15 years after the last pure historical story (The Highlanders), Doctor Who finally returned to the genre. Christopher Morley is your guide for the Fifth Doctor 2-part adventure, Black Orchid.
A
word of warning- you may never look at period dramas the same way
again. If you can live with your impressions of the genteel likes of
Downton Abbey being
absolutely ruined ( or improved if you consider yourself to have an
over-active imagination), step into our TARDIS & prepare to learn
more about the true nature of the English aristocracy that you could
possible ever want to know.
Bill Bryson's jokey discussion of the
differences between his own dearly beloved baseball & our cricket
would sting the Fifth Doctor to his very core. What, then, is the
biggest of these sporting schisms?
According to Bill -'The answer is simple. Both are games of great skill involving balls and bats but with this crucial difference: Baseball is exciting, and when you go home at the end of the day, you know who won.
I'm joking, of course. Cricket is a wonderful sport, full of deliciously scattered micromoments of real action. If a doctor ever instructs me to take a complete rest and not get overexcited, I shall become a fan at once. In the meantime, my heart belongs to baseball. '
But
has he ever seen ' Black Orchid'?
Probably not. We should point out to all those who've never
experienced the joys of bat on ball in its most English of forms- be
it the Ashes, County Championship,Twenty20 etc- that masked balls &
murder don't tend to come as part of the package, disappointing many
of the crowds flocking to Lord's, the Oval, Edgbaston or indeed a
pavilion near you. They do however work beautifully together when
Five, Adric, Nyssa & Tegan step from ' Sexy' into 1925.....
Where
could they be? They're certainly caught somewhere in time,so in
theory anywhere is possible! The Doctor is quick to burst the bubble
by confirming that they find themselves at Cranleigh Halt railway
station, most likely fearing a comeback by the Great Intelligence & its Yeti (The Web Of Fear).
If indeed the being also known as Yog-Sothoth- one of many Whovian
additions to the pantheon of the Great Old Ones of the Cthulhu Mythos
as originated by Howard Phillips ' H.P' Lovecraft- is hanging around
waiting to nab the Doctor once more, it'll be most displeased to
learn that its clutches will be escaped once more.
A
chauffeur by the name of Tanner is waiting for our Fab Four. The
Doctor is to have a chance to show off not only his entirely
appropriate cricketing wardrobe...
...but quite some skill on the field of play. To see just why the ECB
might have been on the phone begging him to play at least a few games
as a ' ringer', take a look at this...
No wonder Lord Charles Cranleigh was so keen to have him play!
No wonder Lord Charles Cranleigh was so keen to have him play!
Luckily
Five has his game face on & even after turning up late is able to
help his new friend's team turn defeat into glorious victory. By way
of a thank you & maybe apology for terrifying the Doctor with
mention of the Master...
...he invites the Test Match Special-loving Time Lord & pals to a masked ball later that evening. While its never established that the Master the Doctor knows is at the afternoon's match, the ' real' one idolised by the crowd would undoubtedly be proud of the sporting prowess shown by Cranleigh's new friend.
...he invites the Test Match Special-loving Time Lord & pals to a masked ball later that evening. While its never established that the Master the Doctor knows is at the afternoon's match, the ' real' one idolised by the crowd would undoubtedly be proud of the sporting prowess shown by Cranleigh's new friend.
William
Gilbert ' W.G' Grace played first-class cricket for a mind-blowing 44
seasons ( 1865-1908 if you were wondering), amazing when you consider
he was born in Bristol & not on Gallifrey! Soon its time for the
ball, everyone partying like its 1925- the Doctor reluctant to reveal
his name when asked as part of a formal introduction to Charles's
mum. She still misses her other son George, a renowned botanist
presumed dead following an expedition to South America to find the
rare bloom which gives our story its title....
Adric,
Nyssa & Tegan are more upset at not having costumes for the
party- which confuses Lady Cranleigh, who thought they'd come
prepared. She's also convinced she knows Nyssa from somewhere, a
prior meeting perhaps.
In walks Charlie with his fiancée Ann Talbot-
a dead ringer for Nyssa! Preparations are soon well under way for the
evening's ball. The Doctor's been given a full harlequin ensemble,
everyone else possibly convinced that his cricket gear is far too
dirty to wear to such an occasion after events on the field earlier
in the day.
Trying
on the mask that comes with the outfit makes him look a little like a
Mexican luchador (masked wrestler).
Before he can seriously contemplate a career in the ring, though,
he's caught up in a quickly developing web of intrigue- someone
pinches his costume & locks him out of his room! Ann & Nyssa
decide to switch places to fool the other guests, & Tegan helps
out her Trakenite friend by teaching her the Charleston.
Much
as he'd like to, Five can't join in the dancing. He does, though,
find his way out of his personal pickle & into a hidden section
of the Cranleigh mansion..its not a Batcave either. Something's not
quite as it seems amid the old books & clothes..that'd be the
body in the cupboard, then? Everyone else is enjoying the party
downstairs until whoever stole the harlequin costume takes ' Ann' for
a dance...then in a display of ungentlemanly conduct that would have
most aristos reaching for the smelling salts he attacks her &
kills a servant, James.
In
what might be the biggest faux pas ever the Doctor dons the costume
after the killer returns it to his room- the dope! But the mystery
deepens- who's the real killer? A mystery man with no tongue &
terrible skin. Doesn't help that everyone else is convinced that the
man in the cricket gear is the one who got to Ann & helped poor
James become an ex-servant. In desperation he reveals that he's an
alien who's just been mistaken for another more conventional doctor
who's similarly blessed with bat & ball skills.
He
& his companions are carted off to the local police station,
where a rather key piece of evidence awaits- its 'Sexy' herself!
Being policemen, the bobbies were naturally keen to explore a police
box that seemingly won't open- until the Doctor produces his key &
takes everyone back home to Cranleigh Hall. Just who is the murderer?
It's George! He's not dead, as everyone else believes, just horribly
disfigured & a little mad having been kept away from the outside
world since his return from the Amazon.
Given
all that you might think it no surprise that Black Orchid
is one of the most fondly remembered stories of Peter Davison's time
holding the key to the TARDIS- but he & co-stars/companions Janet
Fielding, Matthew Waterhouse & Sarah Sutton are all said to have
disliked it. If nothing else it does at least give writer Terence
Dudley a chance to work in an explanation of just why the Doctor
chose such a seemingly odd outfit post-regeneration (Castrovalva).
Sticky wicket averted!
Previous Pure Historicals
The Reign Of Terror
The Romans
Previous Pure Historicals
The Reign Of Terror
The Romans
