Orphan Black

Orphan Black
File:Orphan Black intertitle.png
Genre	Science fiction Drama Thriller
Created by	Graeme Manson John Fawcett
Starring	Tatiana Maslany Dylan Bruce Jordan Gavaris Kevin Hanchard Michael Mando Maria Doyle Kennedy
Theme music composer	Two Fingers
Country of origin	Canada United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	10 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Ivan Schneeberg David Fortier Graeme Manson John Fawcett
Production locations	Toronto, Ontario
Running time	43 minutes
Production companies	Bell Media Temple Street Productions BBC America Original Production
Original release
Network	Space BBC America
Release	March 30, 2013 (2013-03-30) – present

Orphan Black is a Canadian science fiction television series starring Tatiana Maslany as several identical women who are revealed to be clones. The series focuses on Sarah Manning, a woman who assumes the identity of her clone, Elizabeth Childs, after witnessing the latter's suicide. The series raises issues about the moral and ethical implications of human cloning and its impact on issues of personal identity. The show premiered at WonderCon in Anaheim, California on March 29, 2013. The television premiere of the first 10-episode season was on March 30, 2013 on Space in Canada and on BBC America in the United States. It also aired on CTV later that year. On May 2, 2013, Orphan Black was renewed for a 10-episode second season to premiere April 19, 2014.

Cast and characters

Main

• Tatiana Maslany as a number of clones (see below), all born in 1984 to various women by in vitro fertilisation. The series focuses on Sarah Manning, a small-time con woman at the start of the series. Other clones include Elizabeth "Beth" Childs, a police detective; Alison Hendrix, a soccer mom; Cosima Niehaus, a graduate student studying evolutionary developmental ("evo-devo") biology; and Helena (last name unknown), a religious zealot and assassin.
• Jordan Gavaris as Felix ("Fee") Dawkins, Sarah's foster brother and confidant. He considers himself a modern artist, but moonlights as a male prostitute.
• Dylan Bruce as Paul Dierden, an ex-military mercenary, who was contracted to be Beth's "Monitor" under the guise of her boyfriend. He later splits with the company following the discovery of Beth's death, and becomes Sarah's lover.
• Kevin Hanchard as Detective Arthur "Art" Bell, Beth's police partner.
• Michael Mando as Vic, Sarah's abusive, drug-dealing ex-boyfriend.
• Maria Doyle Kennedy as Siobhan Sadler, Sarah and Felix's Irish foster mother, who call her "Mrs. S." She acts as guardian to Kira, Sarah's daughter, while Sarah is away.

Recurring

• Inga Cadranel as Detective Angela Deangelis, Art's new partner.
• Skyler Wexler as Kira, Sarah's biological (naturally-conceived) daughter.
• Kristian Bruun as Donnie Hendrix, Alison's husband and monitor.
• Matt Frewer as Dr. Aldous Leekie, head of The Dyad Institute and the face of the Neolution movement.
• Évelyne Brochu as Delphine Cormier, Cosima's monitor and girlfriend.
• Natalie Lisinska as Aynsley Norris, Alison's neighbour.

Known clones

By the end of the first season, 10 clones have been revealed. They are of various nationalities and stations in life.

