Matt Smith - River Shouldn't be a Permanent Companion

Speaking to BANG Showbiz, Matt Smith said that he wouldn't want River to become a full companion. But he also says that River appears in an episode excluding the eighth and thirteenth...

Hello. Winnipeg Free Press have posted an interview with Matt Smith about River Song. You can read it all here but the important extracts are below:

Matt Smith doesn't want River Song to become a full-time companion on 'Doctor Who' - because she's the one person who makes The Doctor go "whoa".

The 28-year-old actor - who plays the titular Time Lord in the sci-fi series - loves shooting scenes with Alex Kingston, who portrays the archaeologist, but he thinks the character would lose her shock value if she become a permanent inhabitant of the TARDIS.

He told BANG Showbiz: "I think River's too independent to ever be a full-time companion, I think that's what makes River great as a character. The companions and The Doctor are doing their thing then whoosh in comes the hair!

"It just messes the Doctor up and makes him go, 'Oh Christ, River's here,' and it frightens him. And weirdly he's going, 'Why the hell am I attracted to her? What's that?' That's the woman who makes him go whoa."

He said: "She's back for episode eight ('Let's Kill Hitler') and she definitely appears in nine and thirteen and she'll be back again. River's not going anywhere."