This is generally considered one of the worst episodes in all of Doctor Who, and I'm quite inclined to agree.  With grade-school level politics, lame characters, disappointing acting, terrible editing, boring sets, and a complete waste of our main cast, there's not a lot to like about Orphan 55.  The monsters could have been cool but they aren't filmed very well.  I don't love the twist around this being Earth and the result of wicked humanity - aside from it being a bit against scientific consensus (the Earth will survive us - we just might not survive ourselves) - it's an old twist that is basically the same bit as the original Planet of the Apes.  Consider me unimpressed.

Sorry, I can't provide any sort of contradictory take to the popular sentiments around this one - it's just a bad episode.  Not even entertainingly bad, either.