Name	Country of origin	Date of birth	Status
Sarah Manning	United Kingdom	March 15, 1984	Alive
A con artist and thief. Sarah took on Beth Childs' identity upon witnessing Beth's death, originally as a scam to steal her life's savings, but then got drawn into the hidden conspiracy of illegal human cloning. Sarah has a seven-year-old biological daughter, Kira; a foster brother, Felix; and a foster mother, Siobhan Sadler. Street-smart and tough, Sarah at first wants no part of the other clones, only caring about getting together enough money to start over somewhere else with Kira and Felix, but discovers that she cares more about other people than she thought.
Elizabeth "Beth" Childs	Canada	Birth certificate: April 1, 1984 Cosima's chart: March 13, 1984	Died on November 23, 2012
Police detective. The series begins with her suicide by stepping in front of a train. Prior to the start of the series, she was suspended from the police department pending an investigation into her shooting of a civilian, Maggie Chen, who she knew was an agent of the Prolethians. Beth was prescribed a large number of psychoactive drugs by the psychiatrist treating her during her suspension, which she reportedly mixed and abused. Beth found out about the clones when Katja Obinger contacted her about the assassinations in Europe; Beth then tracked down Alison and Cosima and they formed a group (the "clone club") for mutual protection. Paul, her live-in boyfriend, was Beth's monitor. The reason for her suicide has yet to be revealed, but Sarah suspects that it was because she felt out of control of her life after discovering her nature as a clone. Before she stepped off the train platform, in a deliberate manner she removed, neatly folded, and set down her jacket, her high heels, and her handbag in an orderly row.
Alison Hendrix	Canada	Birth certificate: April 4, 1984 Cosima's chart: April 18, 1984	Alive
A suburban woman whom Sarah calls a "soccer mom", she is married and has two adopted children. She is the clone with whom Beth, then Sarah, is in the most direct physical contact, due to their geographical proximity. Conservative, orderly and highly protective of her family, she is prone to emotional instability when taken out of her comfort zone. Upon discovery that each clone is assigned a "monitor", she suspected both her husband, Donnie, and her neighbor and friend, Aynsley, of being her monitor. After interrogating and torturing her husband with a hot-glue gun, she became convinced that it was Aynsley. She repeatedly tried to get Aynsley to admit her role, and finally had sex with Aynsley's husband as revenge. She became obsessed with getting Aynsley to admit she's the monitor and let Aynsley die during an accident. In the season finale, however, the identity of her monitor was revealed to the audience as her husband, Donnie. She signed a contract offered individually to herself, Sarah, and Cosima with the Neolutionists that supposedly freed her from further monitoring without knowing that they had "patented" the clones when they were created.
Cosima Niehaus	United States	March 9, 1984	Alive
PhD Biology student focusing in evolutionary developmental biology at the University of Minnesota. She has the most scientific understanding of herself and her sister clones and the possible reasons as to why the illegal project started and why Helena wants to kill them, but is somewhat overconfident in science and her own ability to pursue risky courses of action. She is originally from Berkeley, California. She suspects, correctly, that her girlfriend, Delphine, is her monitor, and Cosima eventually revealed to Delphine that she knows, and Delphine has decided to betray the Neolutionists to help her. It is revealed that she is experiencing respiratory problems (coughing up blood) like Katja Obinger, but has not told any of her fellow clones, and only reveals this to Delphine. The character is based on Cosima Herter, the show's science consultant. Herter is a PhD student at the University of Minnesota, working on the History and Philosophy of Biology.
Helena	Ukraine	March 15, 1984	Deceased
Assassin, known to have killed Katja Obinger, and probably the other deceased clones, with the exception of Beth Childs. Her last name has not been revealed. A highly disturbed religious fanatic, she has been manipulated by Tomas to believe she is the "original" while the other clones are satanic doppelgängers, and that it is her duty to kill them all. Mentally unstable, she self-mutilates by cutting. Her self-harm is focused on her back, and her cuts give the appearance of feathered angel wings. She is often seen eating or trying to experience tactile sensations with her fingertips. Tomas, who is a member of a group called the Prolethians who are against Neolution, subjected her to physical and emotional abuse and instructed her to kill her fellow clones. Helena has no monitor because the Neolutionists lost track of her after her birth mother hid her in a Ukrainian convent, where she was reared. She and Sarah are twin sisters, both gestated by the same birth mother. Sarah shoots her in the season finale after Helena brutally beats her and kills their birth-mother.
Katja Obinger	Germany	March 24, 1984	Died on November 25, 2012
Killed by Helena via sniper rifle while meeting with Sarah as "Beth". She is the second clone Sarah encountered (Elizabeth being the first) and it was Katja's death that got her directly involved in the conspiracy. Katja contacted Beth and told her about the existence of the clones and that their counterparts in Europe were being killed. At the time of her death, Katja was suffering from a serious respiratory illness that made her cough blood; Cosima is trying to determine if this is a genetic risk to all the clones.
Rachel Duncan	Unknown	Unknown	Alive
Raised by the Neolutionists, working for the people who created the clones. Her birth date and nationality are unknown, although it is possible she has connections to the United Kingdom, due to her British accent. Sarah refers to her as a "Proclone."
Danielle Fournier	France	Birth certificate: March 20, 1984 Cosima's chart: March 12, 1984	Died on September 24, 2012
Presumed dead before the events of the series.
Aryanna Giordano	Italy	Birth certificate: April 4, 1984 Cosima's chart: April 28, 1984	Died on April 11, 2012
Presumed dead before the events of the series.
Janika Zingler	Austria	March 10, 1984	Died on July 13, 2012
Presumed dead before the events of the series.

