Black Orchid (1982)

Black Orchid is a curious story in that it is only two episodes but two episodes of nothing. Nothing of any consequence happens during this 50 minute adventure. This was Terrance Dudley’s second story of the season after ‘Four to Doomsday’ and whilst this story isn’t anywhere near as dull as that story this one isn’t that much better. The story takes place in 1925 where remarkably the Doctor has to play Cricket which given that his outfit is based on cricket is perhaps quite an astute one. The fact that the Doctor is mistakened for someone else is a particularly useful and in this case acceptable way to get the regulars into the action.

The big thing that seems to be of interest is that Sarah Sutton has to play two roles. She has to play Nyssa and Ann Talbot. I’m not quite sure as to what the point of this was. The only thing I can think of is that it’s to make up for being written out during ‘Kinda’. There are some fun moments where Nyssa and Ann have to appear on screen at the same time. The story centers around someone who has been hidden away in a country house whilst a shindig is taking place.

We learn that the individual hidden away was at one time the fiancé of Ann who when he was travelling got into trouble retrieving the Black Orchid and presumably got locked away to protect his families’ interests. In the meantime, Ann marries the brother which doesn’t seem to bother either Ann or Lord Cranleigh. This is something that doesn’t get explained until the final part of the story which is a shame as I think it would have spiced the story up a bit.

Something that does slightly bother me is the bit where everyone seems to go into the TARDIS. It was perhaps the easiest and most sensible thing to do in the story but I just have a problem with letting everyone in the TARDIS. It should be like a VIP nightclub. Only the best get in and not any riff raff. The problem at this time is Club TARDIS is starting to lose a bit of its private setting. Also what is the point of Matthew Waterhouse in this story. It’s arguable as to the level of his contribution in some stories but in ‘Black Orchid’ all he does is dance for about 4 seconds and then proceeds to spend the rest of the story eating. I could have done that if I had been born a year later.

Of the regulars it’s clear that Sarah Sutton takes the lead in this story but actually Peter Davison does quite well with what he is given. He spends a good amount of time walking through secret tunnels and asks why he lets his curiosity get the better of him. As the production text says on the DVD, there wouldn’t be a story if he didn’t. Also having to deny a murder charge was perhaps the most exciting stuff that he did. Janet Fielding has very little to do apart from show that she can do the Charleston. Of the guests in this story Moray Watson was quite likeable as Sir Robert Muir and I would like to have seen more from him. However it was Michael Cochrane who was the most famous name and face in this story. He would go on to appear in ‘Ghostlight’ (1989) and the Big Finish plays ‘No Man Land’ (2006) and ‘Brotherhood of the Daleks’ (2008). As Lord Cranleigh, he is a lot of fun in this story and plays the role brilliantly. It’s quite similar to his role in ‘Ghost Light’ and also his role in Sharpe.

Black Orchid is the best story that Terrance Dudley wrote but it’s only because that this story was half the length of a normal adventure. It’s unusual not to have a science fiction element in a Doctor Who story and in fact I think that ‘The Highlanders’ (1966/67) was the last time that there was a pure historical story but unfortunatley that story wasn’t great either.

Four To Doomsday (1982)

Four to Doomsday was the second story to be transmitted for Peter Davison but was actually the first that went into production. This story was written by one of the weakest writers in Doctor Who, Terrance Dudley. Dudley had previously directed the Tom Baker story ‘Meglos’ and would go on to write two further Doctor Who stories. This story is set on a spaceship which is heading to earth where its revealed that the leaders of this ship (The Urbankans) are pretending to want to co-exist with the humans but will in reality wipe them out.

The story is severly lacking in action. The problem with studio bound stories is that very soon the sets get boring and the story has to be good enough to keep you going. It worked with ‘The Keeper of Traken’ but sadly not in this case. The story starts off perfectly well but then by the second episode it quickly decends into everyone running into big rooms where there are some dances going on and the Doctor and co are trying to avoid the detection of those sphere cameras. The main problem is that there is a nice little plot strand in this but it gets bogged down by a load of nothing.

