When many theatrical groups were forced to shut down for the war years, Paignton Pantomime continued. There was even an invitation from Torquay Council to put the pantomime on at the Pavilion Theatre, but this was found to be impractical. Eventually, the shortage of men became acute, and after three war time pantomimes between 1939 and 1942, the 1943/44 show was a revue called "Going Crackers". The final war year saw no Paignton pantomime, but following the war, the society was back in strength.

After the war many well known local and regional performers played for the society, but like all good things,the partnership between the two producers had to end. In 1959 Jack Baker was forced to retire due to the severe illness of his wife. It was a sad time, and at the end of the pantomime a mass of coloured balloons were released to drift over the heads of the audience. Unfortunately Jack was not there to see it. Left without a leader, the Operatic society helped things along, and Bill Coysh became Producer with Hector Farrant as Chairman. Jeffrey Snelson continued on for another few years but finally retired as Director in 1962 when he was in his mid 80s!! The 60s were a hard time, and the opening of the Princess Theatre saw a fall in audiences and the society found it differcult to compete with the large professional pantomime running well into February. In 1963 Gilbert Martin, the new Director, tried a new approach and staged "Where the Rainbow Ends". He followed this with "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", but as this wasn't Disney the public were not interested. Then it was the turn of Dougie Donald who took up the idea and directed "The Pied Piper", then professional Director Eileen Vaughan tried "Beauty an the Beast". Not one of these shows caused a sensation, and after four years it was back to traditional pantomime.

By the end of the 60s, the situation looked serious. The Festival Theatre had by now been opened, so with two major 1,500 seat theatres to compete against, one of which was showing ice pantos direct from London, the future looked unhealthy to say the least. One day early in 1970, the Vice-Chairman of the society (Stan Pike) was walking past the theatre when he bumped into Dorothy Harwood, a TV and radio singer who lived locally and who had also become a well known local performer with the operatic societes. She was to become a highly regarded director of musicals within the Bay, but that was still in the future, although she had been directing the pantomime at Newton abbot. Stan commented on how sad it was that PPP might come to an end, and Dorothy asked if anything could be done. He asked her if she would like to have a go. She accepted the challenge and directed the next twelve Paignton Pantomimes. She quickly found that the old favorites pulled the best audiences and she persuaded many talented performers from the local operatic societies to join the Pantomime. Her first four shows at the Palace were all huge successes playing to totally full houses and the society was back on top.

By 1973, the local theatre scene was starting to change yet again. The Council was finding it difficult to put suitable Christmas shows into the Festival Theatre. PPP's 1973/74 Panto "Dick Whittington" was deemed so good by the Council that they invited the society to take up the challenge of moving down to the Festival Theatre. There were objections from Equity as "A" class theatres were deemed the domain of the professional companies at Christmas. It was a big move for the society, having to gear up shows for a much larger stage, a 1,500 seat theatre instead of a 400 seat one, having to field a much larger cast, and coping with hugely increases costs. The first show at the Festival "Mother Goose" played for almost 2 weeks, and was a massive success. It cost £10,000 (a massive sum for an amatuer show in those days) but played to large houses, and so the Festival Theatre era had begun for PPP. The following year the Council decided to start staging professional variety shows at the Princess at Chistmas and leave the panto's to Paignton. This left PPP as the only large scale panto in the South west. Plymouth Theatre Royal was still just a pile of paper plans, and the other pantos were on a smaller scale. Audiences came from all over and the four pantos 1974/75 - 1978/79 were indeed arguably the most successful period in the society's history. Audinces of up to 18,000 flocked to the shows. Professional script writers were used, the shows were hugely spectacular. The 1978/79 panto was hit by blizzards mid-run which saw the cancellation of some performances, but much bigger trouble was just around the corner.

1n 1978 the old Palace Theatre in Plymouth reopened and staged an all star pantomime that ran for three months. Many said it would flop, in fact it was a spectacular success, but at the expense of the theatres in Torbay. Cornish panto audiences disappeared in the blink of the eye, audiences plummeted. All this coincided with the biggest Paignton Panto ever. The 1979/80 "Mother Goose" ran for three-and-a-half weeks with a professional comedain (Gordon Peters) as the star. It suffered small audiences and lost a massive sum. The professional "Emu in Pantoland" at the Princess Theatre also suffered poor houses, and the Council decided on a change of stategy. Professional panto for a shorter run at the Princess Theatre and persuade PPP to move back to the Palace with its pantomime. After the rough ride with "Mother Goose" the society was easily persuaded, but still hoped to return once more to the Festival after a while. So in 1980/81 it was back to the Palace with "Aladdin". The society quickly settled back into life at the Palace and soon decided that its future lay with the "Grand Old Lady of Palace Avenue". PPP also dabbled with two summer seasons of plays, one a success, one a miserable failure, but life went on. After 1982 Dorothy Harwood moved to America and Roger Bloxham took over the Director's reins and so began another era for the society.

Roger was well know to the society. He had constructed and painted all the scenery for many years, and ran a well known scenery firm which supplied show scenery for many theatre groups across the South of England. Roger directed the next 14 shows, some of them very successful indeed, icluding the 50th Anniversary and 60th aniversary shows. During this period the society purchased its own scenery store, and was also renting costume stores, but the hope of finding its own rehearsal rooms never materialised and the halls were still rented on an ad-hoc basis. The success of the shows in this period also helped the society to sep up its Theatrical Grant Scheme to help members who went onto professional training, and also to support in a much bigger way than it had been doing in the 60s and 70s. After fourteen shows, Roger departed for pastures new, and after one show directed by Reg Messenger, society member Iain Douglas took over productions in 1996/97. Iain had joined in 1980 so was well known in the Bay, and once again, another era had begun. The 2001/02 "Cinderella" played to the best audiences in 22 years, and all was set fair for the new Millennium. The society has also managed to gain a regular rehearsal base at St. Luke's Church Hall in Torquay, and with the closure of the Festival Theatre, The Palace once again is the main player in the theatrical life of the town.

The final curtain of "Cinderella" 2005/06 saw the closing of The Palace for a much awaited refurbishment. For the first time in its history PPP are taking their pantomime "Dick Whittington" out of Paignton, performing a reduced run at the Riviera International Conference Centre, Torquay. A challenge for the society with a larger venue and greatly increased costs. Surely a show not to be missed! Long live PPP!