Plot
20 years after the events in No Orchids for Miss Blandish, Miss Blandish's daughter and John Blandish's teenage grand daughter Carol Blandish is lodged in a lunatic asylum. John Blandish refuses to have anything to do with her as she is an illegitimate child born to his now deceased daughter and Slim Grisson when she was held captive by the latter 20 years ago. Carol is sent to the asylum when she begins to display homicidal tendencies like Slim Grisson and a tendency to attack people's eyes. Nevertheless, Mr Blandish, before his demise, puts his entire fortune in her name and in the care of a trust that wishes to keep the money and ensures that she is confined as an 'insane person', lest she claims her due inheritance one day.
Unfortunately Carol escapes from the Asylum one night, and this sets off many people on her trail - Sheriff Kamp and the psychiatrist who want her back lest she be kidnapped for money, by the trust lest she becomes de-certified as a psychiatric patient after 14 days out-of-asylum by law, a journalist Phil Magrath who wants to make it big for his paper by grabbing the news first, and soon by ruthless murderers who want to claim her money.
Carol is found by a speeding truck driver in the storm, which she takes over and topples over a valley, killing the driver and going unconscious. She is then found by estranged brothers Steve and Roy, who take her to Steve's cabin. Roy is hiding from Max and Frank - the Sullivan Brothers, two dreaded hitmen whose existence is unknown, out to kill him on contract for betraying Roy's boss. Steve nurses Carol to health, who becomes amnesic and falls in love with him.
The Sullivan brothers find and attack Steve's cabin and kill Roy. Steve and Carol escape but Steve gets shot. She seeks help, with the Sullivans behind them. Both are found by Phil Magrath and given shelter. Steve recuperates. The Sullivans hunt for him and Carol as they are now witnesses to Roy's murder. Eventually they locate them lodged in Phil Magrath's mistress home. They attack and kill Steve and break away before the cops arrive, but not before Carol manages to blind Frank Sullivan. Carol is now in custody of Phil who looks after her. But she is aggrieved over Steve's death, and vows revenge against the Sullivan brothers.
Months later the Sullivans are in another city. Frank Sullivan is blind and having a nervous breakdown, and Max Sullivan is getting tired of him. He continues to work, leaving Frank in a house to take care of himself with a maid. Frank is one day visited by a lady, who befriends him and convinces him to relieve his maid. This lady happens to be Carol Blandish in a new 'Avatar', who has been hunting the Sullivans and has found Frank, who cannot recognise her. She pretends to look after him, takes him and drops him midway in the city traffic, getting him killed by speeding vehicles. Max learns of Frank's death but is remorseless. He eventually learns that Carol Blandish is behind him and Frank for revenge. The rest follows Carol's quest for revenge as the predator and Max Sullivan's survival as a prey.
The Queen Victoria is the Victorian public house in the BBC soap opera, EastEnders. It has the fictional address of 46 Albert Square, Walford, London E20.
James Hadley Chase was an English writer. While his birth name was René Lodge Brabazon Raymond, he was well known by his various pseudonyms, including James Hadley Chase, James L. Docherty, Raymond Marshall, R. Raymond, and Ambrose Grant. He was one of the best known thriller writers of all time. The canon of Chase, comprising 90 titles, earned him a reputation as the king of thriller writers in Europe. He was also one of the internationally best-selling authors, and to date 50 of his books have been made into films.
Phil Mitchell is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Steve McFadden. He was introduced to the soap opera on 20 February 1990 and was followed by his brother Grant, sister Sam and mother Peggy. Phil was one of the major characters introduced by executive producer Michael Ferguson, who wanted to bring in some macho male leads. Phil and his brother Grant became popularly known as the Mitchell brothers in the British media, with Phil initially portrayed as the more level-headed of the two thugs. Storylines featuring the Mitchell family dominated the soap opera throughout the 1990s, with Phil serving as one of the show's central characters and protagonists since the 1990s. McFadden temporarily left the series in late 2003, then returned in April 2005 for a brief appearance before making a permanent return in October 2005, and has now overtaken Dot Cotton as the second-longest-serving character in EastEnders, surpassed only by original character Ian Beale. A teenage version of Phil, played by Daniel Delaney, appeared in a flashback episode broadcast on 5 September 2022, which focuses on the Mitchell family in the 1970s.
Roy Evans is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Tony Caunter from 26 December 1994 to 18 March 2003. Introduced by executive producer Barbara Emile in 1994, Roy is scripted as a love interest for Pat Butcher. Caunter remained a regular character until new executive producer Louise Berridge axed him in 2003, a decision which she later stated she regretted.
