From Newsgroup: rec.arts.drwho.moderated   
   From Address: jphalt@aol.com   
   Subject: Re: jphalt's Doctor Who reviews   
      
   BLACK ORCHID   
      
   2 episodes. Approx. 50 minutes. Written by: Terence Dudley. Directed   
   by: Ron Jones. Produced by: John Nathan Turner.   
      
      
   THE PLOT   
      
   The TARDIS materializes at a railway station in 1925, where the Doctor   
   is mistaken for a cricket player being sent for a match at a party at   
   Cranleigh Hall. The Doctor is happy to go along with this case of   
   mistaken identity, enjoying the chance to show off his skill at the   
   game. But Cranleigh Hall hides a secret - a mysterious figure, held   
   captive in a hidden room.   
      
   Soon, the Doctor and his companions are dealing with multiple murders.   
   The killings are somehow linked to Ann Talbot, who is engaged to Lord   
   Cranleigh (Michael Cochrane) - and who also just happens to look   
   exactly like Nyssa! It's a relatively minor murder mystery, a case of   
   family skeletons bringing themselves violently out into the light. The   
   sort of thing the Doctor can sort in minutes. Except the Doctor   
   happens to be the prime suspect!   
      
      
   CHARACTERS   
      
   The Doctor: Enjoys the chance to relax and play a game of cricket,   
   which he plays with preternatural skill. Shades of the Eleventh Doctor   
   playing football in The Lodger, as he joins a team suffering a   
   miserable defeat and transforms it into a victory with seemingly no   
   effort. When he's questioned for a murder in Part Two, he is unable to   
   make himself believed. The more he talks, the more he makes himself   
   look like a crazy man.  He finally just stops talking and gives up - a   
   scene Davison plays wonderfully.   
      
   Nyssa: This story gives Sarah Sutton a dual role. Though actual   
   character work is light, we do learn that Nyssa is an accomplished   
   dancer, part of her training on Traken - a detail that fits perfectly   
   with her established character. Despite her aristocratic bearing, she   
   is a young girl and can't help but be taken with Ann's suggestion of   
   doubling up their outfits for the party. As Ann, Sutton gets virtually   
   nothing to work with.  Ann doesn't even register as a character, just   
   as a plot device to justify Nyssa's being in danger at the end.   
      
   Adric: He can't dance, so spends the party stuffing his face at the   
   buffet table. Which actually may be one of the more reasonable things   
   he's done across Season 19! His general lack of common sense shows   
   itself when he responds to the Doctor's arrest by protesting that it's   
   Ann's word against the Doctor's... hardly the best way to try to   
   garner sympathy or even willingness to listen by either the family or   
   the police chief who is the family's friend.   
      
   Tegan: Opens the story by saying that she's decided to stay with the   
   crew and that the Doctor can stop trying to deliver her to Heathrow -   
   a major character shift, and one which apparently happened offscreen   
   between stories. It is nice to see Janet Fielding giving a more laid-   
   back performance, allowing Tegan to be something other than strident   
   and high-strung. Her scenes opposite Sir Robert (Moray Watson) show a   
   genuinely sweet side, and she seems to actually be enjoying herself   
   for a change.   
      
      
   THOUGHTS   
      
   Director Ron Jones' first Doctor Who story. Though fandom tends to   
   lump Jones in with Peter Moffatt as a director largely unsuited to   
   Who, I've long felt that he's gotten a bit of a bad rap. He's   
   certainly not up there with Peter Grimwade or Fiona Cumming, but he   
   does understand the value of dramatic lighting.  This greatly enhances   
   some of the scenes in the house, especially in the secret passages. He   
   also deals well with large groups of actors, cutting between different   
   groupings without losing track of where the characters are in the room   
   or making the scene feel like something out of a stage play. He may   
   not be a brilliant television director - but he is a competent one.   
      
   Black Orchid works better than most of the classic series' 2-parters,   
   thanks to a narrative that is deliberately slight. There are no   
   aliens, no science fiction elements, just a very minor period   
   melodrama about family secrets.  Just about right to sustain 50 fairly   
   laid-back minutes.   
      
   The first episode is quite good. The 1920's setting is impeccably   
   rendered, and this is a rare classic Who story with no embarrassing   
   production aspects. The tone is generally relaxed, with some pleasant   
   scenes of the companions enjoying themselves at a costume party. The   
   mystery is nicely built up in the background, from the cutaways to the   
   mysterious figure who escapes his bonds, to the Doctor's crawling   
   around the mansion's mazelike corridors after discovering a secret   
   passage.   
      
   Once the Doctor is arrested in Part Two, however, it all goes a bit   
   off the rails. There's a rushed and unconvincing scene in which the   
   Doctor convinces Sir Robert to let him show off the TARDIS. While this   
   little diversion is going on, the main story at the house becomes   
   rushed. All entirely avoidable, as the story doesn't actually require   
   the Doctor be taken off the grounds at all! Give that 5 - 10 minutes   
   over to investigation within the house, and the script could jettison   
   the silly TARDIS tour and give more breathing space to the   
   resolution.   
      
   Despite the flawed ending, Black Orchid is an entertaining little   
   diversion, a nice breather before the heavy action of Earthshock. The   
   first episode, in particular, has a pleasant overall atmosphere, and   
   both regulars and guest cast are in fine form. It could have been   
   better with a little bit of rewriting to the second episode, but it's   
   still highly watchable.   
      
      
   Rating: 6/10.   
      
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