Interview: Paul Magrs

Interview with the author of Mad Dogs and Englishmen.

What made you first want to write a Doctor Who novel?

I was writing them when I was ten. There was a bit of a gap for a while, I wrote some other novels and published them.

By then, Virgin and then the BBC were publishing original Doctor Who novels. I'd been at school with Mark Gatiss and did my MA in creative writing with Paul Cornell, so I thought, "Hang on - shouldn't I be writing one as well?" I knew it would be great fun.

How do you feel about the fact that fandom has taken Iris Wildthyme to its bosom?

I hope they have - and I suppose she hopes they have too. I know there are some who find her too irritating for words - (although they seem to have plenty to say about her). I think many of the things that authors hear tend to be the negative comments about their books or audios on the Internet - the people who actually enjoy the stuff tend mostly to be quieter.

I think Iris is a good thing. She makes me laugh. I hope we haven't seen the last of her. I like it when other people put her in things - her cameos in Lawrence and Lance's work, or in Steve Cole's forthcoming audio - or in the fan fiction on the net that's floating around out there.

Whatever happened to Iris and her disco chicken companion?

Ah. Now there's a story.

How did you feel the first time you head Katy Manning performing Iris?

It took me a moment to realise that she's doing Gracie Fields, which pleased me no end - being a Gracie fan, of course.

She's invented a whole new Iris, another incarnation - an Iris from the back streets of the North West of England who smokes Black Sobranies and wears a leopardskin coat. So that's four we've seen in action now: elderly Beryl Reid Iris, Brenda Soobie the Scottish chanteuse Iris, Barbarella Iris and now Katy's.

And we've had a glimpse of the earliest, ancient, very posh, Edith Sitwellian Iris. I'd love to see them all together some time. Maybe that tale about Morbius in the Dark Tower and the Seven Sisters of Karn ...

Is there still a chance for an Iris audio series?

I'd hope so. I still like her to meet another Doctor or two. She would find it dizzyingly stimulating to be locked in a room with two or more Doctors... I'd love to hear Katy come back and do more.

Where did your idea for Iris Wildthyme come from, and how did it develop into the character she is now?

Question from Gareth Martland

I really don't know. I wanted her to be someone who would say and do all the things that never usually get said and done in Doctor Who stories. And to be a good female role, too. I know some people think I let her eclipse the Doctor - but it's nice for him to meet his match. There's fun dialogue in that. I hate bland co-stars in anything.

Are you intending to write another Doctor Who audio with Iris Wildthyme in and if so will you be teaming her up with Colin Baker's Sixth Doctor?

Question from Peter Barton

Not sure. I'd like her to meet McGann's Doctor, too.

Where did the idea for sticking poodles in Lord of the Rings come from?

Come on, it needs it, doesn't it?

Would the book have been any different if the villains had been cats?

Look at the last page for the reference to the Terrible Things Going On back at the Pussyworld. That's a whole other story. The great cat goddess Binkie has enslaved a whole star system and it's only when the fourth Doctor and Romana turn up in a gravel pit that's smells suspiciously like kitty litter that...

It's said that there was a contract drawn up stipulating that the BBC had to feature a pink poodle on the cover of 'Mad Dogs and Englishmen'. What on earth were you thinking?

Question from Chris Loxley

Yes, there was. And they gave me exactly the cover I wanted - and more. I think it's wonderful. A true object of desire. I mean, there's loads of black and blue ones, aren't they? And I wouldn't want anything like space ships and guns on the covers of mine. People would get the wrong idea about them.

You've now taken the piss out of the anxiety of influence. Are there any other aspects of literary theory the Doctor could have a pop at?

Freudianism.

Is there a literary classic you'd love to stick the Doctor and Iris in?

Given that Excelis Dawns is Black Narcissus meets At the Earth's Core ... I'd like to carry on the crossover thing and do The Devil Rides Out meets Pipkins.

In your books you seem to be striving to distil the ultimate essence of "camp". Which stories from Doctor Who do you consider especially camp, and which other media products, like TV, films etc., do you consider to fit into the canon of camp?

Question from Xtrovurt

Weng Chiang (When the Doctor talks to a policeman about the welfare of a lady called Nelly Gussett), Brain of Morbius, the Daemons, Planet of the Daleks (where the bombs are shaped like red handbags and fellas in purple fur coats have to hide them in bushes away from the Daleks), Terror of the Zygons ... oh, all of them, actually. Not many of the books though, sadly.

As for other cultural product: Dennis Wheatley novels and film adaptations, The Beast in the Cellar with Beryl Reid, Coronation Street, first generation Crossroads, Fu Manchu, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Basil Brush, DH Lawrence, Space 1999, the Brontes, Are You Being Served, most of TS Eliot. Lots of things.

If you were involved in bringing the good Doctor back to television, what direction would you take the show in?

Question from Dan McKee

It would be dark and magical and funny. Sue Johnston from the Royale Family would be the Doctor. Remake all the classic stories and inbetween them do completely mad new ones. Keep it character based and claustrophobic.

What advice would you give to an aspiring writer of Doctor Who fiction? Where is the best place to start?

Question from Kirsty Everiss

I'd write my own stuff first, Doctor Who-unrelated. If you want to write, learn to write. When you write Doctor Who it's still hard work - a real slog, like any kind of writing.

Did you have The Stones Of Blood in mind when you wrote The Stones Of Venice?

Question from Baysan Ahmet Tulu

Not at all. I nicked the title from John Ruskin. But Stones of Blood is marvellous. I like it when they all go home for sausage sandwiches.

How large is your role in Queen of the Damned? Do you have any other major motion pictures coming up?

Question from Matthew Roffman

My role was purely advisory. My agent is looking at a few action-adventure roles for me, but I can't say too much about that just yet. I'm not that keen on action-adventure.

• Paul Magrs
  

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