Peter Davison does well in his ‘first’ outing as the Doctor. It must have been really intimidating to have just taken over from one of the most popular actors to play the Doctor in the shows history. When you take the fact that its his first story into consideration what we are left with is a nice performance that does ok with the material given. Janet Fielding is slightly annoying in this as all she seems to do for most of this story is shriek and run around. I think that Fielding is a very good actress and she has some great stories coming up (Kinda for example) but on this occasion she is given a duff card and like Davison does the best she can. I am baffled by Matthew Waterhouse’s performance. I think his willingness to back the baddies is something that I find to be tiresome. It was the same in ‘State of Decay’ and I just found myself wishing he would be different. It’s not surprising that Adric isnt a well liked character if he pulls stunts like he did in this story. Sarah Sutton is served best in this story out of the three companions but that’s not saying a great deal. I think that Nyssa is the one of the best companions in Doctor Who and Nyssa does have some good scenes.

The Urbankans are well realised. Stratford Johns is the best as Monarch. He is the only one of the Urbankans that has to stay in that make up and it must have been horrible. Johns does get all the best scenes and lines, he extracts the best from the character and makes it a very strong character despite not actually being very menacing. Annie Lambert and Paul Shelley were the other Urbankans (Enlightenment and Persuasion respectively). I was more impressed with Lambert’s role and I thought that Enligtenment was stronger than Persuasion. It seemed like Persuasion had been written as an after thought and just seems to spend his time in the story spying on the Doctor in the main dancing room and being involved in the cliffhanger for part two.

The story does have one of the most memorable moments in Doctor Who. The scene where the Doctor throws a cricket ball at the ship and when it bounces back it carries the Doctor far enough to reach the TARDIS. Now, even a primary school child would know that this is impossible as when the Doctor catches the ball, it wouldn’t propel him to somewhere but smash his hands to pieces. As the production text points out when this scene, who cares its fun.

The way that Monarch is defeated is a disappointment as all that happens is that the Doctor throws the acid over him. It’s doesn’t kill him but merely shrinks him. They then go away in the TARDIS. This seems like they couldn’t think of a good enough exit for the character that had pretty much carried the story for large chunks of the story.

It’s to be expected that Four To Doomsday wasn’t going to be Davison’s best story as it was the first that he had recorded and didn’t seem to know how to play the role. To be fair to him its not his performance that is the problem, neither is it of the other regulars. Four To Doomsday is neither a terrible story or a good story, its inbetween and in a way that’s the worst kind of story. It should be viewed once but not perhaps more than that.

K9 and Company (1981)

Long before Sarah Jane Smith got to battle the Bane and the Slitheen in Bannerman Road, our favourite companion got a what would be typically called a pilot but is more like a special. The story is written by Terrance Dudley who is one of the worse writers in Doctor Who history. The first thing that hits you is the god awful intro with possibly the various points of Sarah Jane reading a newspaper on a wall and typing away in a bus shelter. Well thankfully the theme tune is about as bad as it gets, it’s a story about Black Magic and a town where the residents aren’t what they seem. It the 1981 version of Hot Fuzz except without the film references or the comedy.

It’s an odd choice to pit Sarah Jane and K9 together considering they never appeared on screen. However it’s a relationship that works and so a superb duo was born. The way that K9 was introduced was built up very well as he just appears in a box and once released there is a nice play of the Doctor Who tune. That’s about as close to Doctor Who as we get and that’s a good thing because if a spin-off of Doctor Who is to survive then it needs to show it can do without the Doctor.

The plot itself is fairly standard and would probably have had better effect when it was transmitted at Christmas in 1982. The whole thing moves along at a fairly slow pace which is surprising because the running time is a shade under 50 minutes. Some of the scenes are painfully slow, not because of John Black the director but because of the dialogue. Some of it is not exactly exciting and the sets are a bit drab and doesn’t live up to the impression that it’s a big house and not filmed in a BBC studio. On the upside the location stuff does work very well and it helps create the right impression.

