March 13th, 2025 no comments

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Big Finish The Death and Life of River Song 02 Ace and Tegan

Available to order from www.bigfinish.com

River’s time team

Alex Kingston, Sophie Aldred and Janet Fielding star in The Death and Life of River Song: Ace and Tegan, a brand-new box set of full cast audio drama, available now.

The audio adventures of Professor River Song (Alex Kingston) continue today, and this time she’s joined by two other friends of the Doctor – Tegan (Janet Fielding) and Ace (Sophie Aldred).

These two former TARDIS travellers were already firm friends by the time they were seen in 2022’s Doctor Who TV special The Power of the Doctor, but how did they get to know each other?

The answer involves hauntings in Victorian London, a spaceship under alien threat, a sinister scientist manipulating their timeline… and, at the heart of it all, River Song, the fabulous assassin-turned-archaeologist.

The Death and Life of River Song: Ace and Tegan is now available to buy for just £22.99 (download to own) or £29.99 (download to own + collector’s edition CD box set), exclusively from www.bigfinish.com. Please note: the collector’s edition CD box set is strictly limited to 1,250 copies and will not be repressed.

The four adventures for this terrific trio are:

Castaways by James Moran

• Adrift in the past, Ace and Tegan are looking into supposed hauntings on London’s new underground railway lines. But how and why are they there? Their memories are not what they were, and they are about to encounter River Song, perhaps not for the first time. One thing is certain – River knows more than she is telling!

Driftwood by Roland Moore

• Back in her TARDIS travels, Ace is cut off from the Doctor, on a stricken spaceship with sixty minutes to live. Something has invaded the vessel – something that travels along wires and can control its metal structure. As time runs out, Ace’s only hope may be a mysterious woman with a blaster and fantastic hair.

Dead Rising by Roland Moore

• With the Doctor and Turlough on ice, Tegan faces interrogation from the Pilot of Vrexel colony. Something is making the colonists drop down dead… Tegan claims she is just in the wrong place at the wrong time. But when River Song arrives and the dead start rising, Tegan’s problems get a whole lot worse…

The End is the Beginning is the End by James Moran

• River, Ace and Tegan must stop Gregor Ganley from changing their past again, and again… and again. But he’s always one step ahead. And River’s new friends want to convince her that assassination is not always the best option. But first, they have the matter of imminent certain death to deal with…

The trio’s nemesis, Gregor Ganley, is voiced by House of the Dragon star Jonny Weldon. The box set’s guest cast also includes Zina Badran, Dempsey Bovell, Beth Chalmers, Alan Cox, Anna Crichlow, Wayne Forester, Holly Jackson Walters, Simon Kane, Stuart McLoughlin, and Kerrie Taylor.

Alex Kingston said: “Having never met Janet and Sophie before, it’s been really, really fun to meet up with companions from the past. This is what’s so great about working on the audio stories, because these characters can carry on living and having adventures with their Doctors or with River – there are wonderful mashups to be explored. When else would I get to meet these two fabulous women?”

Her co-star Janet Fielding said: “It’s a very complicated story, going backwards and forwards. I really like it, actually, it works incredibly well. And of course, it brings together Sophie and I for the first time since we did Power of the Doctor.”

And, Sophie Aldred added: “It’s really nice to have Tegan to play off again. And then, of course, we also meet River Song for the first time. Or then, is it? Because, you know, maybe we’ve met her before. So, it’s all timey-wimey, isn’t it? It’s very, very timey-wimey.”

Big Finish listeners can save money by purchasing Ace and Tegan in a multibuy bundle with The Death and Life of River Song: Last Words, which was released in August, and a third volume (Title TBC) due August 2025, for just £66 (download to own) or £80 (download to own + collector’s edition CD box sets).

Categorised under: Big Finish, CD, spin-offs