‘I am Verdigris,’ the figure said, and didn’t elaborate.
Verdigris: "green of Greece", or in less obscure terms, the greenness on copper caused by oxidation. There's certainly no rust on this book, however, which at 21 years old still feels quite new and exciting. I've heard a lot about Iris Wildthyme, everyone's favorite auntie and original creation of author Paul Magrs, but I'd never read any of the books or listened to the audios until now. Predictably, this book is quite entertainingly mad, and it seems to have some interesting things to say about the Pertwee era as well.
From the off, it's hilarious how Iris (apparently in her Beryl Reid guise at this point) is just about this Doctor's opposite. She's a hard-partying lush with reluctant companions and far fewer moral scruples. And she's so much fun. The Doctor is stuck between caring for her and wishing she'd buzz off and let him solve this adventure by himself. I was also deeply amused by her apparent antipathy to Jo, given that they'd eventually share an actress. Her companion, Tom, is a nice side character and plays off of her well. His dilemma between liking Iris and distrusting her, to say nothing of his reaction to the other characters, is played very well, and leads to some fun places.
This book doesn't so much lean on the fourth wall as chisel a hole in it and peek on out. There's a sequence where Jo wanders into an abandoned UNIT HQ which is presented to us as a series of Tele-Snaps that are apparently in black and white and with garbled audio. We encounter a nameless man in the woods; the narrator can't decide if he is a poacher or a tramp, then shrugs and calls him both, before killing him. Poor Mike Yates is turned into a two-dimensional cardboard cutout and stuffed in Jo's handbag. The narrative more than once comes only just short of pointing out through text or dialog that they're all in a post-modernist novel. Verdigris takes refuge in absurdity, and I love it. It's poking fun at the tropes of the period, but in a way that I sense to be more fond than anything. I was also amused, and provoked into thought, when Iris pleads with the Doctor, telling him he got off easy being exiled, whereas she'd probably be executed by the Time Lords because he's a "posh" Gallifreyan and she's not.
All told, it's a bit of a mind-fuck, but undoubtedly a very fun one. The prose is hilarious, and the little references to both the continuity and to fan culture, gay culture, and literature were all much appreciated by me. I'm pleased that these two latest diversions have been some of the best I've yet done for this marathon, but not to be outdone, the program itself has some spectacle to offer. The Three Doctors is next.
(Modified from the original posted at Gallifrey Base on 5 April 2021.)
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