Elisabeth Sladen is very good as Sarah Jane and takes the lead very well. She has grown since she left in The Hand of Fear in 1977. She is more like the Sarah Jane we saw when she debuted in the series and this makes the character even stronger for me. She is only let down by having Brendan around her all the time. Brendan is totally annoying .From the very moment he comes onto the screen he is immediately unlikeable. His laugh when he hears K9’s name totally grates me and its at that point that I wished K9 would zap him. Ian Sears comes across as too much of a smartarse for my liking and I was glad when they said he had disappeared though disappointed when he returned. I’m not a massive K9 fan but I would prefer him to Brendan.

I liked Colin Jeavons performance as George Tracey purely because I think he’s brilliant as Stamper in The House of Cards. In this he someone who is suspicious from the moment he appears on screen and that proves to be the case. In fact all the residents of the village are suspicious due to the ritual rubbish. I also liked Linda Polan who plays the wonderfully named Juno Baker. I was almost disappointed when it turns out she wasn’t on the dark side because her performance was wonderful and it came close to pantomime which with this story airing at Christmas is appropriate.

On the one hand it’s a shame that this story didn’t lead to a full series but that was due to BBC executives and not how the story was received because it got 8.4 million viewers which even by today’s standards is a fantastic achievement. On the other hand I’m glad it didn’t lead to a series because it made her return to the Doctor Who world in 2006 even more important and the subsequent series in 2007. As a part of Doctor Who history it’s a good story that could have benefited from a better writer but is watchable partly due to Elisabeth Sladen and also due to some of the supporting characters.

The King's Demons (1983)

The King’s Demons is a two part story that marked the end of the 1983 season. It wasn’t intended to be this as it was planned for a four part adventure called ‘The Return’ which would have seen the return of the Daleks. However due to industrial action prevented this from being done. It followed after the Black Guardian Trilogy which was unfortunate. This story was written by Terrence Dudley who isn’t my favourite writer and unfortunately despite some impressive location filming at Bodiam Castlet this story isn’t anything spectacular. Set on Earth in 1215 in the court of King John of England.

This story sees the return of Anthony Ainley as the Master. He was last seen in Time-Flight which was the last story of the previous series. Everytime the Master returns his identity is hidden both in the Radio Times listings and also with make-up. Normally this works however the make-up job was so bad that it was obvious that Sir Giles Estram was the Master. Though the first line after he changes into the Master was quite funny.

Master: Oh my dear Doctor, You have been so naive!

The regular cast do a relatively good job despite the script. Peter Davison is the best (as you would expect) and his highlight was the sword fight that he has with the Master. It’s just a shame that he was wearing his cricketing outfit whilst he was doing it. Janet Fielding and Mark Strickson do their usual good job. The best of the supporting was Gerald Flood as King John. I liked the times that he was on screen. Flood not only did the role of King John but was the voice behind the worst creation in Doctor Who history – Kamelion. The character is fine when it's sitting down but is useless when it comes to moving about as it would be made clear in the documentaries it was a nightmare. How the Master thinks that it would convince anyone is beyond me. Over the years, I wondered what was behind the decision to go ahead with Kamelion. Only by the watching the documentary on the DVD was it explained and I just shook my head saying ‘Why?’. It looks stupid and it’s not hard to understand why it didn’t get another outing until Planet of Fire a year later.

The King’s Demons only saving grace is that its two episodes long. Had it been four then it would have been much worse. Terence Dudley’s script doesn’t have anything that stands out and is a poor way to end the series. Tony Virgo did an ok job but struggled with a script that doesn’t have anything good about it. It’s not the worst story that has ever been as this story is watchable however after a consistently good series its’s a shame this doesn’t stand up to the rest.