Despite the comments of the Doctor and others, it is quite possible to establish a stable orbit around a black hole (or any other large mass in space), given appropriate velocity and distance. (Our own Sun is, in fact, in orbit around a super-massive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy.)
The cable should have taken several minutes to fall to the bottom of a ten-mile shaft, not just a few seconds.
The ten miles of 1/2" cable supporting the capsule would create a pile of cable as large as the capsule itself. Instead, only a small amount of cable is visible.
According to the Ood telepathic field monitor. Level 5 means normal "speech" and level 30 means "screaming." By this comparison, higher numbers mean stronger mental activity. However, it is stated that Level 100 indicates brain death, even though brain death means NO mental activity.