his confrontation with a Triceratops as well as a Pteradactyl in the Underground. He also mentions The Brigadier. The Seventh Doctor and Ace later meet The Brigadier in the 1989 story "Battlefield".
In "Battlefield", Mordred tells The Doctor, who is threatening him with a sword, to ‘Look me in the eye. End my life!’, which is the same line The Doctor says to a sniper threatening his life in this story.
It is revealed that The Doctor can sing, performing ‘As Time Goes By’, the song famously sung by Dooley Wilson in the 1942 film Casablanca. While Ace can’t sing, dance or play an instrument.
It is revealed that Ace hates lift music but loves dinosaurs.
Ace describes the story of the Pixies song ‘Gigantic’ to Susan Q. She also wears a Pixies badge.
The Doctor mentions his nickname in his academy days on Gallifrey was ‘Theta Sigma’. The Doctor’s classmate Drax referred to him by this nickname in the 1979 Fourth Doctor story "The Armageddon Factor".
It is clear that the character of Helen A was intended to be a caricature of then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. In 2010, Sylvester McCoy told the Sunday Times that: ‘Our feeling was that Margaret Thatcher was far more terrifying than any monster The Doctor had encountered’. In this story The Doctor’s call on the drones to, down their tools and revolt, was intended as a reference to the 1984-1985 miners’ strike. Along with other political references these were eventually toned down.
The Doctor uses lemonade to stick the Kandy Man’s feet to the ground and water to unstick him.
This story contains a number of errors. Namely: In the first episode, while The Doctor is repairing the buggy, a member of the Happiness Patrol is seen running onto the set too soon, realises, and runs back; No reason is given why the Happiness Patrol shoot Silas P (as they know who he is); In the second episode the Kandy Man’s microphone picks up quite a bit of the Seventh Doctor’s dialogue; In the scenes set in the underground tunnels in the third episode the Kandy Man has no metal brace around his mouth. This was added to the costume following initial recordings to try to disguise the features of the actor inside; The aliens’ costumes display maps of Paris; The man at the box office is so unhappy he’s lucky not to be arrested.
It has been revealed that the production team considered transmitting this story in black and white to fit with its intended film noir atmosphere. In an interview for issue 425 of the Doctor Who Magazine, Sylvester McCoy has revealed that had he known he would have begged the Production Team to film this story in black and white, as he thought the sets were lacking.
There also existed, amongst some fans at the time, a myth that the third episode was intended to consist of animation rather than live action.
This story was Graham Curry’s only contribution to Doctor Who, and also Chris Clough’s last story. Feeling that he had little more to offer the programme, Chris Clough went on to work on shows such as The Bill (for which Graham Curry also wrote) and Casualty.
After the broadcast of this story the BBC received a letter from the chairmen of Bassett Foods plc complaining that the Kandy Man infringed on the trademark of the company’s advertising icon, Bertie Bassett. After investigating the matter the BBC Copyright Department confirmed that no transgressions had occurred - but they agreed not to use the Kandy Man in any future storylines.
The novelisation of this story, written by Graeme Curry, was published by Target Books in February 1990. Graeme Curry adapted his scripts rather than the televised version and so it includes a number of scenes, cut during editing, and his original envisioning of the Kandy Man with a human appearance, albeit with powdery white skin and edible candy-cane glasses.
The Doctor encounters the Kandy Man again in the Decalog 2 - Lost Property story "The Trials of Tara", written by Paul Cornell.
The TARDIS was also painted in the 1987 story "Paradise Towers" and it gets painted again in the 2005 Ninth Doctor story "Aliens of London/World War Three".
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The Firsts:
The first Doctor Who story to be written by Graeme Curry.
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(Position = 116 out of 159)
(Position = 170 out of 200)
(Position = 172 out of 241)
