Trivia / Doctor Who S19 E5 "Black Orchid"

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• Acting for Two: Sarah Sutton as Nyssa and Ann. She found playing two roles tiring due to constant costume changes.
• The Cast Showoff: That's really Peter Davison, a passionate cricketer himself, playing cricket in the Doctor's game, and doing pretty well — he bowls out an extra.
• Creator Backlash: The cast didn’t like this story and spend most of the DVD Commentary making fun of it. Peter Davison and Janet Fielding in particular disliked the lack of a science fiction element and thought the script was generally trite, with the Doctor spending too long dressed like an idiot. Collectively, they believed it to be comprised of Genteel Interbellum Setting stereotypes and no mystery or dramatic tension whatsoever. In fact, the only cast member who has tried to defend the story was Sarah Sutton.
• Creator's Favourite Episode: According to Eric Saward, this was John Nathan-Turner's favourite story.
• Dolled-Up Instalment: Peter Davison claimed that Terence Dudley told him he had written it for a murder mystery series, found it in a bottom drawer and just turned it into a Doctor Who story.
• Fake Nationality: Latoni, the indigenous South American, is played by the rather more Asian-British Ahmed Khalil.
• Hey, It's That Place!: The story was shot at Buckhurst Park, as used in "Castrovalva", only this time mostly at the house in the centre of the grounds.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Two scenes in Ann's bedroom, in which she is covertly watched by George, had to be abandoned to an industrial dispute.
  • John Nathan-Turner intended for a long time to direct this story, but late in the day, Ron Jones was hired.
  • Season Nineteen was graced with an extra two episodes’ worth of budget for seven four-part stories, but Nathan-Turner decided to use said episodes’ budget instead for the failed pilot K-9 and Company.
  • Peter Firth and Peter Vaughan were considered for Sir Robert Muir.
  • Honor Blackman, Virginia McKenna, Beryl Reid, Barbara Shelley, and Joan Sims were considered for Lady Cranleigh.
• Working Title: The Beast.
• You Look Familiar: Ivor Salter (Sergeant Markham) was both the Morok Commander and Odysseus.

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