Doctor Who: Why you should check out The Diary of River Song

Want to know more about River Song’s own spin-off? Here’s everything that you need to know.Image Courtesy Big Finish Productions /

Fans of the Doctor’s wife eager for more need look no further than The Diary of River Song by Big Finish Productions. But even those who aren’t a fan of the character may enjoy this Doctor Who spin-off.

Listening to series four of The Diary of River Song, it suddenly struck me what a fantastic Doctor Who spin-off it is. It might not be my all-time favorite, (that would be Jago & Litefoot,) but it’s an absolutely brilliant series.

So far, one of the biggest “hooks” of the series that Big Finish have used is River Song meeting some of the Classic Series Doctors. Naturally, listeners will be eager to know not only how she meets them, but how come Ten doesn’t remember meeting her in Silence in the Library.

I’ve covered this aspect of the series in more detail here. But if I’m honest, that’s not even the greatest strength of the series. No, the greatest strength that Diary has is River herself.

In my experience, River has been a divisive character on-screen. Many people love the unique relationship that she has with the Doctor. But I’ve also known many others who weren’t so keen on her. Or perhaps enjoyed her initially, before she became a huge part of Series Six. In that series, she was focused on more as a mystery to be explored than as an actual character.

The Diary of River Song fixes that, in a big way. With River being the main character in most episodes, without overshadowing the Doctor, we really get to see just how she thinks. And it’s clearly in a very different way compared to her husband’s…

We get a much better idea of River as a character in The Diary of River Song. We also get a sense of how much darker her world really is…(Photo credit: The Diary of River Song/Doctor Who/Big Finish Productions.Image obtained from: Big Finish Productions.) /

River’s morality

River isn’t a psychopath, as she herself believes. But she does have a grayer sense of morality compared to the Doctor. She’s not afraid of seeing evil punished, by any means necessary. Including killing them in cold blood, if that’s what it takes. She’s also not afraid to sacrifice innocent lives if it’s for the greater good.

She’s not a complete monster, of course. This is River that we’re talking about, after all. And if she does have to sacrifice innocent lives, it’s never an easy choice. But she is prepared to go further than her husband ever could.

This is why even the Doctor’s appearances in the series works. The different incarnations are major characters in the stories where they show up, but this is clearly River’s own series. The adventures she’s involved in are just a little bit darker, and the situations are more complicated. Sometimes, he even risks making things worse.

Not that he’s ever portrayed as incompetent. But just as it’s difficult to imagine the Doctor working well in the Torchwood universe – where the problems are much darker and much more adult – it’s also clear that the Doctor doesn’t always work well in River’s world.

In Doctor Who, he’s always the best at resolving the situation. In The Diary of River Song, only someone like River can do what needs to be done.

Five Twenty-Nine is just one of the many great episodes from River’s own series.Image Courtesy Big Finish Productions /

Highlights

The Diary of River Song also gives us a variety of really fantastic stories. Signs is a great two-hander between River and “Mr. Song”, a story that’s both intimate and epic from series one.

Series two gives us Five Twenty-Nine, a dark and depressing episode about the end of the world while focusing on just one family. It’s probably one of my favorite stories of the entire series so far.

The same series also gives us World Enough and Time (no, not that one). Featuring the Sixth Doctor in the unusual position of running a company, it also gives us one of the most surprising and even best pairings of the Doctor and River yet. (Seriously. She even likes the coat!)

Series three gives us the comic and tragic episode The Lady in the Lake, while My Dinner with Andrew is one of the best farces in the whole of the Doctor Who universe. (Second only to Fourth Doctor audio The Trouble with Drax. Seriously, that story is just a joy to listen to!)

Time in a Bottle is a great start for the fourth series, but my personal favorite from that particular set has to be Someone I Once Knew. Not just because it features the Fourth Doctor, but also how he’s used in the story.

An excellent series

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But if I’m honest, there are hardly any episodes in the series that I don’t enjoy. Big Finish have created a truly fantastic series for River Song. In fact, I’d say that they used her even better than Moffat himself did.

There are plenty of ties and links to her story in Doctor Who, of course. Especially in series three, which feels like a huge sequel to the Silence arc in Series Six. But they’ve also taken her character into more interesting and bolder directions, and we really get a better sense of what she’s really like without the Doctor.

If you’re a huge fan of River, I strongly recommend getting this series. Even if you’re not a fan of the character, I still recommend getting it. It’s consistently well-written, filled with excellent and well developed characters, and it’s River at her very best. An excellent spin-off series.

light. Related Story. River Song and the Classic Doctors – how well does it work?

Have you listened to The Diary of River Song? Or have you yet to check out River in her own series? Which characters would you like to see get their own spin-off? Let us know in the comments below.

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