6A. Black Orchid
Writer: Terence Dudley
Director: Ron Jones
Designer: Tony Burrough
Incidental Music: Roger Limb
TRANSMISSION DETAILS:
570. Part One 01.03.82 6.55pm - 7.20pm 9.1M/57th
571. Part Two 02.03.82 7.05pm - 7.30pm 9.2M/55th
REPEAT DETAILS:
Part One Wed 31.08.83 6.35pm - 7.00pm 4.4M/94th/66%
Part Two Thu 01.09.83 6.25pm - 6.50pm 5.0M/79th/65%
CAST:
LADY CRANLEIGH: Barbara Murray; LORD CHARLES CRANLEIGH: Michael Cochrane; SIR ROBERT MUIR: Moray Watson;
ANN TALBOT: Sarah Sutton; BREWSTER: Brian Hawksley; GEORGE CRANLEIGH: Gareth Milne (credited as The
Unknown for 1); DITTAR LATONI: Ahmed Khalil; TANNER: Timothy Black (1); SGT MARKHAM: Ivor Salter (2);
CONSTABLE CUMMINGS: Andrew Tourell (2). UNCREDITED: FOOTMAN (JAMES): Derek Hunt; RAYMOND DIGBY: David
Wilde: DOUBLE FOR ANN/NYSSA: Vanessa Paine; ANN'S MAID: Caron Heggie; STATIONMASTER: Jim Morris (1);
CRICKETERS: (all 1) John Asquith, Adrian Gibbs, Mitchell Horner, Nick Joseph, Fernando Monast, Stuart Myers, Kevin
O'Brien, Rory O'Connor, Gus Roy, Lionel Sansby, Douglas Stark, Derek Suthern, Alan Talbot; SPECTATORS: (all 1) Lisa
Clifton, Lindy Salmon, Jane Sherborne, Sheila West; POLICE DRIVER: James Muir (2); DANCERS: John Asquith, Lisa
Clifton, Adrian Gibbs, Nola Haines, Christine Kendall, Rosemary Lyford, Annette Lyons, Fernando Monast, Rory O'Connor, Gus Roy,
Lindy Salmon, Jane Sherborne, Sheila West; WALK-ONS: Amanda Carlson, Charles Milward, Brychan Powell, Frederick Woold
STORY:
The TARDIS lands beside a railway station in June, 1925, where the Doctor and his companions are warmly welcomed, and told that
they are expected by Lord Cranleigh. The chauffer who met them stares at Nyssa - much to her annoyance.
Whilst the Doctor is invited to play cricket on Lord Cranleigh's team, Tegan and Adric find out why the chauffer was stating at
Nyssa: she is identical to Ann Talbot. After the match the Doctor, Tegan, Nyssa and Adric are invited to a party. Nyssa and Ann,
as a joke, dress up in the same manner.
Ann is the fiancee of Lord Cranleigh, but there is someone who is jealous - George, Lord Cranleigh's brother. He was thought to
have died with exploring the Amazon, but in fact lives in the house, known only to Lady Cranleigh.
Disguising himself in the costume that the Doctor was to have worn, he goes to the party and kidnaps Nyssa, believing her to
be Ann. George takes Nyssa up to the roof of the building, where the Doctor convinces him he has the wrong girl. Lord Cranleigh
tries to help his brother, but George stumbles and falls from the roof.
BLOOPERS:
Episode 1: As the TARDIS crew arrive at the cricket match, we hear a batsman hit the ball towards the boundary, and see
a fielder running after it. Then the umpire calls a wide! (It can't be a wide, because the batsman hit it.)
STUDIOS:
Television Centre Studio 3
LOCATIONS:
Quainton Railway Station, Quainton Road, nr. Aylsebury; Quainton Road, between Quainton and Waddesdon; house and yard in
Quainton Road, Waddesdon; Buckhurst Park, Withyham, East Sussex; Buckhurst House, Withyham, East Sussex
WORKING TITLES:
The Beast, The Black Orchid
NOTES:
This is the first purely historical story since the Patrick Troughton adventure
The Highlanders
NOVELISATION:
Black Orchid
Terence Dudley
VIDEO:
The Visitation/
Black Orhid
