Imprisoned at the Stormcage facility for killing the best man she’s ever known. The Doctor immediately springs her to go on a date to Calderon, although it doesn’t go to plan as two older versions of herself gate-crash the party – including a River from the future who is about to visit Darillium (52nd century – The Wedding of River Song, First Night, Last Night)

Continually breaks out of prison to have lots of exploits with the Doctor. These (possibly) include a picnic at Asgard, trips to Easter Island and the Bone Meadows, and other adventures involving the dam-building Jim the Fish, a euphonium, a biplane and Marilyn and a transmuted Queen of England (52nd century – various)

The Doctor throws River a surprise birthday party during the 1814 London Frost Fair. Stevie Wonder provides the tunes (1814 – A Good Man Goes to War)

On the day Melody is taken from Demon’s Run by Madame Kovarian, adult River arrives to say hi to her shocked mum and dad – Amy and Rory (52nd century – A Good Man Goes to War)

A TARDIS-blue envelope arrives, summoning River to Lake Silencio where she witnesses herself killing the Doctor (22 April 2011 – The Impossible Astronaut)

Assists the Doctor in defeating the Silents’ invasion of Earth (1969 – The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon)

Back to prison at Stormcage. Big snog with the Doctor! (52nd century – Day of the Moon)

Receives phone call from Winston Churchill at Stormcage, warning her that the TARDIS will explode (52nd century – The Pandorica Opens)

Steals a Van Gogh painting from Starship UK (33rd century – The Pandorica Opens)

Leaves a message for the Doctor on Planet One, then travels to Stonehenge on Earth and poses as Cleopatra to wait for the Doctor (AD 102 – The Pandorica Opens)

Opens the Pandorica (AD 102 – The Pandorica Opens)

Gets trapped in a time loop inside the TARDIS as it begins to explode (2010 – The Pandorica Opens)

With the universe dying around them, is rescued from the exploding TARDIS by the Doctor (1996 – The Big Bang)

Kills a stone Dalek and helps the Doctor sacrifice himself to restart the universe (1996 – The Big Bang)

Witnesses the wedding reception of her soon-to-be parents in Leadworth (2010 – The Big Bang)

Back to Stormcage (51st century)

Recruited by the Church to investigate the starship Byzantium and its deadly cargo (51st century – Time of the Angels / Flesh and Stone)

Summons the Doctor to help defeat the Weeping Angel in the hold of the Byzantium on the planet Alfava Metraxis (51st century – Time of the Angels / Flesh and Stone)

Pardoned and becomes a professor of archaeology (51st century)

Zips back to 1938 to investigate a suspected Weeping Angel invasion of New York. Sets up the Melody Malone Detective Agency and gets trapped due to temporal disturbances caused by the Angels (1938 – The Angels Take Manhattan)

Escapes the 1930s with her husband, but loses her parents to the touch of an Angel (1938 – The Angels Take Manhattan)

Writes a pulp detective novel based on the events in 1938 which will eventually lead the Doctor to travel back in time (The Angels Take Manhattan)

The Doctor takes River to the Singing Towers of Darillium. Crying, her hubby gives her a modified version of his sonic screwdriver. It is the last time she sees him in his eleventh body (51st century)

Hired to lead an expedition to The Library, which has been invaded by the Vashta Nerada (51st century – Silence in the Library)

At The Library, River meets the Tenth Doctor. She’s shocked to see how young he is. For him, it is their first chronological meeting. For her, it’s the last (51st century – Silence in the Library)

River Song dies. But… (51st century – Forest of the Dead)

COMPANION ROLL CALL: THE 2010s

played by KAREN GILLAN

First regular Doctor Who appearance: The Eleventh Hour (2010)

Final regular Doctor Who appearance: The Angels Take Manhattan (2012)

Karen Gillan developed a love of acting at an early age, and trained at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts. Following graduation, Karen worked successfully as a model, but acting remained her first love and TV roles soon came her way, including The Kevin Bishop Show and a small role in the 2008 Doctor Who episode The Fires of Pompeii. Two years later she beat fierce competition to win the role of companion Amy Pond opposite Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor. Karen left Doctor Who in 2012, moving on to an already lengthy list of movie and television roles, including TV drama We’ll Take Manhattan, the comedy series A Touch of Cloth and the film Not Another Happy Ending (2013).

Amelia Pond was the girl who waited… waited for the raggedy man who had appeared in her garden when she was just a child. Amy’s travels with the Doctor were everything she’d hoped for and more, and when her fiancé Rory joined the TARDIS crew, her life was complete. She may have been a trap set by the Doctor’s enemies to prevent the universe being destroyed, but that didn’t matter. Amy was never going to give up her adventures with the Doctor – something terrible would have to tear them apart. Something terrible, like a Weeping Angel…

And another thing: Karen Gillan’s mum, a massive Doctor Who fan, tried to persuade her to change her mind and stay on the TARDIS.

played by ARTHUR DARVILL

First regular Doctor Who appearance: The Eleventh Hour (2010)

Final regular Doctor Who appearance: The Angels Take Manhattan (2012)

Thomas Arthur Darvill’s love of performing stemmed from accompanying his mother on tours around the country with the Cannon Hill Puppet Theatre. He landed a job as an in-vision continuity announcer for ITV children’s television in 2000, before moving on to stage roles and then TV, including Little Dorrit in 2008. Following his two-and-a-half year stint as Rory in Doctor Who, Arthur appeared opposite Billie Piper’s husband Laurence Fox on the London stage in Our Boys.

Nurse Rory Williams was always in love with Amy Pond. It took a while for the penny to drop for Amy, but she eventually cottoned on, and fell in love with him. After a rocky start involving the near-end of the universe, Rory was delighted when he finally married Amy, and they remained friends and companions of the Doctor as husband and wife. Rory’s time with the Doctor was only brought to an end when a Weeping Angel blasted him back in time, but he would always be with Amy Pond, the girl he waited for.

And another thing: Arthur Darvill has continued his Doctor Who connections appearing in ITV’s Broadchurch (2013), written by Who writer Chris Chibnall and starring David Tennant.

THEY KEEP KILLING RORY

It’s very unusual that a companion of the Doctor is killed in action. But Rory Williams seems to make a habit of it – except, he kept coming back to life.

Amy’s Choice – killed in a cloud of green gas by Mrs Poggit (an alien Eknodine), though this was in a dream world.

Cold Blood – blasted by a Silurian’s energy weapon, then absorbed by the crack in time and erased from existence. Rory later came back to life as an Auton duplicate of a Roman Centurion in AD 102. Which also died.