A wonderfully laid-back affair, and a welcome return to the pure historical adventure that hadn't been seen in the series since the 1966/67 story The Highlanders, Black Orchid is a charming murder mystery, and a rare opportunity to see the TARDIS crew relax and enjoy themselves, even Tegan gets a chance to get out of that constricting air hostess uniform and dance the Charleston! It's light-hearted fare and short enough to ever outstay it's welcome, with lovely performances from the regulars and guest cast and a well realised period setting, this is one of the best stories of season 19 and worth buying just to see The Doctor finally indulging in a game of cricket.

With a popular and relatively brief story like Black Orchid, one would expect a strong selection of extra's to support the story, but this is yet another "standard" release and even taken as such, is quite disappointing. The commentary by the four regulars is unbelievably negative in tone, whilst we have come to expect entertaining no-holds-barred commentaries from the Davison era cast, their dislike for this story proves something of a surprise given how generally well-regarded Black Orchid is and poor Sarah Sutton seems to be the only one who has anything nice to say, but is rarely afforded the chance to do so. The general condemnation of these episodes just seems unnecessary and is ultimately rather tiresome.
The rest of the features are a mixed bag, and yet again we have a story without the once standard making-of documentary, which is becoming a worryingly regular omission. The best extra by far is the "Stripped for Action" doc on the 5th Doctor comic strips, which is extremely interesting but again suffers from being far too short (another new trend in who documentary features), and with a legend like Dave Gibbons contributing, you'd think they could have bothered to produce a more meaty documentary. This just feels like a bit of a wasted opportunity. The deleted scenes package is unremarkable and the now and then feature is good, if a little dull, since so little has changed since this story was made. Although the film restoration featurette really highlights the excellent restoration job on these episodes, and you've got a very amusing excerpt from Points of View and an oddly compelling extract on period costumes from Blue Peter to enjoy as well.
Taken as an overall package, despite my dissatisfaction, this is a great story at a good price and worth owning, it's just unusually unsatisfying in the extra's department.

This is the story where the Doctor plays cricket, Nyssa meets her identical twin, Tegan puts gets in the spirit of the time by dancing the Charleston and Adric... well Adric just stuffs his face. As the first historical story since Season 4's "The Highlanders" way back in 1967 this 1982 story will undoubtedly feel a little under whelming to fans new and old whom are familiar with the series pitting our heroes against all manor of evil foes intent on pursuing their own evil plans. There is very little tension and drama on offer in this inconsequential 1920s set piece however with only two episodes to play with it doesn't outstay its welcome. I guess most casual buyers will nab a copy of this for the now familiar sparkling commentary coming from the welcome Davison era participants and in that regard having browsed through the discs contents today (thanks for the prompt delivery play.com!) this release definitely does not disappoint (e.g. Janet to Peter 'did you shave your chest for this' when changing costumes and Matthew's fascination for horticulture in the house leading him to mischievously say that he thought there was 'plants that don't look like illegal substances'). Of the extras the 9 min 'Now and Then' feature matched to very jaunty 1920s incidental music is certainly fascinating as usual and the 4 deleted scenes adding up to 7 mins which apart from occasionally slipping into monochrome add little to the story. The title is further 'padded out' with 8 ½ min Blue Peter feature on a visit to a theatrical costumiers, 2 ½ min 'Points of View' (concerning the mid week time slot), an interesting 2 ¾ min film restoration feature, approx 4 ¾ min photo gallery and 16 mins cover the comic strip exploits of the fifth Doctor in 'Stripped For Action'. Admittedly 'Black Orchid' is never really going to be considered as one of the greats of either the Peter Davison era or the show in general however the additional contents on its DVD release make for a pleasantly enjoyable experience.

For this only two part thriller, you really get your moneys worth.

Its a who's who and you would think that Agatha Christie had wrote this one.

The Doctor enjoy's a good game of cricket and then ends up being acussed of murder.

Its a change from the time traveling and Monsters and is a nice rest before the Cyberman adventure to follow.

Peter Davidson is into his full stride as the Doctor and I would be suprised of any fan. Not to enjoy these to great episodes.

Well Worth the money and the time traveling adventure.

Have to say my youth memories of Doctor Who was late Tom Baker - Peter Davison. This is a great 50 min special that was halved into two episodes which gives a nice time travel historic show without the monsters or universal domintaion backgrounds. Not enough Peter Davison on DVD yet. OK so we have just had a re-issue of the five doctors but did we need it?? Let's have the Black Guardian Trilogy box set soon can we????? However this one is well worth adding to your classic who collection as well.

Black Orchid is a somewhat minor Doctor Who story. At only two episodes in length, it's certainly one of the shortest. It's also one of the most inconsequential. There's no monsters, no saving the Earth from alien invasion, the fate of the galaxy isn't at stake - it's just a short historical tale set in the 1920s which reveals a terrible family secret. It's completely different from almost anything else made then or now. Sarah Sutton (Nyssa) doubles up in two roles and takes whatever acting kudos are on offer for this episode. At least the BBC have the pricing policy right for this one. Different from your average "Who" serial, and not in a bad way.

Black Orchid is a nice enough 2 part story from the first season of the Davison era. Set in the 1920s, it is a nice romp with Davison playing more of a detective role than a timelord, Nyssa gets a bigger role in this story and proves what a great assitant she could have been, if it weren't for the overcrowding!

However, please BBC, start realising some more of the fan boy stories... The Black Guardian Trilogy anyone??? Trail of the Timelord???