Who: The Wedding of River Song Preview

It's time- in the epic season finale of Doctor Who, everyone's favourite Time Lord must discover the true nature of his relationship to River Song, fathom the meaning of the Silence and their mysterious Question, and ultimately walk to his death by Lake Silencio at the hands of an impossible astronaut. The situation looks bleak, but just what can you expect to see in The Wedding of River Song...?
OLD FRIENDS- Before the Doctor meets his demise, he'll bump into a good few allies he's met in episodes past. The disembodied head of Dorium Maldovar (The Pandorica Opens, A Good Man Goes To War) will be there to lend a hand to the Doc and guide him on his way to Area 52, but that's not all! Winston Churchill (Victory of the Daleks, The Pandorica Opens), Charles Dickens (from the Chris Eccleston 2005 story The Unquiet Dead), Silurian professor Malekah (Cold Blood), Amy Pond, Rory Williams and River Song are all back to see their ancient pal one last time. What part will they play?
OLD FATES- Time has frozen. At 5.02pm on the 22nd of April 2011, the whole of history stops. Timelines begin to collide- the city of London can now be found to house ptyerodactyls, Roman temples, Area 52 and Winston Churchill! Churchill calls his soothsayer the Doctor for help. "Something has happened to time." he says, but how can the Time Lord possibly set the universe back on track? With his death? With a wedding to River Song? Let's be honest, if there is going to be a wedding, it'll be between them, but how can that be possible if River is already deep in Lake Silencio, ready to carry out the task she was born to do? I think some time might have passed when River is in the Lake, or perhaps the Doctor's death is resolved quickly...only a few hours until we find out!
OLD ENEMIES- The Daleks are back for a brief cameo, as we saw in the Next Time trailer, but more importantly the sinister Madame Kovarian and the Silents are back too. What are their plans for the universe- why would Kovarian want Silence to fall and the universe to end? Dorium says: "Silence will fall when the question is asked on the fields of Trenzalore. A question that must never, ever be answered. The Silence are determinated that the question must never be answered. The Doctor must never reach Trenzalore." So what is the Question, the oldest question in the universe, hidden in plain sight? I'm guessing it's "Doctor Who?", but how could the Doctor possibly answer that...unless he tells River Song his name? Remember, in Silence in the Library (River's first appearance), she revealed to the Tenth Doctor that she knew his real name, whispering it in his ear, and he said "there's only one reason I would tell anyone that, only one time I ever could". Perhaps the only time he could say it is when the whole of the universe is destined to be destroyed unless he does? (This is NOT a spoiler, just speculation from me, and not from any fans who know how the series ends).
HOW WILL THE SERIES END?- Will anyone make it out of this episode alive? Well, Matt Smith, Karen Gillian and Arthur Darvill have confirmed they will return in the next season, Matt for all fourteen episodes and Karen/Arthur for an unconfirmed number (possibly a few co-star appearances in modern day Earth stories?), so there is a chance that the TARDIS crew will remain together or destined to see each other again...but how can the Doctor escape his fate when it triggers the whole season's events? Hopefully we won't be told this is some alternate reality and have "and it was all just a dream"- please Steven, do not disappoint us with a cop-out denounement that messes with continuity like last year!
Doctor Who: The Wedding of River Song airs tonight at 7.05pm on BBC One.
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