“Black Orchid” is an adventure of the nineteenth season of “Doctor Who” classic series which aired in 1982. It follows “The Visitation” and it’s a two parts adventure written by Terence Dudley and directed by Ron Jones.

The story

The Tardis materializes on Earth and the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) sees that it’s a railway station in England in 1925. Together with Adric (Matthew Waterhouse), Tegan (Janet Fielding) and Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) he goes have a look around and meets Lord Cranleigh’s driver, who was sent to the station to welcome the Doctor and bring him to the Cranleigh mansion.

The Doctor takes advantage of what really looks like a mistaken identity and goes to the  Cranleigh estate, where he plays a cricket match. At the mansion, he and his companions are introduced to Ann Talbot, Lord Cranleigh’s fiancée, who is identical to Nyssa. Despite the convivial atmosphere, soon the Doctor starts realizing that there’s something strange in the mansion, especially when some murders are discovered.

Extras

This DVD contains a good amount of extras. There are typical contents such as production subtitles, the Radio Time Listings, an ad for the “Doctor Who” DVDs to be published soon and a gallery of pictures from this adventure.

There are comments in the adventure alternative audio track by protagonists Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton and Matthew Waterhouse.

Now and Then. A look at the places where this adventure was recorded to see what they used to look like and what they look like today.

Deleted Scenes. Some scenes partly or totally cut from this adventure.

Stripped for Action: The Fifth Doctor. The comics dedicated to the Fifth Doctor. As always in these cases, it’s an extra interesting for fans whose interest goes beyond the television productions.

Blue Peter. A look at the costumes used in this adventure in the TV show “Blue Peter”.

Points of View. A look at some opinions contrary to the move of the “Doctor Who” broadcast that happened in the nineteenth season.

Film Restoration. A brief explanation of the techniques used to restore this adventure.

There’s also an “Easter egg” but it’s just BBC ads for this adventure.

The budget for the nineteenth season covered the production of a total of 28 episodes. Therefore, in theory it was possible to produce 7 4-episode adventures but producer John Nathan-Turner decided to use the budget for two episodes for the pilot of the first spin-off attempt with Sarah Jane Smith, “K-9 And Company”. Nathan-Turner didn’t like 6-episode adventures so a 2-episode one was produced, “Black Orchid”.

The adventures set in Earth’s past were common in the ’60s but after “The Highlanders” even historical adventures had had a science fiction element. “Black Orchid” was the first after about 15 years to somehow return to the old format and was the last of that type in the classic series.

Another element used several times in “Doctor Who” used in “Black Orchid” is the doppelganger. In this case, it’s Ann Talbot, an Earth girl identical to Nyssa. Thanks to this dual role, in this adventure actress Sarah Sutton was able to be in the spotlight much more than before.

“Black Orchid” is above all as a detective story a bit in the Agatha Christie style where there are characters who are not exactly what they seem. The masked ball held by the Cranleigh family is somehow a metaphor for all that’s hidden in their mansion.

The Fifth Doctor, who is generally a bit weak and intervenes gently in the situations he gets involved in, in this case is forced to act with greater strength than usual to get out of the web of lies and deceit in which he got involved and defend himself from a murder charge.

The problem is that “Black Orchid” plot is overall a bit trite, based on various cliches, and for this reason it’s quite controversial among fans of “Doctor Who”. The production values are quite high by the standards of the classic series and the fans who appreciate that kind of setting generally have a good opinion of this adventure but for many others it’s simply boring or at least unexciting.

Even three of the four protagonists have a rather low opinion of “Black Orchid”. Obviously, Sarah Sutton is the one who has a positive opinion of this adventure instead but the comments in the alternate audio track of the DVD contain rather negative remarks by Peter Davison, Matthew Waterhouse and Jane Fielding and this is a unique and significant fact.

I can’t say that “Black Orchid” is awful and I think there are much worse “Doctor Who” adventures but I’m not a fan of that type of setting so I especially see its triteness. If Douglas Adams had still been the show script editor he could’ve defined “Black Orchid” mostly harmless.

In recent years the trend has been to include two parts adventures in box sets. Unfortunately the adventures that precede and follow “Black Orchid” had already been published in DVD and apparently there were no other ones to pair it with. The result is a DVD that, also for the type of extra included, seems targeted to “Doctor Who” fans. If you are not among those who appreciate this adventure, you might buy this DVD if you want to have the complete collection when you find it at a bargain price.