
Doctor Who gets political, camp, and candy-coated all at once in The Happiness Patrol. On Terra Alpha, Helen A rules with a smile—and a gun—while her confectionary executioner, The Candy Man, dishes out death by fondant. Pete and Chris dive into this neon-noir dystopia, unpack the not-so-subtle Thatcher parallels, and debate whether Sylvester McCoy’s most infamous outing is biting satire, glorious camp, or both. Happiness will prevail… but only if the Randomizer allows it.
Give your own rating for The Happiness Patrol on Spotify!
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel and become a True Companion of the podcast to get new episodes before everyone else!
Subscribe to our newsletter at pulltoopen.net for extended notes on The Happiness Patrol.
Support the podcast by becoming a patron of Pull To Open on Patreon.
Please review Pull To Open on Apple Podcasts.
Timeline:
- Intro 00:00:00Previously… 00:01:47Whomoji Challenge 00:07:57POLL to Open 00:12:44TL;DW 00:19:16Commentary: The Happiness Patrol 00:21:36History Corner 01:07:22:21Four Questions to Doomsday 01:09:17What If the Evil Plot Had Succeeded? 01:14:08Where Is the Clara Splinter? 01:18:58Final Judgment 01:23:21Randomizer! 01:30:29
Follow us on:
- TikTok: @pulltoopenInstagram: @pulltoopen63Facebook: @pulltoopen63X: @pulltoopen63Threads: @pulltoopen63Bluesky: @pulltoopen
Play Pull To Open Bingo
Story Essentials
- Season 25, Serial 2Story number: 152, per the The Pull To Open CodexWriter: Graeme CurryDirector: Chris CloughScript Editor: Andrew CartmelProducer: John Nathan-TurnerAired 2–16 November 1988
Pull To Open: The Happiness Patrol
- Season 6Episode 26
Hosts: Pete Pachal and Chris Taylor
Music: Martin West/Thinking Fish
©️AnyWho Media LLC 2025
Doctor Who ©️BBC 1963