Doctor Who: Muse of Fire

Although Magrs has written a number of serious stories for Big Finish over the years, here he's back to what he's best known for (at least to me): surreal fiction with larger-than-life characters. Which, in this case, means the return of his creation Iris Wildthyme, a slightly crazy Time Lady who is, in some senses, a pastiche of the Doctor himself.

The story is set out of sequence with most other 7th Doctor stories, in that it features Hex as a travelling companion, about four years after the publication of the story featuring his departure. He fits right back in, with a large part of the story being built around the fact that he has a different perspective from Ace. Also guest starring is, of course, Katy Manning as Iris, reprising the role she's played in a number of previous audios, in some of which she was the main viewpoint character.

The story features the TARDIS landing in Paris in 1922, where the Doctor discovers that history - and specifically art and literary history - has been changed. It becomes clear that Iris has something to do with this, putting her and the Doctor at odds. Meanwhile, there's also some alien activity going on in the city and a terrible poet is suddenly becoming popular.

There is an explanation for all of this weirdness, but it has to be said that it doesn't hang together terribly well. We can see what Iris and Panda are doing, and why, but it's rather less clear why any of it would work. Listening to this, it's better just to come along for the ride, enjoying the characterisation and the fun ideas (playing on, among other things, the works of Picasso) rather than thinking about it too much.

And there is plenty of fun to be had, and quite a bit of humour. There are some great ideas in this, and it's an entertaining listen. Iris isn't as perpetually sozzled as she usually is and there's a bit more of a serious edge to her - although I, at least, worked out what she was up to well before the Doctor did. Panda is fun as well, and we even get an explanation as to what he's supposed to be (or at least what the Doctor thinks he is) although, as usual, his oddities are mainly just lampshaded.

So surreal, funny... but not, on the whole, making an awful lot of sense. Whether you'll enjoy it may depend on how much that matters to you.