Alex Kingston’s time-travelling archaeologist launches herself into a new audio series this August.
When audio producers Big Finish called time on The Diary of River Song last year after 12 box sets, it came as a surprise. However, any fears that it signalled the end of her audio adventures were unfounded as River returns this August.
The brand-new series opens a fresh chapter for the enduringly popular character, one which promises to take us further down her complicated timeline than ever before…
The Death and Life of River Song
The first box set in this new series, Last Words, comes from writer Robert Valentine. It begins with River, after settling down to an afterlife in the Library’s computer core, finding herself waking up in Earth’s future, her consciousness having been temporarily transferred to a new body.
Alex Kingston says:
“We have gone post-Library! We’ve done another episode in the past where I was within the database, which I loved, and I thought that’s the only way you could go forward with River, given her situation. So, I was actually really surprised when this box set came my way, and that we are now so far advanced in the history of Earth that she is able to be brought out as data and put into a cloned body. So very, very clever!”
Producer David Richardson adds:
“When every single day during the recording, your leading actress says “This script is brilliant”, you know you’re onto a good thing. Even better, at the end of the last day, Alex popped the script in her bag and announced that she loved Last Words so much she was taking it home to keep and treasure.”
The Death and Life of River Song: Last Words is now up for pre-order exclusively from Big Finish. It’s available either as a collector’s edition four-CD box set, or on digital download.
It’s also available in a money-saving bundle with volumes 2 and 3 of the series, both due in 2025.
Star-Crossed
You don’t have to wait for August though, as Alex Kingston also stars in the next volume of The Ninth Doctor Adventures.
River Song will join Christopher Eccleston’s Doctor for three adventures. Together, the pair are set to visit a planet in thrall to a dating app, an intergalactic bank with a catastrophic glitch, and a raging maelstrom.
Doctor Who: The Ninth Doctor Adventures: Star-Crossed is out in May 2024 and available to pre order now.