A fun little two parter, which classic should of done more of tbh. Very similar to new who's Unicorn and the Wasp, a murder mystery set in the 1920s, the killer being the son of the lady of the house, but he's not an alien in this story, just a deformed human. This is probably Sarah Sutton's best performance as she's usually quite boring as Nyssa, but here she gets to play a character that's more alive and emotional. That's also always a fun part of a story too, when we have a doppelganger of one of the main cast. Overall, an easy good watch.

This is part of a series of reviews of Doctor Who in chronological timeline order.

Previous Story: Serpent in the Silver Mask

In just two parts this manages to be an incredibly entertaining story, much more so than some four and six parters. It also manages to balance the often difficult to balance TARDIS team perfectly, when other stories have double the length and still need to write a character out (I'm looking at you, Kinda)

I love a good murder mystery, and the fact that it's a pure historical is so refreshing. I'm tired of the men in latex suits with silly voices being the real villain in historicals. Shame this is the last one on TV though.

This is very much a short story, low stakes. It's a story that purely focuses on the characters, something I appreciate very much. It's not that it necessarily gives us some rich insight into their thoughts and feelings and moreso that it shows this team just being happy, especially bittersweet when you know what's coming. This is the first time the characters get a chance to take a break.

There is no real villain here, just the end of someone else's tragic story, and tragic it is. I think that's rather refreshing for Doctor Who and is one of the best showcases, in my opinion, of how this show can adapt and change and suit every format, style and genre.

Next Story: Dark Contract

this episode is so fun! great for character stuff - like adric and nyssa not fitting in on earth, not understanding cricket, nyssa struggles with phrases and adric with dancing. tegans charleston is very cute, adric dancing with nyssa tegan and ann is very sweet, nyssa and tegan sharing a room and getting dressed toegther, and exposing their sholders is putty cute and shippy. they all look sooo good in their costumes (i can't believe peter davison in his robe is cited as some people's sexual awakening when the other three look much better). all the fancy dress is fun. it is a very tight story, the george stuff is tragic, but at least he can be remembered through his book, that is quite lovely. the house they filmed at is also very good, especially with all the corridors. just great overall!! (apart
from the stuff abt native americans)

They got me. I’m a sucker for a murder mystery. I have an awful lot of time for it. The guest actors in this story are superb and inhabit the 1920s stately home world perfectly. As does The Doctor and his companions of course who’s acting suddenly feels a lot more naturalistic once they’ve stepped out of the TARDIS.

The hidden passages and lurking, disguised murderer makes for very enticing drama. The Doppelgänger trope has been done a million times in Doctor Who, but it fits very nicely here too

For the first time The Doctor’s cricket outfit makes sense. The pacing is good enough that I wasn’t bothered in the slightest bit by them taking a good 4 minutes out of the action to play a game of cricket - of course he’s a master!

I wish the mystery had been a little stronger and had been less contrived. I don’t see the need to have had a Native American wandering around the house, or a disturbed family member. I think it would have been more fun to have one of the guests in and around the party turn out to be the murderer.

All the same it was wonderful to have a strong genre story, proving once again that Doctor Who can go anywhere and do anything. It being a two parter also means it does not outstay its welcome! I am glad they have more of these going forward.

This is in all likelihood my favourite among the Fifth Doctor television stories.  There's so much I like about this one, but what really stands out to me is the brief time we get to spend with our TARDIS crew enjoying Cranleigh.  The Doctor actually gets to play some cricket, while Nyssa and Adric get fun little dance numbers.  After Adric's character basically descended into little more than whining while travelling with the Fifth Doctor, while Nyssa largely felt wasted entirely, having a story that actually shows both of these characters in a more positive and active role in a story was incredibly refreshing.

The story itself beyond the fun and memorable setting was also pretty good.  Cranleigh just had this look to it that really helped it stick out from your average Doctor Who story.  And costumes behind this one I found very impressive and stuck with me in a positive way.  I liked the whole angle of Nyssa and a potential doppleganger, and also enjoyed the whole thing with the harlequin.  The story behind this mysterious figure really worked for me overall.

I guess the cast didn't care much for this script at the time of filming - that's a bit of a shame because I really liked this story and its premise.  It reminded me a bit of a classic stage performance like the Phantom of the Opera - both that musical and Black Orchid rely on a relatively simple premise, and both productions in my opinion pull it all off with a lot of style and energy.  Overall I think these episodes are a bit of an underrated gem among the Fifth Doctor's original TV run.

This is a fun murder mystery; a nice showcase for Sarah Sutton in her dual role as Nyssa and Anne Talbot. Cricket scenes go on for a bit too long, and could have done with tighter editing, but there's a decent mystery set up here with a solid guest cast.

A dark murder story with great characters and with a distinct feeling of oddity that is crafted so well throughout the two episodes, which never feel dull as the short runtime works for the benefit of the story. The entire main cast is great here (especially 5 and Nyssa) and the revelation at the end is sad and pretty horrifying. A shame this was the last pure historical, but at least it went out on a bang.

