Doctor Who - Black Orchid by Terence Dudley

Published: February 1987

Edition read: Target first, 1986

Coolest Cover: Tony Masero’s cover is quite witty in its own way- the Fifth Doctor must be quite the multi-tasker to keep all those balls in the air.

Crimes Against Literature: The point where the Doctor recalls the events of ‘The King’s Demons’ is unfortunate. The rules may have changed since 1925, but neither am I sure that a century against a minor county is considered first class these days.

The TARDIS materialises...on the eastbound platform of Cranleigh Halt.

Childhood Recollections: Mother bought me the hardback as a present at one point, and I was lucky enough to have it signed by Michael Cochrane at a later date.

Ramblings: Having made a success of expanding ‘The King’s Demons’ to the necessary length for Target, it’s to be applauded that Dudley returned to the range to provide a similar adaptation of his earlier story. In some ways the stories are similar- both concern aristocratic families and use the family dynamics to fuel the drama, and both are set principally in and around the family residence; the significant difference is of course that whereas ‘The King’s Demons’ concerns one of the Master’s less memorable attempts to interfere with the planet Earth, ‘Black Orchid is a far more conscious literary parody of the classic country house murder mystery, with dark family secrets, mysterious foreigners and, in true Agatha Christie style, the outsider who forces a confession from Lady Cranleigh and resolves the mystery.

Although Dudley’s adaptation of his own scripts is generally faithful, there are one or two moments where it’s noticeable that the narrative is being drawn out somewhat. The cricket match is described in detail which wouldn’t disgrace Test Match Special, although it’s always struck me as a nice touch that Tegan as a true Australian appreciates the finer points of the game- nevertheless her allusion to Allan Border hasn’t aged particularly well, although that’s probably as much due to Australian cricket coming on in leaps and bounds since. Part Two seems to have been reworked slightly as well, making Ann slightly more spirited and an equal to Nyssa, so that the Doctor’s arrest and the resolution of the story itself are squeezed into the last quarter of the book. Given that treatment, it’s perhaps slightly strange that the supporting characters don’t quite come to life as much as they might, apart from occasional insights such as the moment when we’re told that Ann genuinely loved George, and only transferred her affections to Charles out of pity following George’s disappearance. We are however left in no illusions as to the tortures George has suffered, in particular when Dudley describes the clicking sound he makes when agitated, as he tries to communicate without a tongue.

It’s a sound expansion of the themes of the televised story, then, rather than a more radical reworking, and while the trappings of the Poirot-style mystery are appropriated in abundance, the Doctor doesn’t so much deduce the solution as establish his own innocence while circumstances force an admission from Lady Cranleigh. Nevertheless, it allows for a particularly poignant and downbeat ending, as what was initially set out as a murder mystery turns into a tragedy, and Dudley manages the shift from one register to the other with some skill. ‘Black Orchid’ certainly isn’t a run-of-the-mill Doctor Who story- its concentration and absence of a monster or a true villain see to that- and we should probably therefore be glad that it was adapted at all; as it was, circumstances ensured that it would be the last of Peter Davison’s stories to be adapted for the Target range, and it’s certainly one of the better adaptations of stories from that era.