Big Finish, Companion Chronicles
This story is all mixed up in old movies, movie stars, and the 8th Doctor. And Iris Wildthyme is in denial, that’s for sure. She finally has a companion of her own and she isn’t willing to give her up, which is a running joke throughout this story as that man in the felt coat keeps turning up. The story here is a result of Iris being irresponsible. She is at a party and leaves a bottle of poisonous elixir behind, which makes people turn into monsters if they drink it. So a hollywood star takes advantage of the elixir to turn certain people into their inner monsters. There’s a lot to the back story of this tale but I don’t want to spoil it all for you.
First of all, this is a continuation of Iris traveling with Jo Grant from a previous Companion Chronicle, Find and Replace. Iris is NOT a Time Lord with regenerations but that means somehow she’s gotten a bus that is a sort-of TARDIS? That does bring up more questions about Iris and her history, that’s for sure. And it looks like Jo has become her companion, which is a good teaming up, IMHO. At least Jo will keep Iris from making quite so many crazy mistakes, which she then has to go around cleaning up. The first half of this story is a bunch of running around and isn’t as much fun as the second part, which is all of the reveals. So a bit disappointing but not terribly by any means.
Katy Manning (Jo Grant/Iris Wildthyme), Derek Fowlds (Claude)
Writer: Paul Magrs
Director: Lisa Bowerman
Release: May 2014