River Song Will Be In This Year's 'Doctor Who' Christmas Special

3 September 2015 | 4:05 pm | Staff Writer

Hello again, sweetie

Though The Doctor has had countless companions come and go on Doctor Who over the years, one woman has arguably attained the level of being undeniably the Time-Lord's equal — fierce, fastidious archaeology professor River Song (Alex Kingston), a badass time-traveller and, as it happens, The Doctor's wife.

And, although we seemingly bid the character a somewhat emotional farewell back when Matt Smith was still fopping about the joint prior to his reincarnation as Peter Capaldi and his eyebrows, viewers by now should be well attuned to Doctor Who's penchant for crying "timey-wimey!" and getting loose with chronology.

So, while we've technically seen River die twice now (the first time, in her very first appearance alongside David Tennant's Tenth Doctor, no less), that's not enough to keep a good woman down, as the BBC has announced that Kingston has signed on to return to the long-running sci-fi series for this year's annual Christmas special.

"It's Christmas Day in the future and the TARDIS is parked on a snowy village street, covered in icicles, awaiting its next adventure," a brief synopsis provided by the network explains.

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"Time traveller River Song meets her husband's new incarnation, in the form of Peter Capaldi, for the first time this Christmas."

As the release suggests, particularly exciting about the impending rendezvous between River and Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor is that this will be the first time the pair have met, and it remains to be seen to what extent they actually interact as, when The Doctor first met River (but she'd already met him), she makes reference to "her" Doctor, who was clearly Smith's Eleven — so it will be interesting to see where this fits into the pair's inevitably doomed relationship.

"Another Christmas, another special for Doctor Who — and what could be more special than the return of Alex Kingston as Professor River Song?" showrunner and head writer Steven Moffat said in a statement.

"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."

"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," Kingston said of her return in a statement.

"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?"

Doctor Who series nine returns on 19 September, with the Christmas special to follow on 25 December.

Series eight has just been added to Netflix.