With the Christmas story showing us the final missing piece of Rivers story, even though she could still return in the future, it seems safe to assume that she likely won't.

That being the case I thought it might be interesting to see which episode that she featured in was what people thought was the best/their personal favourite.


P.s Have included both Closing time and The name of the doctor, as they are both listed as official River appearance episodes, even though I was tempted to not include either of them, since it is only one scene at the end in Closing time, and The Name of the Doctor doesn't in fact include River at all as far as i'm concerned(just a data ghost copy of her).

Wasn't worth the hassle of picky people saying that it wasn't a fair poll because i'd missed out episodes she was in though, so I ultimately included them both.

For me, her first appearance is still the best. It was wonderful to see someone from the Doctor's own future for the first time, and her interactions with the 10th Doctor and Donna were hilarious. But that moment when she realises he has no idea who she is - just heartbreaking!

I would have loved to see some more 10th Doctor/River stories (just in case anyone from Big Finish is reading this). And it is genuinely a different experience watching Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead now having seen the rest of River's life play out in later episodes. Moffat at his best, without a shadow of a doubt.

I do also have a soft spot for Lets Kill Hitler, just because its so funny.

I voted for Silence in the Library/Forest of the dead also, but it was genuinely a hard decision, as looking down the list, apart from Name of the doctor, and the opening two parter of series 6 (first part good, second part lets it down for me), they are all hugely enjoyable episodes, and I think that every single episode on the list is better for having Rivers involvement than it would have been without her.

P.s Certainly agree with you with the 10th doctor/River stories. Since I think the only time we might just possibly see her again on screen would be a multi doctor story, then maybe there is a chance that we might see them together again (along with her seeing all 'her' versions of the doctor again).

Would love to see the look on Rivers face at the prospect of multiple versions of the doctor standing in front of her all at the same time.

Husbands for me. Can't stand the character in any other episode.

The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon. An interesting historical setting that was actually implemented well rather than being "theme of the week", some of the show's spookiest but clever monsters, a very well thought out resolution, and the Eleven/Amy/Rory/River team was at some of its best. Until The Magician's Apprentice/The Witch's Familiar came, this was my favourite series opener of New Who.

I went for The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon as well, though for me it was a close run thing with Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead, especially seeing her last moments from Forest of the Dead integrated seamlessly with footage from The Husbands of River Song. Brilliant!

I also would have liked her to have had more appearances with 10.

That's a pretty tricky one for me as I like a lot of those episodes. Narrowing it down (the Ninth Doctor was good at that!) by removing the stories where she doesn't feature much (Narrows it down) and taking into account she was only in The Pandorica Opens towards the end (Narrows it down) and wasn't in AGMGTW much (Narrows it down) I'll go for Raxacoricof....no, sorry. Um...

It's between Silence in the Library.../Time of Angels.../Impossible Astronaut...for me, although I agree with Mulett that LKH is good fun and I think it has some of her best lines and moments.

I'll go with Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon. Just. Today.

Husbands of River Song for me- river and twelve have such chemistry and her speech about not expecting a sunrise to love you back was brilliant

There's different ways to consider this from...is it a decent story because of River, is it a decent story regardless of River etc.

Ultimately I settled on The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang. River was never meant to be the centrepiece of the story. She sporadically appears and disappears throughout the Doctor's life, getting caught up in some of his greatest adventures. Series 5 absolutely nailed this tone when you look back on it like that. Series 4 set up a mystery that we didn't know would actually be resolved, Series 5 committed to that mystery and sustained it, Series 6 attempted to explain it all and it was a bit disappointing, Series 7 chucked her in for the sheer fun of it, and then she gets a last hurrah as well post-Series 9. Out of all of that I think the position Series 5 found itself in was the most rewarding - it was great to see a bit of RTD-Moffat era continuity crop up for starters. It gave us hints of a long and interesting game that was fun to theorise over, before River got caught up in Pond mythology. Ultimately when it comes to choosing between the two stories she appears in in Series 5, I go with the latter - as I feel it was the better told story regardless of River. Flesh and Stone bailed on what could have been a classic Weeping Angels story. It was still very good but its decision to shift focus to the crack in the wall so intensely was a bit misjudged and it robbed the angels of their menace, and the story of its power. River was brilliant in it, but she was also in the Series 5 finale story in which I'd say she had a fair lot more to do as well.

I'd likely rank Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead after that as it was so rare at the time for the show to explore intriguing matters that are yet to come. It remains one of the most powerful stories because of it, though I admit I struggled to care much about the other characters in River's crew.

An honourable mention to Let's Kill Hitler. It had so many problems, as did the whole contrived arc to Series 6. But at least this one had a hell of a lot of fun whilst it was at it - the source of a lot of that fun being Alex Kingston.

Definitely the first one for me,i'm a big fan of her but,the mystery of that first episode and the fact we didn't find out for a good while just make it the best.
Plus it has great re-watch value the more we found out about her,a wonderful piece of pre-planning by the writer.

Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead

Closely followed by The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang

Then - Time Of Angels/Flesh and Stone

That's it I'm afraid.

Hmmm it depends what you mean by the question... is it my favourite episode FOR River Song as a character? Or my favourite episode overall which just happens to feature River Song?

Out of that list, Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead is probably my favourite episode. But not just because of River. I like the story and I like Donna and I like other characters too.

Buuuuuut for River Song as a character, her best episode was The Husbands of River Song.

I'm not being difficult, I just didn't know which way you meant the question to be answered, so I answered it both ways

Well River was the theme really, and I meant it originally as favourite episode for her as the character.

Nothing wrong with rating the episodes based on otherwise quality either though.

Both are perfectly valid and show different points of view from the various posters who contribute.

This was such a hard call to make for me as I absolutely adore River as a character. That would definitely the poster of her I've got on my wall and why I ordered the new book they just made of her which I want to get round to reading....

Anyway, overall I went with the Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon double header as it was my favourite opener to any series we've had on the show and River's role is just great to watch. It's one that just makes me appreciate Alex Kingston ever so much. She works so wonderully with the Doctor, Amy and Rory that the quartet is one of the best groups the show's ever had in my opinion.

I really don't think she's ever been in a bad episode. I loved all her stuff in Series 5 and Series 6 and her (then) goodbye in Series 7 was wonderfully done. Oddly, I'm not as keen on her first appearance but that may be because it is the end of her. I don't like to think of that so much....