Taggart (TV Series) Black Orchid (1995) User Reviews

Goodbye Taggart

[bethwilliam · 8/10 · 21 May 2007]

This is the episode that marked a new era. The show opens with Jim Taggart being buried by his family and colleagues. But there are murders to solve and bad guys to catch.

Tony Sabina is played by James Laurenson, the New Zealand actor who also appeared in Double Jeopardy (1988)as Maurice Bain. This time he is a hypnotist out for revenge. Or so it seems.

When a young girl throws herself into the Clyde River after being hypnotised, the resulting bad publicity ruins Sabina's career. Sabina then hypnotises a young man into performing a number of gruesome murders. As Jardine and Reid investigate they are frustrated when Sabina's girlfriend continues to provide the perfect alibi.

There are some great performances in this show. Amanda Redman, (New Tricks) is stunning. Andrew Tiernan is equally powerful. It is easy to see why these two actors have gone on from strength to strength.

This episode also introduces Colin McCredie as DC Stuart Fraser. I have never felt comfortable with this choice of casting. The producers have tried him out in two previous episodes as a car thief and the victim of an initiation rite. But there you go.

Black Orchid

[Prismark10 · 7/10 · 20 June 2021]

It starts with a hypnotist stage show. Later a nightclub chanteuse sings the Taggart theme song as the credits begin.

A different start to the episode. Everyone would had been aware that Mark McManus had died in 1994.

It's still a jolt watching Taggart's funeral scenes. In the episode he had died in his sleep. In reality Taggart had a reduced role in the previous stories, an inkling that his health was not the best.

It's also the end of the road for Jean Taggart. This is her last appearance but she gets several scenes with Mike Jardine.

The story concerns hypnotist The Great Sabina. His career is in ruins after a volunteer from his show is later found drowned. She was hypnotised to swim the channel.

Sabina's career is on a downward spiral. His wife is cheating with his manager. There is a newer and brasher rival and a muckraking journalist.

Sabina hypnotises a deluded fan to kill for him while Sanina always has an alibi. The killings look like a hit.

It looks like a bog standard plot. Jardine is in charge and has a new temporary boss. Jardine needs to crack whether Sabina could hypnotise someone to kill.

Is he using deep buried hypnotism to a key witness. Jardine ends up with serious allegations against him and it seems planned by someone.

At the end Black Orchid has more depth to it. It is Sabina who is being played but it does suffer from having an abrupt ending.

Vengeful hypnosis

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 18 October 2018]

Have always adored detective dramas/mystery series. This has been apparent from an early age, half my life even, when getting into Agatha Christie through Joan Hickson's Miss Marple and David Suchet's Poirot and into 'Inspector Morse'.

Whether it's the more complex ones like 'Inspector Morse' (and its prequel series 'Endeavour') and anything Agatha Christie. Whether it's the grittier ones like 'A Touch of Frost' (though that is balanced brilliantly with comedy too). And whether it's the light-hearted ones like 'Murder She Wrote'. 'Taggart' is one of the biggest examples of the grittier ones, especially the Mark McManus years and the earlier James MaPherson episodes.

"Black Orchid" is a very good enough episode, if not quite one of my favourites.

If there were less talk and a clearer final solution it would already be better. The character of Stuart and his actor Colin McCredie were not particularly interesting or straight away settled at this very early stage of his appearances (his first episode in fact), a bit bland.

Enough that of what made 'Taggart' such a good show when it was in its prime is evident and a lot works here, just that it could have been better at the same time.

Really like the slick, gritty look and Glasgow is like an ominous character on its own. The music matches the show's tone and has a good amount of atmosphere while the theme song/tune is one that stays in the memory for a long time. The relationship between Jardine and Reid was always blossoming nicely and had blossomed by this point and then accentuated with Jackie further blossoming it, showing why it was one of the best things about this period of 'Taggart'.

As to be expected, "Black Orchid" is thoughtfully scripted mostly with nothing ridiculous happening and things being taken seriously without being too morose. The story is involving in its complexity and intricacy with nothing being what it seems, making the most of the long length (have generally found the 2000s episodes too short and rushed) without padding anything out. Some parts are not for the faint hearted, but nothing feels gratuitous and the investigations are compelling and with enough twists to stop it from being obvious. Parts are also moving in the mourning of Taggart, actor Mark McManus having died of pneumonia shortly after his last episode "Prayer for the Dead".

James MacPherson fills Mark McManus' big shoes with aplomb and Blythe Duff continues to get better and better with each episode. Julian Glover, Robert Robertson and Iain Anders all steal their scenes and Amanda Redman and especially James Laurenson are excellent in their roles.

Summing up, very good. 8/10 Bethany Cox