Black Butterfly

Since James Bond became an icon of a life of luxury and adventure there have been several attempts to "send up" this type of fiction and Black Butterfly is Mark Gatiss' contribution. His hero is Lucifer Box the aging head of a secret government department known as the Royal Academy. His code name is Joshua Reynolds. The Academy is due to be absorbed into MI6 as part of an efficiency drive but Box is determined to have one last adventure. He gets the chance when the fiendish organisation ACRONIM developes a psychedelic drug from the wings of the Black Butterfly and plan to drug all the members of the Scout Movement by putting it in their orange squash. Box frustrates their plan in a series of Pythonesque adventures which proved an amusing read if one accepts such things as Box's Istanbul contact being a Turkish Geordie named Whitley Bey and that he has a son named Christmas - Christmas Box geddit!