Alex Kingston has fuelled speculation that her character, River Song, could come back in a future episode of Doctor Who.

When asked if River — aka the daughter of Amy and Rory Williams, and the wife of the Doctor — might be seen again, Kingston said:

“You can go forward with River, you don’t always have to go back. She’s saved within a computer and she can then go anywhere. I don’t think she’s quite gone yet.”

Indeed, she’s saved in The Library, as seen in Silence in the Library/ Forest of the Dead, the first story to feature River but which also essentially showing her death. She’s been seen a lot since then, of course, notably opposite Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor.

From River’s POV, the last time she saw the Doctor was in The Name of the Doctor, 10 years ago now, in which she was a data ghost, appearing through time on Trenzalore, supposedly the Doctor’s final resting place. But from our POV, the last time we saw River was in 2015’s The Husbands of River Song, in which Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor said goodbye to her — on the eve of her trip to The Library.

Might we see River opposite Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor? Or even with David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor in the 60th anniversary? It seems unlikely, but stranger things have happened. And wouldn’t it be nice for the Doctor to celebrate his anniversary with his wife?