 "Black Orchid" is a two part story that is considered to be the first ‘true historical’ story in nearly 20 years of Doctor Who.
For Season Eighteen, Producer John Nathan-Turner managed to secure a budget for twenty-eight episodes - two more than had previously been the norm. Because John Nathan-Turner felt that lengthy stories were no longer viable, meant that a season could consist solely of four-part stories, rather than incorporating a six-episode story as had been the tradition since the mid-Seventies. Season Nineteen was originally planned to follow this format as well. However, John Nathan-Turner decided to use two of the allocated episodes to make a one-hour pilot for the proposed spin-off special "K9 and Company: A Girl's Best Friend". This meant that he would now require a two-part story for Doctor Who - the first time a story of this length had appeared in the programme’s schedule since the 1975 Fourth Doctor story "The Sontaran Experiment".
Each season for the Fifth Doctor would include at least one story containing just two episodes.
Being only two episodes long John Nathan-Turner decided that this story would be a good story to assign to a novice director. One of John Nathan-Turner’s colleagues, when he had worked on the show as its Production Unit Manager, was Ron Jones who had briefly worked in radio before moving into television as an Assistant Floor Manager. Having recently completed the BBC's internal directors course Ron Jones had directed some segments for Blue Peter. "Black Orchid" however, would be his first proper credit as a director.
This story was commissioned by John Nathan-Turner during a period when the show did not have a Script Editor.
One notable element of this story is that it centres mainly around companion Nyssa. John Nathan-Turner liked the fact that this story would put Nyssa in the spotlight as other Season Nineteen stories were already focussing on her fellow companions ("Kinda" for Tegan Jovanka and "Earthshock" for Adric) and with so many regular characters it was felt that this would help viewers relate to each one.
Sarah Sutton played both companion Nyssa and Ann Talbot. Although Ron Jones planned his shots to keep Nyssa and Ann Talbot from appearing together as much as possible, this was not always feasible. Vanessa Paine was therefore hired to double as either Nyssa or Ann depending on the requirements of the shot. Other scenes were achieved using a split screen effect. Although Sarah Sutton was credited in both episodes as playing 'Nyssa/Ann' she was billed only as Nyssa in the Radio Times.
This story is sometimes referred as being the first purely historical adventure for The Doctor since the 1966/67 Second Doctor story "The Highlanders". Although it takes place in an earlier era, it is not explicitly a history-based adventure, unlike "The Highlanders". "Black Orchid" is though the first non-science fictional story (disregarding the TARDIS and the presence of The Doctor and two non-Earthling individuals) since "The Highlanders" and it has been the last to date.
A good deal of location filming took place for this story, though stock footage was used for the steam train departing in episode.
Much of the location filming for "Castrovalva", the story which preceded "Black Orchid" into production, had taken place on the grounds of Buckhurst Park in Withyam, East Sussex. Because the cast and crew had been warmly welcomed by the estate’s owner, Earl De La Warr, John Nathan-Turner approached the Earl about using the main residence as Dalton Hall for this story. The Earl however, was less eager to feature the house itself in Doctor Who, but ultimately consented on the condition that personal photography was strictly controlled.
Mainly due to how Director Ron Jones coped with delays during studio recording, caused by an industrial dispute, John Nathan-Turner was impressed by how Ron Jones had handled these difficult circumstances, and immediately hired him to helm the season finale, "Time-Flight", which had just lost its intended director.
This story follows directly from "The Visitation" (Nyssa asks if it is safe for the TARDIS to return to Earth after what they've just done to London).
Look out for the scene where Sir Robert thinks that Traken is near Esher and Lord Cranleigh thinks that Alzarius is a Baltic state.
There is a reference to 'The Master' in the first episode, referring to the famous cricketer, probably England batsman Jack Hobbs, rather than The Doctor’s nemesis.
Michael Cochrane, who plays Lord Cranleigh, also appears in the 1989 Seventh Doctor story "Ghost Light".
Ivor Salter, who plays Sergeant Markham, had previously appeared in the 1965 First Doctor stories "The Space Museum" (as the Morok Commander) and "The Myth Makers" (as Odysseus).
The character of Ann Talbot reappears, as Lady Ann Cranleigh, in Virgin Books’ The Missing Adventures novel "The Sands of Time" written by Justin Richards.
Actor Gareth Milne was credited as 'The Unknown' in the first episode in order to conceal the murderer’s identity, which would not be revealed until the second episode.
The Doctor claims he always wanted to drive a steam train as a boy.
The song The Doctor is singing in the bath is "I Want to be Happy" from the musical No No Nanette which is fairly apt as that production had its debut in 1925 - the year this story was set.
It is revealed that Tegan enjoys cricket and can Charleston (which she learnt for a play when she was in school).
While other stories have featured incidental indications that The Doctor likes cricket (the 1978 Fourth Doctor story "The Ribos Operation", the Fifth Doctor stories "Castrovalva", "Four to Doomsday" and the 2007 Tenth Doctor story "Human Nature/The Family of Blood"), this is the only televised story to depict The Doctor playing in an actual match. (Peter Davison, a keen cricketer, actually did play). The Fifth Doctor’s particular love of the game would be later developed in the Big Finish Productions audio stories "Phantasmagoria", "The Roof of the World" and "Circular Time".
The Doctor is also seen skilfully playing a sport (a football match) in the 2010 Eleventh Doctor story "The Lodger".
At one point The Doctor gets trapped in the hallway and moans about how he always lets his curiosity get the best of him. His curiosity has previously got him into bad predicaments in the First Doctor stories, "The Daleks", "The Web Planet" and "The Time Meddler" and also the 1980 Fourth Doctor story "The Leisure Hive".
Even though this story’s villain is seen as being George Cranleigh the remaining characters are not evil or bad people, but have a vested interest in maintaining appearances to avoid the embarrassment of a disfigured relative.
This story contains a number of errors. Namely: Peter Davison and Gareth Milne (who plays George Cranleigh) are of substantially different heights, yet the same costume fits both of them perfectly and in the rooftop shots, you can clearly see that the film has been horizontally flipped, because of the odd angle of the smoke’s ascent.
In the commentary of the DVD release of this story both Peter Davison and Janet Fielding have revealed that "Black Orchid" is not a particular favourite story of theirs. This was mainly because they disliked the script and because of the lack of a science fiction element.
The story was repeated on BBC One in August/September 1983.
A novelisation of this story, written by Terence Dudley, was published by Target Books in September 1986. It was the final Fifth Doctor story to be novelised, but did not complete the Fifth Doctor’s era as "Resurrection of the Daleks" has to date not been novelised due to disputes with the estate of Terry Nation.
| |
|
The Firsts:
The first Doctor Who two-part story - since the 1975 Fourth Doctor story "The Sontaran Experiment".
The first non-science fictional Doctor Who story - since the 1966/67 Second Doctor story "The Highlanders".
The first Doctor Who story to be directed by Ron Jones.
|
|
(Position = 62 out of 159)
(Position = 117 out of 200)
