Black Orchid is the fifth serial of the 19th season of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast on BBC1 on 1 and 2 March 1982.
In the serial, the alien time traveller the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) investigates the murder of two servants during a fancy dress party.
The Doctor clears his name and uses the TARDIS to return to Cranleigh Hall, where the figure has lit the place on fire and taken Nyssa hostage.
[6] In the DVD commentary, Peter Davison and Janet Fielding revealed that Black Orchid is not a particular favourite serial of theirs, because they disliked the lack of a science fiction element and thought the script was generally trite.
Paul Cornell, Martin Day, and Keith Topping gave the serial a positive review in The Discontinuity Guide (1995), writing, "A little piece of 20s whimsy sampled into Doctor Who with surprisingly satisfying results.
"[7] In The Television Companion (1998), David J. Howe and Stephen James Walker said that the story had high production values and were disappointed it did not lead to more historicals.
Club reviewer Christopher Bahn noted that the story was not realistic and paced in a way that not much happened in the first episode, but felt that this decision allowed for leisurely moments between the TARDIS crew.
Though he wrote that the low stakes were a refreshing change, he said that the story's problem was its reliance on Agatha Christie-like source material and that it was "an interesting curiosity, but nothing more".
[10] DVD Talk's Justin Felix gave Black Orchid three out of five stars, describing it as "a breezy excursion into a melodramatic murder mystery".
On 10 December 2018 it was released as part of the Doctor Who: The Collection - Season 19 boxset, which included an optional extended cut of Episode One running over two and a half minutes longer than the televised version at a total of 27:32.