"Doctor Who"
Black Orchid: Part 1 (1982)

Director:

Ron Jones

Writer:

Terence Dudley (written by)

TV Series:

"Doctor Who" (1963)

Original Air Date:

1 March 1982 (Season 19, Episode 17)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Australian | 1920s | Man With No Name | Extraterrestrial Hero | Famous Opening Theme

Cast

Peter Davison	...	The Doctor
Sarah Sutton	...	Nyssa / Ann
Janet Fielding	...	Tegan
Matthew Waterhouse	...	Adric
Barbara Murray	...	Lady Cranleigh
Moray Watson	...	Sir Robert Muir
Michael Cochrane	...	Lord Cranleigh
Brian Hawksley	...	Brewster
Timothy Block	...	Tanner
Ahmed Khalil	...	Latoni
Gareth Milne	...	The Unknown

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Buckhurst House, Withyham, East Sussex, England, UK

Trivia:

John Nathan-Turner first offered Lady Cranleigh the main guest starring role To Dinah Sheridan but she was N/A.

Quotes:

Adric: So, what is a railway station?
The Doctor: Well, a place where one embarks and disembarks from compartments on wheels drawn along these tracks by a steam engine - rarely on time
Nyssa: What a very silly activity.
The Doctor: You think so? As a boy, I always wanted to drive one.

"I've got a ripping idea!" A historical Doctor Who story.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Doctor Who: Black Orchid: Part 1 starts as the TARDIS arrives at Cranleigh Holt train station at 3 O'Clock on June the 11th 1925, emerging from the TARDIS the Doctor (Peter Davison), Nyssa (Sarah Suton), Tegan (Janet Fielding) & Adric (Matthew Waterhouse) are greeted by a chauffeur named Tanner (Timothy Block) who works for Lord Charles Cranleigh (Michael Cochrane) & due to a case of mistaken identity the Doctor finds himself participating in a local cricket match. After the match Lord Cranleigh invites the Doctor & his friends to a masked fancy dress ball at his estate, the Doctor accepts although all is not as it seems as there seems to be someone or something loose in the house & it isn't friendly...

Episode 17 from season 19 this Doctor Who adventure was originally aired here in the UK during March 1982 & was Peter Davison's fifth story as the Doctor during his first season, directed by Ron Jones I really rather liked Black Orchid for what it was. This two part story (the show's shortest story since The Sontaran Experiment (1975) from season 12 & remained the shortest until the series ended) was written by Terence Dudley & was only commissioned because producer John Nathan-Turner disliked six part stories & since two episodes were left in season 19 this was the end result, I must admit I really liked the period 1920's setting & a lot of Black Orchid is building up the mood & atmosphere which I liked from the quaint cricket match to the costumes to the dialogue which is much better than usual as are the supporting character's. So far Black Orchid has moved along at a decent pace & I must admit it's one of the more unpredictable Doctor Who stories with a great air of mystery about it & I'm genuinely looking forward to Part 2 to see where it goes & what's going on. The story itself has featured no sci-fi elements at all apart from the TARDIS landing & has come across as an effective Agatha Christie style murder mystery which is just that bit different than usual & I've enjoyed it. Black Orchid has Nyssa look exactly like Ann for reasons I can't figure out because at the moment there's no reason for it, maybe it'll have more significance during Part 2.

This has to be one of the best looking Doctor Who stories ever & certainly one of the best stories from the 80's, the period is very well recreated in both the studio & on location at Buckhurst Park in East Sussex which was used as Lord Cranleigh's estate which was also used in the filming of Davison's opening story Castrovalva (1982). There hasn't been any monsters or a single bad special effect in Black Orchid for the simple reason there hasn't been any effects apart from when Nyssa & Ann need to be on screen at the same time, having said that I don't know if it's just me but I didn't think Ann looked like Nyssa anyway even though they are both played by Sarah Sutton, I think it was the totally different hairstyles that made them look so different to me. It was good fun to see Davison's Doctor play in a cricket match & judging by this he ain't half bad, he then gets out of his traditional Doctor outfit & spends most of the episode in a fetching silk bath robe!

Black Orchid: Part 1 is a departure from the normal Doctor Who story & I for one applaud that as it works very well, it has good production values, an engaging plot & has the Doctor play cricket, what more do you want?