Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Alex Kingston, John Banks, Charlotte Christie, Oliver Dimsdale, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Alexander Vlahos.
One of the peculiarities of long running television serials is that inevitably there will be a character thrust into the limelight to whom the viewers in their masses will take too and demand more of, even perhaps at the expense of the main person to whom the story revolves around.
It doesn’t happen all that often, but when the situation occurs it can be greeted with a mixed response, and a small amount of tension in that should the experiment or development of the story fail, then they might be saying goodbye to the character completely, that they will take the punishment due for falling ratings of their own, and that of the show in which their originated from.
Some characters are so strong though that they defy such convention, and for a programme to spawn not just one or two, or even three spin offs, it seems the world of Doctor Who has brought to life so many variations that each one more than carries their own weighty pleasure with them, and adds even greater to depth to the parent show that surely could be imagined.
It is to the impressive talent of Alex Kingston as an actor, and the original writing of Steven Moffat in bringing to life of the Doctor’s most ingenious enigma and popular partner, that The Diary of River Song was always going to be assured in one form or another to shine magnificently.
If you are going to give a character a chance to grow then it must be done with style and panache, there is little point going into a story with all guns blazing, especially if you wish to garner the attention of the novice, the uninitiated and un-enlightened, then it best to re-introduce such a woman with the slow drawing back of the veil, and it is to the credit of all concerned, and especially the writer, Jenny T. Colgan, that the opening story of the first series of The Diary of River Song, The Boundless Sea, is such an intrigue, a manoeuvre that titillates and charms, but which also has the breathless appeal to which Alex Kingston has built upon, and made her fantastic.
What is remarkable is just how well the observation of the character has been drawn when she is not tied to The Doctor, that on her own there is barely any trickery or sleight of hand to which becomes the norm around the Timelord, instead, and quite rightly, the listener is given chance to revel in the woman’s own intellectual wit, that she is a force to be reckoned with and an inspiration for all, not reliant on the whims and control of another person to make her look and act with respect, with the admiration she deserves.
A long since forgotten world is being opened up, and all River Song wanted was to be left in peace, but the adventure always calls, and the diary is once more being written in. A glorious start to a new series of adventures from Big Finish.
Ian D. Hall