Iris Wildthyme first appears in one of Magrs's non-genre novels,
Marked for Life, as a lesbian novelist who has lived for far longer than a normal lifespan. At the end of the novel, Iris Wildthyme seems to die and then become a baby in a scene reminiscent of
regeneration. The infant Iris appears in later books by Magrs taking place in the same Phoenix Court setting, and an apparently adult version re-appears in the story "Hospitality", in the collection
Iris: Abroad. Iris's first
Doctor Who appearance is in the short story "
Old Flames", where she meets the
Fourth Doctor and
Sarah.
The Doctor already knows Iris as an "old friend", and she is seen to be travelling in a 20th-century
London AEC Routemaster double-decker bus (the
route 22 to
Putney Common), which is, in reality, her
TARDIS. and "an ethical challenge" to some of the series' "main inconsistencies". In 2011,
SFX called Iris Wildthyme one of the 'Top 5 Spinoff Companions' and said 'her adventures (with the Doctor, and in her own line of books) are a joy'. Iris was featured at length in
The Scarlet Empress and
The Blue Angel, and went on to appear in several more short stories and novels in the
BBC Books range, most recently
Mad Dogs and Englishmen in 2002. Since then the character has been the subject of a number of short story anthologies, edited by Magrs and others, published by
Obverse Books and one by
Big Finish Productions, and two novels published by
Snowbooks. In 2001,
Philip Purser-Hallard submitted a proposal for a novel,
Iris Wildthyme in the City of the Saved, which would have seen Iris in a hedonistic artificial world at the end of time where all people are resurrected and made immortal. It was rejected as an Iris Wildthyme novel range was considered unviable at the time. Purser-Hallard reused elements of the story in 2002's
The Book of the War (in which Iris appears as an unnamed traveller) and 2004's
Of the City of the Saved.... In 2002, the character started appearing as an occasional crossover character in audio plays by
Big Finish Productions, where she is voiced by
Katy Manning. Following the casting of Manning in the role, imagery of the character used by Big Finish (and, later, Obverse Books) on packaging and covers now depicts Manning's likeness. The character has appeared as the main character in five "seasons" of audio dramas, released respectively in 2005, 2009, 2012, 2013 and 2015, Each release of the second season is a pastiche of a decade of televised
Doctor Who, from the 1960s through to the 1990s. The 2012 release
Iris Rides Out is a crossover with the out-of-copyright character
Carnacki the Ghost-Finder. Although in some of her early appearances (including
Verdigris and
Wildthyme on Top) Iris is accompanied by her companion Tom (played on audio by
Ortis Deley), her usual foil in her Big Finish, Obverse Books and Snowbooks appearances is Panda, a 10-inch-tall sentient, stuffed toy (played on audio by
David Benson). ==Character==