"He won't harm her, he loves
Ann!"
"And what do you think he will do
when he realises, he has the wrong girl?!!"
Black Orchid is a small two-part oddity. But that is not in any
way a downer on the massive amount of charm and pathos that get crammed into
this delightful and yet tragic tale. What I mean by oddity is the fact that
this story is not easily classifiable. An historic romp is not exactly correct,
as romp implies some kind of good humour along the way, and actually Black
Orchid is serious to a tee. And this is the first time in the shows history
that the historical setting is not central to the story line, and no major
historical happening surrounds the story either, which far from being dull is
actually a nice touch and gives Black Orchid that totally standalone story
feel.
What it has is Sarah Sutton getting to have a story where she
is the focus. For a fan of Sarah's such as I, it is a delight to see her get a
decent story for once. Sarah is one of the actresses you never hear many fans
talking about, or I at least have never ever heard many people talking about
the kind orphan Trakenite often. Sarah is though, a wonderful actress, and Nyssa
never comes over as anything other than a wonderful, spirited and dependable
character in Nyssa. And not only that, but a nice, charming character too. That
she is so nice after her being an orphan and having lost her home world is
another pointer to how great it is that she has not been turned into a stone by
the fact. Her compassion and concern are wonderful to see in a character, and
distinctly rare, one finds. It is wonderful to see her turn as Ann Talbot. She
is very different to Nyssa. She is playful, but also very easily frightened as
she is caught up in events as they quickly progress. Her scenes with Nyssa
where they play with their identical costumes is mischievous and great fun.
There is just so much that is so rich and good in Black Orchid.
It is for one a breather from the harder sci fi stories set around. It is
amazingly designed too; the period costume is sumptuous and makes the show
sparkle wonderfully well.
Then there is the absolutely first-class cast. Ron Jones may
never be the most well remembered of Doctor Who directors, but here at least he
does a fantastic job of directing a sublimely picked cast. Barbara Murray for
instance as Lady Cranleigh is wonderfully two faced and hard. Lady Cranleigh's
treatment of her disfigured son George is absolutely abysmal and shocking.
Keeping a man, no matter how disfigured he may be in the mind or the body,
hidden away and kept from people is always a recipe for severe unpleasantness
and fallout.
Michael Cochrane is wonderful as Lord Cranleigh. And for once
it is nice to see a Lord presented as being reasonable and sociable, and not
overtly aloof and condescending. Indeed, before he suspects the Doctor of
murder, he is elated to see just how formidable the Doctor's turn as cricketer
is, almost making his team's score "respectable" after coming back
from an almost certain thrashing.
Gareth Milne is absolutely stunning as George. That he kills
three people is of course horrendous and wrong, but one can’t help but feel
very sympathetic towards his tragic character. His make up is absolutely
convincing, and his acting is even more wonderful. That he meets with such a
shattering, and accidental, end aboard a rooftop is so gutting and gives the
story a truly sombre finale indeed.
The cast is also bolstered no end by the excellent portrayal of
Robert Muir by the ever-reliable Moray Watson. His police man is not the usual
"Dr Who Dim wit yokel police man" act. He's given a great character
and he shines in this story. That he is displayed as an approachable and
agreeable man should be seen as a credit to the force, even if it is only in a
fictional story.
Janet Fielding gets to show that she is not totally disastrous
when it comes to dancing the Charleston, in fact she is pretty good. Adric of
course is simply flat footed so he of course contends himself with the food
instead! That the TARDIS team are for the most part of the opening episode seen
to be unwinding and at ease is delightful to watch. Hardly ever do we get
scenes of the TARDIS crew totally safe and at ease and getting to enjoy a
break. And Black Orchid part one is a wonderful and relaxing, but still
engaging break from the horrors soon about to come afterwards! But then with
part two comes the murder mystery and of course the Doctor has to be blamed for
it for a while. But this story is so wonderfully brought to life but such an
exquisite cast that this story just can’t be accused of being boring or
mundane.
From Black Orchid one can take away the feeling that this is
rather unfolding like an Agatha Christie tale. It has so much of the tone and
feel of an Agatha tone that one could easily mistake this story for being
penned by her.
Above all else Black Orchid is charming, distinctive and
beautifully shot. The period feel is exceptionally well achieved. The main cast
are all sublime. Peter Davison has already completely found his feet as the
Fifth Doctor and it radiates from him like sunlight. His more human and open
Doctor is well suited to a story of this type. It is actually a shame we never got
a few more of these totally historical period pieces again after this in the
show's original series. Well, one has to be glad that at least we have one
treasure in that ilk to enjoy whenever we want to.
Terrence Dudley is an underrated writer. He had some really
decent characters and some wonderful storylines which is more than just evident
in Black Orchid. This is definitively the best of his three stories for the
show though, that much has to be said. Yet another fine example of how
unpredictable and different the show can be when it wants to be. There is
nothing else quite like Black Orchid in the history of the programme. It is
wonderfully and touchingly unique and deserves to be far better remembered that
it often is.
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