La Chair de l'orchidée is a 1975 film by Patrice Chéreau as his directorial debut, adapted by him and by Jean-Claude Carrière from the 1948 book The Flesh of the Orchid by British writer James Hadley Chase, "a pulp-novel sequel to No Orchids for Miss Blandish" (1939). The film stars Charlotte Rampling, Simone Signoret, Bruno Cremer, Edwige Feuillère and, in a cameo, Alida Valli.
Florence Lindon-Travers, known professionally as Linden Travers, was a British actress.
Dan Sullivan is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Craig Fairbrass. He was first introduced to the series as a regular character from 7 June 1999 to 10 July 2000 before returning as one of the show's primary antagonists from 26 February to 16 August 2001.
The Branning family, together with the Jackson family are a fictional extended family in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. Introduced in 1993 were the Jackson family, consisting of Carol Jackson, her partner and later husband Alan Jackson, and Carol's four children, Bianca Jackson, Sonia Jackson, Robbie Jackson, and Billie Jackson ; he is the only child fathered by Alan. The family becomes a more dominating presence in 1999, when Carol's father Jim Branning moves to Walford following the death of his wife Reenie due to cancer. Since then, all six of Jim's children have appeared, many of them with their own families.
The Grissom Gang is a 1971 American crime neo noir directed and produced by Robert Aldrich from a screenplay by Leon Griffiths. The film is the second adaptation of the 1939 novel No Orchids for Miss Blandish by James Hadley Chase; a previous version had been made in Britain in 1948. The cast includes Kim Darby, Scott Wilson, Tony Musante, Robert Lansing, Irene Dailey, Connie Stevens, Wesley Addy, Joey Faye and Ralph Waite.
Suzy Branning is a fictional character from the BBC One soap opera EastEnders, played by Julie Christian-Young for a brief appearance in April 1996, and Maggie O'Neill in 2008, who began filming in May that year, and she appeared from 8 July to 26 December 2008. Soon after her reintroduction in 2008, Suzy begins a relationship with Phil Mitchell and enters into a rivalry with Phil's other love interest Shirley Carter. She schemes to con Phil out of his money and after her intentions are discovered, Suzy leaves Walford.
No Orchids for Miss Blandish is a 1948 British gangster film adapted and directed by St. John Legh Clowes from the 1939 novel of the same name by James Hadley Chase. It stars Jack La Rue, Hugh McDermott, and Linden Travers, with unbilled early appearances from Sid James, as a barman, and Walter Gotell, as a nightclub doorman. Due to the film's strong violence and sexual content for its time, amongst other reasons, several critics have called it one of the worst films ever made.
The Girl Said No is a 1937 American musical comedy film produced by Andrew L. Stone and Edward L. Alperson for Grand National Pictures and directed by Andrew L. Stone. The screenplay was written by Betty Laidlaw, Robert Lively and Andrew L. Stone. The film stars Robert Armstrong, Irene Hervey and Paula Stone. It uses musical numbers from Gilbert and Sullivan operas, and the story is about a shady bookie who is in love with a greedy dance hall girl and schemes to get her back after she rejects him. Along the way, he revives a failing Gilbert and Sullivan troupe.
No Orchids for Miss Blandish is a 1939 crime novel by the British writer James Hadley Chase. It was a critical and commercial success upon release, though it also provoked considerable controversy due to its explicit depiction of sexuality and violence. In 1942, the novel was adapted into a stage play and in 1948 it became a British film. The novel became particularly popular with British servicemen during World War II.
Derek Branning is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Terence Beesley in 1996 and then Jamie Foreman from 2011 to 2012. Derek is the eldest child of Jim Branning and Reenie Branning. He first appears in episode 1282, which was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on 29 April 1996, for his sister April Branning's wedding and departed on 2 May. The character returned as a regular in the episode broadcast on 24 November 2011, played by Foreman. In October 2012, it was announced that Foreman would be leaving EastEnders in December 2012 as part of a Christmas storyline. On 20 December 2012, it is revealed that Derek was the person who Kat Moon had an affair with. The character died of a heart attack in the episode broadcast on 25 December 2012.
"Who Killed Lucy Beale?" is a storyline from the BBC soap opera EastEnders. It was announced on 21 February 2014, and began on 18 April 2014, when Lucy Beale was discovered dead on Walford Common from a deliberately inflicted head injury. The storyline reached a peak during EastEnders Live Week on 19 February 2015, the show's 30th anniversary episode, during which Lucy's 10-year-old half-brother, Bobby, is revealed to have killed her following a confrontation at home. Bobby's adoptive mother, Jane Beale, had covered for him, moving Lucy's body to Walford Common and convincing Bobby that he was not responsible for his sister's death.
No Orchids for Miss Blandish is a 1942 British stage adaptation by James Hadley Chase and Robert Nesbitt of Chase's 1939 novel of the same name. It ran for 203 performances at the Prince of Wales Theatre in the West End.
