"GILBERT M!"

Onto the second episode of DW Series 25 and "The Happiness Patrol".

The story takes place on the planet Terra Alpha where the overall law there is for all inhabitants to be happy all the time or die. Probably safe to say that I wouldn't survive on that planet for a second.

Anyway the Doctor and Ace arrive with their overall intention being to get arrested where they encounter people such as leader Helen A played by Sheila Hancock who was meant to be a caricature of Mrs Thatcher.

As is normally the circumstances in a Doctor Who story, the Doctor and his companion get separated from each other where Ace befriends Susan Q as played by Lesley Dunlop and the Doctor joins forces with Earl Sigma, a blues musician from Earth.

It is at this point of the epsiode where we're introduced to the infamous Kandyman, a rather unpleasant looking monster assisted by Gilbert M, and bears an ugly resemblance to Bertie Basset with one of the most irritating voices ever from a Doctor Who character.

Well, apart from Melanie Bush.

The company wrote to the BBC saying that the character could potentially damage the sales of their Liquorice Allsorts so producer John Nathan-Turner made sure that the Kandyman's appearance in this story would be it's sole appearance in the series.

According to Wikipedia, Channel 5 listed this episode amongst the 50 Most Shameful Moments in television suggesting that this was where Doctor Who "jumped the shark" which I thought was a bit unfair.

It was a lot more creative, yet satirical in places than most of the preceeding stories, even if it did reflect the overuse of bright colours on television around the time.

It's worth mentioning some of the conventions used within the series that had even become commonplace by the time of transmission.

In this episode it was the way that "killjoys" were executed by having red slime dropped on them, and around the same time Noel Edmonds had began doing the same on his Saturday Roadshow.

In the previous episode with the Daleks, a plasma ball was used as a prop for the Time Controller, as well as a Dalek being disabled by fiber optics, both of which are now popular bedroom items and familiar sights in Oxford Street tourist shops.

Other familiar faces in the episode included the late Ronald Fraser as Joseph C and Daisy K was played by Georgina Hale who took over from Liz Estensen as T-Bag in the popular children's series from Thames Television.

I'm taking a break from the episodes for a couple of hours as PY's about to provide the good stuff on Jazz FM, although it looks as if I may get through the rest quicker than I thought I would.