Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

Today, it’s time to check out the second story in Season 25 of the classic ‘Doctor Who’ TV series called ‘The Happiness Patrol’, starring Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor and Sophie Aldred as Ace. I’ve updated and extended my thoughts on the story, based on my revisit of ‘The Happiness Patrol’ via the Season 25 Blu-ray box set. ‘The Happiness Patrol’ is a three-part adventure by Graeme Curry, who sadly passed away in 2019. Like ‘Remembrance of the Daleks’, there are two versions of the story on two discs in the Season 25 Blu-ray box set. There’s the original three-part story on Disc 3 and the three-part Special Edition version of ‘The Happiness Patrol’ on Disc 4.

I’ve revisited ‘The Happiness Patrol’ via its Special Edition version with an extended edit of the story and new CGI effects. In my initial review on ‘The Happiness Patrol’ back in 2018, I shared I wasn’t very keen on the story. Have my thoughts changed in my revisit of the story via its Special Edition version on Blu-ray? I’ve enjoyed some of the exclusive Blu-ray special features on ‘The Happiness Patrol’, including the ‘Behind the Sofa’ item featuring Sylvester McCoy, Sheila Hancock, Sophie Aldred, Janet Fielding, Wendy Padbury, Sarah Sutton, Bonnie Langford and Nicola Bryant. It’s also been nice to see the latest ‘In Conversation’ interviews with Sophie Aldred and director Chris Clough, conducted by Matthew Sweet. There’s also ‘Q&A: When Sophie Met Leslie’ featuring Sophie Aldred reunited with Leslie Dunlop who played Susan Q in ‘The Happiness Patrol’. There’s also a ‘Newsnight’ item on Disc 3 of the Season 25 Blu-ray box set that I found fascinating. 🙂

Please feel free to check out, read and comment on my updated review for ‘The Happiness Patrol’ by clicking on the link for it. This contains a review on the TV story. There’s also a brand-new review on the ‘Girls! Girls! Girls! – The Eighties’ discussion featuring Sarah Sutton, Janet Fielding and Sophie Aldred, which was originally on the ‘Paradise Towers’ DVD and is now included on Disc 3 of the Season 25 Blu-ray box set containing the original three-part TV version of ‘The Happiness Patrol’. In my updated review on ‘The Happiness Patrol’, I’ve created a new video of Cuddles, my cuddly toy dog, reacting to Fifi, Helen A’s space dog-like pet in the story.

You can purchase ‘Doctor Who – The Collection – Season 25’ on Blu-ray either from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com.

Enjoy!

Bye for now!

Tim. 🙂