(Writing this after my second viewing)

• Like Midsomer Murders meets Doctor Who is perfectly dramatic and good fun
• Despite Tegan's insistent want to go home, it's truly great to see her relax and have a good time
• This story perfectly makes use of its time frame and doesn't drag, a story that works well with it's parameters.
• It's sweet to get a non-alien threat, it's refreshing but unfortunate the villain is someone with a representative visual psychical disability and they not only are murderous and insane but they also don't get the help they need
• I like the little added element of Nyssa's doppelganger, adds that little bit of spice to the story, they really need to do that in the modern era

Have always loved black orchid from the first time i watched it. only 2 parts but very entertaining. part 1 doesn't really do anything to build up the plot. it just sets the scene and its really cosy to watch the doctor playing cricket, meeting ann talbot and the cranleighs, learning about what happened to george cranleigh and having a fancy dress party. a lovely little 2 parter

A good idea executed badly.

Essentially the entire first episode is just exposition, which is fine for a 4+ parter, but not so much in a 2-parter! I think it's as a result of that that the mystery aspect of the story suffers so much. It's not even that the pace is wrong so much as it just... glides over or entirely skips plot beats that are important to a mystery or thriller. But thank god, we get several whole minutes of the Doctor playing cricket! /s

I also wish the atmosphere had been darker, literally as well as figuratively. This would have benefited from a more Gothicky treatment, rather than one taking place entirely in sunlight. Even the secret passages were well-lit! I do appreciate a show that's light enough for me to see what's going on, and loathe the current trend of making everything dark, but this is a bit much.

The culprit's identity, while not obvious until it's revealed, prompted me to inwardly groan, "Of course it is." It's taken directly from a Sherlock Holmes story. Lazy setup and/or not enough development of that aspect of the backstory in episode 1. And while Sarah Sutton is fine as Ann, her acting is weirdly flat as Nyssa. The other three aren't on top of their acting games either.

For the first time since 1967, Doctor Who goes pure historical. This format shows that a pure historical could work in the modern era - it's a few minutes shy of the standard length of a New Who standalone episode.

The Doctor's drawn the short straw here - he spends most of the episode lost in his host's house, and it's kind of funny. I think this is the only time, apart from Cold War, where he decides to drop the lies and reveal who he actually is without any need to. It's a very odd choice, but a lot about this episode is very odd. It's nice to see the Doctor and co having a lot of fun, showing the perks of time travel rather than always confronting evil monsters and scares, and the cricket scene is an example. The Doctor's enjoying it a lot, and of course this incarnation is good at it! I couldn't stop laughing when he was bowling and the crowd kept yelling "AZZAAARGH!" Tegan's stopped caring about going to Heathrow, letting her hair down and enjoying life onboard the TARDIS a lot more. It's great to see her having a lot more fun, and the chemistry with the other companions has improved a lot more. A favourite moment of mine from her is just having a good time dancing with Sir Robert and doing the Charleston. Adric spends most of the episode stuffing his face and not doing much, and Nyssa also gets to let loose, meeting her double and messing about with her. Being a very upper-class, royal woman, she doesn't get many chances to be a kid and play about, but this is one of those rare chances where she does - everyone's having a whale of a time, until the murders start...

It's very strange that Tegan knows about George Cranleigh, the botanist and explorer - doesn't really seem her thing. He went mad because some natives removed his tongue. I don't know how I feel about tihs, it's very bizarre, that's all I can say. Everything about this serial is an oddity, I can't stress that enough.It's never really explained what he's doing. He disguises himself as the Doctor for some reason, murders a few people and kidnaps "Ann", but I don't know what he wants to do with her? They're on the roof, because he loves her? I mean he's a solid threat, and he's not of sound mind, of course, but I wish there was a bit more to it than a lunatic. The setup is fairly well-written, with references here and there, but there could've been more played into the relationship with his family, and his death is very stupid. "Aah, my brother's coming towards me, better back away and fall off the roof!"

After a lot of vivid, strange environments, it's nice to strip back to a rural countryside, with lots of upper-class people just being British. Like I say, I really like the cricket and the party scenes, everything looks very realistic and beautiful.

The mother is a very horrible person - tying her own son up instead of trying to get him medical attention, disrespecting Charles, trying to frame the Doctor - and all that sourness never pays off and she never gets what comes to her. Charles is a fun side character to be around, definitely enjoying the company of the Doctor and being very hospitable. It's fun to see Sarah Sutton playing someone completely different to Nyssa, fainting and screaming all the time, and it's odd to see someone like Sir Robert getting along with someone like Tegan.

The music's never anything special, and I don't think it particularly fit the story, unfortunately.

For a filler story, this is very good - the cast has such good chemistry, the characterisation is fantastic, and the dialogue is fun. It's so nice to see the team just having a ball for once (pun unintended). It's a very very strange episode, and I adore it.

The good non-Doctor Who story

For being the final pure historical, they tried something different, by having this Agatha Christie like murder mystery. The first episode is really fun, as the characters are just hanging out, but the second episode is a bit dull with the ending cheating by having the reveal being predictable for the audience, but impossible for the characters to figure out, but somehow the Doctor figured it out. The Nyssa and Ann stuff is cute, and Tegan probably had the time of her life, and Adric ate. The big issue is that if you get rid of the TARDIS team, not much changes, and it doesn't feel that much like Doctor Who. Also George Cranleigh is a victim and his mother and Charles should be in prison.

I can’t tell ya how much I love this story honestly it’s one of my favourites of all time

It's such a a cozy setting. This is one I put on if I have a bad day and need help going to sleep.