Doctor Who: River Song meets her step-granddaughter Susan in 2019!
By James Aggas
The fourth and final episode has been revealed for the sixth series of Doctor Who spin-off The Diary of River Song. And it’s an exciting one, as River will finally meet her step-granddaughter, Susan!
Over the past few months, Big Finish have gradually been revealing details of the sixth series of their popular spin-off, The Diary of River Song. It’s not surprising why they’ve been revealing the story details slowly, as each of the stories is set either during or directly before a major Doctor Who serial.
The stories that she’ll cross over into will be The Web of Fear, Carnival of Monsters and The Talons of Weng-Chiang. Each of these have sounded very exciting, especially the last one. (I’m a big fan of Talons, particularly for giving me my favorite duo, Jago & Litefoot.)
But the final story she’ll be crossing over into? Or, rather, the first? It’s An Unearthly Child: the first ever Doctor Who story. Where she’ll finally get to meet Susan – her husband’s granddaughter…
Ian, Barbara and Susan, who feature in An Unearthly Woman, will be played by the regulars of audio series The First Doctor Adventures.
(Image credit: Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.
Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.)
Original team, new cast
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An Unearthly Woman, written by Matt Fitton, will feature Jamie Glover as Ian, Jemma Powell as Barbara, and Claudia Grant as Susan. As some of you are no doubt aware, these are not the original actors for the companions, but rather the cast of from both An Adventure in Space and Time and Big Finish’s own series The First Doctor Adventures.
It’s definitely a bold choice to go with this particular team of actors. Especially since both William Russell and Carole Ann Ford, the original actors for Ian and Susan, are still alive. However, it’s also understandable that Big Finish would prefer to go with their own team, especially since Russel, aged 94, understandably doesn’t work as much now.
For what it’s worth, while I of course adore the original team of actors who brought this magical show to life back in the Sixties, I have been enjoying the new team, too. They don’t give impersonations, but they do capture the spirit and tone of that original era perfectly. They also get that wonderful bond between the characters just right. So they should do a great job of doing justice to the original story.
Meeting the family
As for the story itself, what can we expect? Well, the most exciting part about this is the idea of River meeting the Doctor’s granddaughter. Does she know about Susan already? Did she know much about the Doctor’s family before he met her? How will she react to meeting her? And will Susan work out who River is?
There’s a lot of questions raised with this one. And I can’t wait to listen to series six to get all of the answers.
The Diary of River Song: Series Six will be released in August 2019, and can be pre-ordered on CD or download from Big Finish’s website here.
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Are you excited for the Doctor’s wife to meet her step-granddaughter at last? What role do you think River will play in the first ever Doctor Who story? Do you approve of the casting choices used for the companions? Let us know in the comments below.