Angus On Dr Who (also K-Punk). I’m sure I’ve said before on FT that Talons and similar Dr Who stories are where the series’ BBC origin really shows – period costume drama was one of the Corporation’s great strengths around the time it was making Dr Who, so whenever Who dipped its scarf-ends in those waters it had a wealth of institutional support to draw on. This comes over really strongly in Black Orchid, the Davison two-parter where the TARDIS quite simply materialises in the middle of a BBC Sunday teatime 20s drama: it’s known for being the final “pure” historical Dr Who story but it’s only as historical as say Flashman. Like Talons Of Weng-Chiang it explores a genre more than an era, but in this case it’s a genre pretty much shaped by the BBC (via Priestley maybe) rather than one coalesced out of assorted Victoriana. As such every actor involved seems to know exactly how to play it – this kind of country-house mystery was probably first-term stuff at RADA back in the day!