River Song to Return to Doctor Who for the 2015 Christmas Special


It’s something all fans of Doctor Who have long expected to happen, and now it’s finally being confirmed. River Song, played by the excellent Alex Kingston, is to make another return appearance on the popular series this year. This time on the eleventh Christmas Special since the show’s return to television.

The BBC press release has this to say:

It’s Christmas Day in the future and the TARDIS is parked on a snowy village street, covered in icicles, awaiting its next adventure. Time traveller River Song meets her husband’s new incarnation, in the form of Peter Capaldi, for the first time this Christmas.

The special episode, written by Steven Moffat, begins day one of filming this week, and is being Exucutively Produced by Brian Minchin, produced by Nikki Wilson, and directed by Douglas Mackinnon. Moffat elaborates:

“Another Christmas, another special for Doctor Who – and what could be more special than the return of Alex Kingston as Professor River Song. The last time the Doctor saw her she was a ghost. The first time he met her, she died. So how can he be seeing her again? As ever, with the most complicated relationship in the universe, it’s a matter of time …”

Alex Kingston also chimes in:

“To be honest, I did not know whether River would ever return to the show, but here she is, back with the Doctor for the Christmas special. Steven Moffat is on glittering form, giving us an episode filled with humour and surprise guest castings. I met Peter for the first time at Monday’s read through, we had a laugh, and I am now excited and ready to start filming with him and the Doctor Who team. Christmas in September?, why not!”

So, this is interesting news. Not sure I’m quite ready for another River adventure, but we’ll see! I do think she’ll have excellent chemistry with Capaldi however. That I am interested in seeing.

22 thoughts on “River Song to Return to Doctor Who for the 2015 Christmas Special

  1. And for the umpteenth time, sweet jeebus, a Christmas Special is a Special AT Christmas not a Special ABOUT Christmas. Lordy lou will Moffat ever understand that concept? Jesus prison showering Christ the Xmas schmaltz is sickening.

    And for the fans he is pandering to by bringing back “beloved” (by who really?) Alex Song, she’s also all over Big Finish, so knock yourselves out.

    Moffat embodies the genie’s wish / careful what you wish for / getting you wanted – good an hard and far too often trope…

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Looking forward to this! Love Capaldi’s Doctor, he’s very different from the previous two, so I think we’ll see quite a different story from the “usual” River Song.

    Typically, I’m disappointed by the first broadcast of the Christmas DWs, then, when we watch the DVD later on, I think it’s a good story.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. I think it’s down to the build up: my husband and I are both big fans, so the Christmas “Doctor Who” is a real highlight of the day. Having said that, I quite liked the first Capaldi Christmas DW on first viewing. I also loved the very first one, with the 10th Doctor in his pjs & dressing gown.

        Liked by 1 person

  3. I think it would only make sense for her to come back… when she first met him she said he was the youngest she’d ever seen him and that she had pictures of all his faces… and so that means she had to know several future faces… not just the 10th and 11th doctors… and since she is a time traveler and so is he then it would only make sense for her to pop a few more times… after all her first appearance was of her dying and so clearly that doesn’t matter that we saw her die or that we saw her ghost dissipate… because her timeline isn’t being told in order… so YAY!!!

    Liked by 2 people

  4. Here’s exactly what’s going to happen: she’ll say “hello, sweetie”, act mysteriously and make vague implications about things Moffat may or not write, develop or explain, and then say “spoilers” just to make sure we definitely know that she’s a baiting device.

    It’s not that I wasn’t already done with the character, because explaining the mystery of it is about as exciting as a Yoda prequel, but that the Doctor Who universe is such a big place, and bringing back a character introduced seven years ago is only going to make it smaller. I’m not saying I don’t like this choice. It’s just that I’ll now be judging it on whether the episode makes it feel right, fitting or justified.

    Liked by 2 people

  5. Kind of wish they would just let her go. Got fairly bored with her character later on. To me she went from plot device and interesting character to slightly interesting character to this person who just happens to show up everywhere.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Space yenta has very much had her time. Also this self-referentiality is extremely boring for the normal fee paying public who actually pay for the show. It’s the luvvie factor- they’re inside a bubble making the show and can’t IMAGINE anyone outside doesn’t love and support the same politics / characters / rehash plots that they do.

      RTD in his time got absolutely savaged but his almost hypersensitivity to making the show mainstream and not just a fan ghetto paid off in massive dividends – 2006 really was the annus mirabilis. 🙂

      Oh and Geekcritique – I am working on a SINBAD! comic series. Leaving the trippy metaphysical stuff for now. It does my head in too much and nobody reads it. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I’ll be putting some pages up on deviant art today in its own folder in my gallery. It’s quicker and fun to do than normal even though I am still doing painted panels and textures etc.

        Basically I wanted to do something more “fun” as a break and something with less psychedelic / sinister forces overtones.

        You are what you paint as my wife tells me…

        Liked by 1 person

  6. I love, love, LOVE River Song (and Alex Kingston). I once had a River Song Day at my house where we watched all her episodes in chronological order from HER perspective. It was AMAZING! Moffat less than impressed me during Season 8. I really need him to pick up his game in the upcoming season and make sure he doesn’t muck up anything with River in the Christmas special. I will be THOROUGHLY PERTURBED if that character is mishandled.

    Liked by 3 people

      1. You definitely should! It’s terrific to experience the timeline from River’s perspective. The same, yet very different. We stocked up on popcorn and snacks and made a whole day of it. If you do it, let me know how it goes!

        Liked by 1 person

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