Orphan Black

***Orphan Black*** is a Canadian science fiction television series. It was created by screenwriter Graeme Manson and director John Fawcett. _Orphan Black_ stars Tatiana Maslany as several identical people who turn out to be clones. The main character in the series is Sarah Manning. Sarah Manning takes on the identity of one of her clones, Elizabeth Childs, after the clone kills themselves.

## Premise

At the beginning of the series, Sarah Manning, a con artist sees a woman who looks exactly like her. The woman kills herself by jumping in front of a train. The woman is revealed to be Elizabeth Childs. Sarah steals Beth's identity, job, purse, and shoes. Sarah finds out that Beth has $ 70,000 dollars in the bank. This is enough for Sarah to disappear with her daughter, Kira, and her foster-brother, Felix. Beth turns out to be a police officer with a boyfriend, Paul. Sarah also finds out that a few months before, Beth had killed a civilian, Maggie Chen. Beth had been suspended from the force following this. When Sarah impersonates Beth, it is difficult to convince Art, Beth's police partner, that everything is fine. Art is suspicious, and believes that "Beth" is planning to escape town to avoid her hearing. He finds the money Sarah has taken from Beth and holds it until he is convinced nothing is wrong. Meanwhile, Felix arrives at the coroner's office and identifies Beth's body as Sarah.

Beth is often contacted by a mysterious women on a green phone. Sarah ignores these calls until another clone, Katja Obinger, gets into Sarah's car. Katja believes that Sarah is Beth and begs her to help her. Sarah refuses. Katja eventually realizes that Sarah is not Beth, before she is shot in the head. Sarah talks to the women on the phone. She realizes that she is a clone. She knows that she must bury Katja's body. She also realizes that she has many clones across the world that someone is trying to kill.

The clones that Sarah meets are named Alison Hendrix and Cosima Niehaus. Cosima is a student at the University of Minnesota studying evolutionary development. Alison is a suburban mom. The three become close friends and eventually discover that they were all made by a company called the DYAD. They also realize that they all have a "monitor" (a person in their lives to spy on them).

Eventually, the clones realize that it is another clone that is killing them, Helena. A religious extremist group, the Proletheans, have told Helena that she is the original clone. She believes that the others are an insult to God. Helena and Sarah are actually twins, and have a "connection". At the end of series one, Sarah shoots Helena to protect Kira.

The plot of the show is about the clones trying to protect their family and friends.

## Other websites

- _Orphan Black_ at BBC America
- _Orphan Black_ at Space

## Infobox (television)

- **image**: Orphan Black logo.png
- **starring**: Tatiana Maslany
Dylan Bruce
Jordan Gavaris
Kevin Hanchard
Michael Mando
Évelyne Brochu
Maria Doyle Kennedy
- **executive producer**: Ivan Schneeberg
David Fortier
Graeme Manson
John Fawcett
- **creator**: Graeme Manson
John Fawcett (director), John Fawcett
- **theme music composer**: Two Fingers
- **composer**: Trevor Yuile
- **country**: Canada
- **location**: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- **language**: English
- **num seasons**: 5
- **num episodes**: 50
- **list episodes**: List of Orphan Black episodes
- **runtime**: 43 minutes
- **company**: Temple Street Productions
BBC America
Bell Media
- **channel**: Space (TV channel), Space (Canada)
BBC America (U.S.)