This is clumsy and depends on style and charisma of the leads for its appeal.
And it reveals that there are some weaknesses. Matthew Waterhouse as Adric is looking very watery, Sarah Sutton looks stretched by the technical side of double filming, Janet displays some fun but also some pretension. Peter is not as good at cricket as he thinks.
On BluRay this serial shows some limitations. Vanessa Paine as Sarah Sutton's double becomes very easy to pick. The rescanned location film elements make a noticeable improvement to the technical quality of the serial.
Black Orchid is made as an homage to Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Whimsey series of novels. It is not Agatha Christie-ish (very much) There is no "whodunnit?". There is no Hercule or Miss Marple. There is no "someone in zis house is a murderer...".
The cricket is twee and unrealistic. The Doctor runs on the wicket while batting. The pitch is kinda wet and underprepared. The umpire keeps doing a 'wide signal' for boundaries.
George Cranleigh's makeup is not the most believable... and there is no mention of why he is so disfigured. Was it congenital or the result of some horrible war wounds? There's a story background that could/should be explored there.
The timeline is extraordinary in this. The cricket is well underway when the Doctor arrives (so it's at least late morning), then there's a drinkies, then a fancy dress party (with catering and dancing) and then all the crime investigation/corridor sneakery/visits to the police station and the George/Charles confrontation/fire/tragedy to fit in before bedtime.
The last scene is a week or more later post funeral.
It's the first of director Ron Jones 6 serials. It's not his worst effort. (Time-Flight alert...)
Terence Dudley adds to his list of dull DW efforts with a plot light, historical only story that has casual visits to the TARDIS by minor characters and also seems casual about dropping the Doctor's true identity (and said minor characters seem to believe it rather too readily.) I feel this is a sign of poor storytelling.
Scriptwriter Terence Dudley has done his 2nd of 3 stories for DW. He also directed Meglos, authored two Target books and had turned down the producership of Blakes 7 in 1980.
Luckily this is only 2 episodes. But it's fluff.
ABM Rating 2.49/4.00
LJM Rating 2.90/5.00
SPJ Rating 4.00/10
No. 93 (out of 120)
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