The Husbands of River Song
First Broadcast December 25th, 2015 @ 5.15pm (7.69m viewers)
Confession time. I didn’t really watch the 2015 Christmas special. It was on in the room but I didn’t pay it much attention. I must’ve been distracted reading my new copy of the Doctor Who Annual. (Editor’s Note — most of the writing staff did watch the episode)
It took me many months before I actually watched it properly. When I did, it was missing focus and felt like just an opportunity to wrap up River Song’s story. However, the meandering episode was completely excused by the breathtakingly emotional final scene between the Doctor and River.
Memorable Moment (Spoiler Warning)
The Singing Towers of Darillium mark River’s final encounter with The Doctor before the events of the Library. Her diary is almost full and she is presented with her own sonic screwdriver which would be crucial to ‘Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead’. The heartbreaking sadness of Peter Capaldi’s Doctor in this moment is crushing and Alex Kingston matches him step for step. It also adds a reflection on the Doctor’s seemingly unlimited ability to find loopholes and save the day. This is particularly poignant coming after the events of ‘Heaven Sent/Hell Bent’ where he did exactly that for Clara. Overall it is an absolutely incredible scene with some of the most powerful acting seen in Doctor Who, ever.
And now, a whole year or (Editor’s Note – or perhaps twenty-four years) on from that conclusion, we are ready for the next adventure with the Twelfth Doctor in ‘The Return of Doctor Mysterio’…
Doctor Who: The Return of Doctor Mysterio starts at 5:45 pm Christmas Day on BBC One and 8/9c on BBC America.
Also First Aired On This Day…
- The Daleks’ Master Plan: The Feast of Steven
- The Christmas Invasion
- The Runaway Bride
- Voyage of the Damned
- The Next Doctor
- The End of Time: Part One
- A Christmas Carol
- The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe
- The Snowmen
- The Time of the Doctor
- Last Christmas
- The Return of Doctor Mysterio
