Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8883 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-04-14
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 50 minutes

Synopsis
Arriving on Earth in 1925, the Doctor—after be mistaken for someone else—ends up having to play cricket for a local team. The travellers are then invited to a masked ball at the country home of Lord Cranleigh, where events take a sinister turn after a number of murders are committed.

Customer Reviews

Excellent value for money release of a weaker story
At one point in the commentary for 'Black Orchid', someone remarks that this story feels like Terrence Dudley just dusted off a Miss Marple-style story he had written and added the Doctor into it. This tale has no science fiction elements at all, relies on heavy levels of coincidence to power its narrative.

The change of pace both marks it out in the season and also contributes to many of its weaknesses. There is so little narrative that the production resorts to a five minute cricket sequence in the first part (more on that later!) and corridor-wandering galore.

Still, it is hard to deny that the story has a unique feel and it is nice to see the Doctor go back in time.

The commentary for this story features the entire TARDIS crew who are on fine form. As others have noted, this is much more negative than most Davison commentaries because of the four actors only Sutton has a soft spot for the story. Whilst some will feel that they are too negative about a well-loved story, the commentary is frequently very funny indeed. One highlight for me is Peter Davison's synopsis of the cricket scene where he refers to an off-scene character, "Smutty", whose friend he has been mistaken for.

I emerged from the commentary more aware of the story's faults but much more fond of the story despite them. I may no longer be able to take it seriously but in many ways that is not such a bad thing as it has increased my enjoyment of it no end.

Amongst the other extra features there are also deleted scenes, a now and then featurette looking at the locations and a featurette on the Fifth Doctor's era in the comics. This last item is the sort of thing that will either appeal to you hugely or not at all. Suffice it to say that if you enjoy Doctor Who comics it is an interesting overview of the era from Doctor Who Monthly editors and artists - if not you will likely be skipping over it.

'Black Orchid' is certainly not one of the greatest Doctor Who stories of all time but the BBC has put together a good package of extras at an excellent price.

A Quiet Little Gem
Black Orchid was the fifth story to feature Peter Davison's Doctor and was notable for being a two-parter and the series first historical story since the Patrick Troughton days.

Now we Doctor Who fans can recite and quote all the facts and figures of any story, including this one, but what is so special about Black Orchid is that it is one of the very few stories that does not have to be watched with any appreiciation of science fiction, because apart from the TARDIS and the regular line up of characters there are no sci-fi elements at all, and that adds to the enjoyment enormously as it was quite a change of direction for the show at the time.

The whole story has a Sunday afternoon play of the week kind of feel, revolving around a type of Agatha Christie style murder mystery and is perfect for members of the casual viewing audience whom may not be interested in sci-fi but want a nice easy, pleasant hour of viewing.

It's ironic that Peter Davison himself does not like the story when this was the adventure where he finally shook off the shadow of Tom Baker and truly found his own interpretation of the part, he is very much in the minority as it is generally loved by almost everyone.

This was my favourite story in that crucial first year of Davison's and the fact that it was up against blockbusting Cybermen stories and more expensive shows and the first story of the fifth Doctor says a lot.

I have seen a provisional list of extras but as they have not been confirmed as such, I will leave their description to my fellow reviewers.

This is a huge thumbs up for the more quiet, gentle and character based stories of Doctor Who, to be enjoyed mainly for that reason, as there are not many of those in the original series.

Cricket
Black Orchid is something of a rare flower amongst the Doctor Who stories broadcast during the 1980s. It is only the story within this decade not to contain any alien aspects (apart from The Doctor,two of his companions and The Tardis). As with the later Terror of the Vervoids, this story clearly takes its influence from the novels of Agatha Christie. The story is set in the 1920s within a huge country house in which a murderer is stalking the corridors and threatening to spoil teh fun at a lavish ball.
As with an Agatha Christie novel, there are plenty of twists and turns.
The Doctor and his companions arrive in 1920s England and are mistaken for participants at a cricket match to take place near to where The Tardis lands. Despite the implausability of this, the cricket match offers a chance to see the new Doctor indulging in his favourite sport and helping to justify his choice of regualr outfit.
In a fairly diverse season, this adventure was broadcast prior to the excellent Earthshock and excluding the cricket scenes, the story unfolds under a much slower pace than the action packed story that followed.
The story also gives companion Nyssa more of a role, and it is easy to see this was one of the favourites of actress Sarah Sutton. Davison is excellent as usual as The Doctor and is backed by a good supporting cast.
This is worth watching on DVD.