Written by Lou Morgan James Goss Tim Foley Lizzie Hopley

Starring Alex Kingston

Originally released : August 2023

Listened to: May/June 2025

Episodes:

12.1 The Excise Men by Lou Morgan
12.2 Harvest of the Krotons by James Goss
12.3 Dead Man Talking by Tim Foley
12.4 The Wife of River Song by Lizzie Hopley

Context: The final River Song series boxset of this series for Prof RS. I love the cover of this one; I was intrigued to see Jackie Tyler again, as well as the Krotons. This was a listen close to set 11, so very much in a ‘River headspace’ whilst listening to this one. Looking forward to the conclusion to this part of River Songs BF adventure (more more and more please Nick Briggs et al).

THE REVIEW

What I thought: this run of the River boxsets ends on a high here with excellent stories, innovative and entertaining in equal measure. There are so many good things to say about these stories, the return of Jackie and the Krotons is a massive highlight however I love the Cornish setting of the Excise men more, a really exciting and knockabout episode, as well as a brilliant soundscape and great performances from all. The Kroton episode is bloody brilliant, so funny and so great to have Camille back as Jackie. Hilarious! The next episode was a change of pace, darker, more intimate and great twist around the context, I think it was supposed to be a twist anyway (I thought this was all about WW1 until the helmet is explained!). The final episode threw me a little, struggling to work out exactly what was going on, but it came together at the end, possiby a slightly weaker episode but still great fun (apart from remembering their name I can’t recall anything about the Scourge….no idea).

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Z List Celebs – only loses half a point due to me not completely following the final story. This is a bloody great box set, brilliant and so much fun. A perfect round off to this era of River Song BF adventures.

What I felt:

Loved the first three of these episodes, in particular episode 2, Jackie was an absolute blast in this one, so funny! So good, in fact, I may have to listen to the Rose Tyler boxsets now just for more Jackie T!

What am I left thinking?

• Please use more Jackie
• Krotons are such great fun, I may have to go seek out early BF Kroton adventures now.

Memorable bits

• Pretty much anything with Jackie in was brilliant
• The robo-man helemt was such a clever plot device, had me totally sucked into the story from the very start
• Brummie Krotons!