It is 113 days until Christmas, but for “Doctor Who” fans it might as well be today. The BBC has announced Alex Kingston returns as Professor River Song in the 2015 Christmas special. River will meet the latest incarnation of her husband for the first time as the TARDIS awaits a new holiday adventure, Parked on a snowy village street at an unspecified time in the future.
For her part, Kingston was uncertain her character would ever appear on the show again, but jumped at the chance to return:
“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 humor 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!”
As the Doctor and River”s relationship is complicated due to timey-wimey stuff, fans had wondered if her triumphant return was in the cards. After all, the Doctor”s first meeting with his future wife was her last meeting with a beloved husband. Later episodes have River talking about being starstruck by “her” Doctor and sucked into the glamorous life of time-travel. While that could be Matt Smith”s incarnation – as it was the first time River met him – there”s definitely enough wiggle room in the timeline for Capaldi.
The Christmas episode begins filming this week. Written by showrunner Stephen Moffat and directed by Douglas Mackinnon, The has a long history directing episode of “Doctor Who,” including the episodes “Listen” and “The Power of Three.”