Doctor Who/Black Orchid

Black Orchid
Season 19, Serial 5
Airdate	March 1, 1982
Production Number	6A
by	Terence Dudley
Directed by	Ron Jones
← 19x04 The Visitation	19x06 → Earthshock
Doctor Who — Season Nineteen

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Black Orchid is the fifth serial of the nineteenth season of Doctor Who, and the one-hundred and twenty-first serial overall.

Part One: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa/Ann), Janet Fielding (Tegan), Matthew Waterhouse (Adric), Barbara Murray (Lady Cranleigh), Moray Watson (Sir Robert Muir), Michael Cochrane (Lord Cranleigh), Brian Hawksley (Brewster), Timothy Block (Tanner), Ahmed Khalil (Latoni), Gareth Milne (The Unknown)

Part Two: Peter Davison (The Doctor), Sarah Sutton (Nyssa/Ann), Janet Fielding (Tegan), Matthew Waterhouse (Adric), Barbara Murray (Lady Cranleigh), Moray Watson (Sir Robert Muir), Michael Cochrane (Lord Cranleigh), Ivor Salter (Sergeant Markham), Ahmed Khalil (Latoni), Brian Hawksley (Brewster), Andrew Tourell (Constable Cummings), Gareth Milne (George Cranleigh)

Trivia

The Show

• First serial since The Highlanders where the only science fiction elements are the Doctor, his companions, and the TARDIS.

• While it had been indicated in previous stories, this is the first time the Doctor is depicted playing cricket - therefore justifying this incarnation's attire.

Behind the Scenes

• While this was the highest-rated serial of the Fifth Doctor era, none of the cast liked the script, believing it to comprised of Edwardian era stereotypes with no mystery or dramatic tension.

• According to Davison, Terence Dudley had told him he had written the script for a murder mystery series and found it in a bottom drawer and just turned it into a Doctor Who story.

• Davison, a keen cricketer, actually played the game in the Doctor's match and apparently did quite good.

• Barbara Murray was married to Peter Holmes who had several uncredited roles in previous serials.