Black Orchid

"Why do I always let my curiosity get the better of me?"

Writer: Terence Dudley 

Format: TV

Broadcast: 1st-2nd March 1985

Season: 19.05

Featuring: Fifth Doctor, Adric, Nyssa, Tegan

Synopsis 

England, 1925. The TARDIS materialises on a quiet railway platform where the Doctor, Tegan, Adric and Nyssa soon discover they are expected at an afternoon cricket match. And when the time travellers are invited ti stay at Cranleigh Hall for a fancy dress ball, it isn't long before they uncover a terrible family secret. Who is murdering the servants and why? A rare flower may hold the answer...

Verdict 

Black Orchid is an excellent little adventure plonked in the middle of this nineteenth season of Doctor Who. At this point Peter Davison has more than settled into his role as the Fifth Doctor and the companions are all at home with one another. There's no post-regenerative trauma, no alien menace, no squabbling. This is just a good old trip to 1920s Britain and the Doctor actually gets to play a game of cricket! His attire finally comes of use and we can see just why he's keen on being the Edwardian charter all the time - he's really rather good at cricket. As the Eleventh Doctor is fantastic at football in The Lodger, the Fifth Doctor demonstrates quite the skill for the sport. Although I'm anything but a cricket fan, I thought it was rather nice to see the Doctor genuinely having some fun. I loved the moment when the Doctor and co first meet everybody and the Master is mentioned. Of course, this did not refer to the Time Lord nemesis we last saw in Castrovalva. The Doctor's reaction to the misunderstanding was wonderful. Although it wouldn't be long before their paths crossed again. I've never been a massive fan of Tegan before (I've never disliked her either for the tecord) but I thought she was magnificent in this story! She looked splendid in her green fancy dress I must say. It's certainly a whole lot better than that air hostess uniform! This isn't Logopolis anymore! I liked the references to Full Circle, The Keeper of Traken and The Visitation, particularly the latter, but I must admit I did enjoy Alzarius and Traken being namedropped as places that Adric and Nyssa were wrong. They weren't wrong of course - just they wouldn't be found on Earth! Adric was pretty dull in this story, as usual you might say, but literally all he does in the two parts is criticise the railways and scoff his face. Every scene he featured in it just seemed to see him with a plate full of food. Tegan's dancing with Lord Charles was lovely and I loved how she was teaching him her modern Aussie lingo. She did enjoy that Charleston too! But of the companions, the obvious highlight was Nyssa in this story. Or namely Sarah Sutton. She got to play her double roll which was most intriguing. I bet she had some fun playing Ann, an Edwardian women, rather than a very intelligent Trakenite. The direction was very good in this story and for me to mention that is extremely rare so for it to have caught my attention it must have been impressive! The 1925 setting was refreshing and although this was a murder mystery story, I liked how this differed from The Unicorn and the Wasp in that there was no alien threat. This was just your classic whodunnit. The revelation surrounding Lady Cranleigh, Lord Charles and George was quite a sad story. Ann's former fiancé had actually returned but was somewhat worse for where. He'd successfully brought home the rare black orchid flower but it has literally cost him his tongue. He certainly owed a great deal to Latoni for surviving at all. The Doctor's wondering around the corridors after letting his curiosity get the better of him (I love it when that happens) was fantastic. He stumbled upon a dead body but in his absence his costume had been worn and a murder committed! The Doctor was almost being framed. The way he used the TARDIS for the police to see that he was actually telling the truth about being a time traveller was fabulous. Their reactions were excellent. The climax was entertaining with the fire providing some good danger but now the truth was all out. George however tragically fell off the roof and would not be reunited with his beloved Ann. Overall, a fun and very stylistic adventure. The cliffhanger could have perhaps been better but this was very good. 

Rating: 9/10