Production

Orphan Black was initially developed at the Canadian Film Centre by Graeme Manson. Bell Media announced on June 12, 2012 that they had commissioned a 10 episode season of Orphan Black that would be produced by Temple Street Productions and distributed internationally by BBC Worldwide.

On June 26, 2012 BBC America announced that they had picked up the show in the U.S. The casting of Canadian actress Tatiana Maslany as the lead was announced on September 17, 2012. The rest of the principal cast was announced in late October 2012 as production began in Toronto for the first season. On February 7, 2013 it was announced that Matt Frewer had been cast as an edgy philosophical professor, Dr. Leekie, and Évelyne Brochu was cast as a graduate student in molecular and cellular biology. Filming of season 1 was scheduled to be completed by February 12, 2013.

Maslany created different music playlists to listen to, to help her differentiate the various characters she portrays. When filming scenes in which Maslany has multiple parts, cameras were mounted on dollies which would replicate movement, thereby allowing for more action in scenes where she interacts with herself.

The show began airing in the UK on September 20, 2013 on BBC Three.

Location

Orphan Black is shot on location in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. While this is apparent from details such as cars with Ontario license plates, Beth's Ontario driving licence, the color of currency, scripted references to the suburb of Scarborough, and a plane ticket in the pilot episode identifying Toronto's Pearson International Airport, Graeme Manson said that the setting is deliberately ambiguous. "It’s meant to be Generica. It’s part of the price you pay for this kind of co-production."

Episodes

Main article: List of Orphan Black episodes

Orphan Black seasons

Season	Episodes		Originally aired
			First aired	Last aired
1	10		March 30, 2013 (2013-03-30)	June 1, 2013 (2013-06-01)
2	10		April 19, 2014 (2014-04-19)	June 21, 2014 (2014-06-21)
3	10		April 18, 2015 (2015-04-18)	June 20, 2015 (2015-06-20)
4	10		April 14, 2016 (2016-04-14)	June 16, 2016 (2016-06-16)
5	10		June 10, 2017 (2017-06-10)	August 12, 2017 (2017-08-12)

Critical reception

The series has received generally favorable reviews, with the first season scoring a 73 out of 100 on Metacritic.

Tatiana Maslany has received universal acclaim for her performance as the various clones. Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter called her performance "fantastic." When Maslany failed to garner a nomination for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series at the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards, this was seen as a snub by many critics. Goodman called it an "outrageous oversight."

Accolades

Year	Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result
2013	Critics' Choice Television Award	Best Actress in a Drama Series	Tatiana Maslany	Won
	Television Critics Association Awards	Individual Achievement in Drama	Tatiana Maslany	Won
		Outstanding New Program	Orphan Black	Nominated
	Young Hollywood Awards	Breakthrough Performance — Female	Tatiana Maslany	Won
	EWwy Award	Best Actress in a Drama Series	Tatiana Maslany	Won
		Best Drama Series	Orphan Black	Won
	Tubey Award	Most Underrated Show	Orphan Black	Won
		Best New Show	Orphan Black	Won
2014	Satellite Award	Best Television Series or Miniseries, Genre	Orphan Black	Pending
		Best Actress in a Drama Series	Tatiana Maslany	Pending
	People's Choice Award	Favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy Actress	Tatiana Maslany	Pending
	Golden Globe Award	Best Performance in a Television Series – Drama Actress	Tatiana Maslany	Pending

External links

• Orphan Black at BBC Online
• Orphan Black at BBC America
• Orphan Black at Space
• Orphan Black at IMDb