Wildthyme at Large (audio story)

Wildthyme at Large was the first release in the Iris Wildthyme audio series. It was written by Paul Magrs.

It featured the first acted appearance of Thomas Daley, and it introduced Panda, but this wouldn't be his first chronological appearance.

Publisher's summary
"Apparently, it has been ten years since Tom's adventures aboard Iris Wildthyme's transdimensional double-decker bus. Tom has now settled into a life of writing weird and wonderful novels (his description; I call them schlocky) about his erstwhile friend in order to support himself and, of course, his best real friend, me! One small, highly intelligent and terribly sophisticated Panda.

Then, one night at a book launch, there was a ruckus in the signing queue. Suddenly, the loud-mouthed floozy of the multiverse was back in his life, no, our lives... I ask you, how rude is that? Anyway, she embarrassed him in front of his fans and caused a punch up. Before Tom even knew it, Iris had entrusted him with her most precious possession, ridden off into the night with Robin Hood, and revealed that she was being hunted by evil forces from a higher dimension... Of course, they both needed me to save the day..."

- Panda (X)

Plot
At a book reading/signing, Lucretia (a bookseller) tells the crowd to form a line, if they want their books signed by the author, Tom. Tom goes to the front of the queue, as a fan approaches him, and as they're talking, the fan deduces that the main character of Tom's novels, Iris Wildthyme, is actually real, which Tom implicitly confirms. All of a sudden, a brash, loudmouthed woman barges through the crowd, exclaiming that she's come back for Tom. It's Iris Wildthyme. Tom invites her out for dinner later, and Iris accepts.

Iris goes over to the wine table, where a fan tells her that she doesn't really look like Iris, and he criticises her "costume". Iris slaps the fan in retaliation.

At the restaurant, Iris and Tom talk about how they left each other, and she entrusts Tom with a Memory Crystal from the Mines of Marlion, which contains all of her memories. She gives it to him hastily, before she's picked up by her ride, Robin Hood and his Merry Men.

At his home, Tom tells Panda that he met Iris, and at his incredulous tale, Pamda asks if Tom's p*ssed. Tom asserts that he isn't, and he shows Panda the Memory Crystal.

In the Greenwood, Iris camps out with Robin and his gang. Little John alerts Robin that Friar Tuck and Maid Marian have been taken hostage by the Sheriff, and the only way to get them back is to trade Iris and her double decker bus.

The next morning in Tom's home, he decides to stop writing books about Iris, and he and Panda head off to the publisher, Satan & Satan Ltd..

With Iris tied up, the Merry Men are hauling Iris' bus with ropes through the forest, and Little John alerts them that they're nearing the castle.

Cast

 * Iris Wildthyme - Katy Manning
 * Tom - Ortis Deley
 * Panda - David Benson
 * Mida Slike - Ann Bryson
 * The Head - Stephen Chance
 * Robin Hood - Duncan Wisbey
 * Lucretia - Lucy Beresford
 * Fan - Lizzie Hopley
 * Fan - Simon Guerrier

Food and drink

 * Iris drinks Pinot Grigio.


 * At the restaurant, Iris eats garlic bread and anchovies on pizza, and Tom eats dough balls.
 * Iris likens putting her memories into the Memory Crystal like "pouring brandy into a decanter".

Clothes

 * Iris is wearing a silver frock and a tigerskin coat.

People

 * Iris is glad Alan-a-Dale stopped playing his instrument, which is either a mandolin or a bango. She likened the music it played to world music.
 * Iris thinks that Will Scarlet was giving her the "glad-eye".

Continuity

 * Iris and her companion Tom first appeared in PROSE: Verdigris.
 * Iris mentions the Mines of Marlion, (PROSE: ' and Jenny Winterleaf and her irritable bowels, who was Iris' companion, first seen in PROSE: '.
 * Mida Slike had appeared in PROSE: Mad Dogs and Englishmen.
 * This incarnation of Iris had previously appeared in AUDIO: Excelis Dawns, AUDIO: The Plague Herds of Excelis and AUDIO: The Wormery.