Merry Christmas, Sweetie.
The BBC has announced that Alex Kingston will be returning to Doctor Who later this year for the show's annual Christmas special. This will be the first time her character, River Song, has interacted with Peter Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor (that we know of, anyway).
"It's Christmas Day in the future and the TARDIS is parked on a snowy village street, covered in icicles, awaiting its next adventure," BBC's post says. "Time traveller River Song meets her husband's new incarnation, in the form of Peter Capaldi, for the first time this Christmas."
The episode, written by current Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat, will start shooting this week.
For those not too familiar with the show, River and the Doctor have an... interesting relationship. You could just say, "Well, she's the Doctor's wife" and call it a day, but the tricky thing about River is that she and the Doctor both surf their way through time and space in such a way that their timelines are never really in sync. Their first meeting from the Doctor's point of view is nothing new from River's point of view -- and so on. I'd go into specifics, but, well...
"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 about River Song's return. "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!"
The special will air on Christmas Day. The newest season of Doctor Who begins September 19.
