The best Christmas presents come early! Alex Kingston returns in her very own spin-off series: available to download today!

After blazing back onto our screens tonight in The Husbands of River Song, we're delighted to announce that The Diary of River Song: Series 1 is available to download today, exclusive to the Big Finish website!

Specially available ahead of its physical release on January 8th 2016, this fabulous set of four adventures puts River on a collision course with Egyptian curses, marvellous parties, dreaded SporeShips and an encounter with her future husband – the Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann).

1. The Boundless Sea by Jenny T Colgan

River Song has had more than enough excitement for a while. Deciding the universe – and her husband – can look after themselves, she has immersed herself in early 20th century academia, absorbed in writing archaeological theses.

But when a mysterious tomb is found in a dry, distant land, excitement comes looking for River.

Can Professor Song stop any more members of the expedition from dying? What deadly secrets lie buried within the crypt? And will British Consul Bertie Potts prove to be a help, or a hindrance?

2. I Went to a Marvellous Party by Justin Richards

River Song always enjoys a good party, even when she’s not entirely sure where or when the party is taking place. But the party she ends up at is one where not everything – or indeed everyone – is what it seems…

Being River, it doesn’t take her too long to go exploring, and it doesn’t take her too long to get into trouble. The sort of trouble that involves manipulating other civilisations, exploitation, and of course murder.

River is confident she can find the killer. But can she identify them before anyone else – or quite possibly everyone else – gets killed?

3. Signs by James Goss

River Song is on the trail of the mysterious, planet-killing SporeShips. Nobody knows where they come from.

Nobody knows why they are here. All they do know is that wherever the SporeShips appear, whole civilisations are reduced to mulch.

But River has help. Her companion is a handsome time-travelling stranger, someone with specialist knowledge of the oddities and dangers the universe has to offer. For Mr Song has a connection to River’s future, and he would never want his wife to face those perils alone…

4. The Rulers of the Universe by Matt Fitton

As shocking secrets are exposed, and a grand plan for the universe is revealed, River decides it’s time she took control of events once and for all.

Out in deep space, a clandestine society faces off with an ancient and powerful alien force – but, for River, there’s an added complication.

The Eighth Doctor has been caught in the middle, and she must make sure her future husband can arrive at his own destiny with all his memories – not to mention his lives - intact…

Big Finish proudly presents Alex Kingston, Paul McGann, Alexander Vlahos, Alexander Siddig, Imogen Stubbs, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Charlotte Christie, Alisdair Simpson, Oliver Dimsdale, John Banks, Letty Butler, John Voce, Aaron Neil and Samuel West in The Diary of River Song: Series 1 – available to download today exclusively from the Big Finish website!

You can still order this box-set at the special pre-order price of just £20 on CD or to download, with free UK postage available until the set's physical release on January 8th 2016. With the set not available on general release until April 2016, it's the perfect chance to be one of the first to listen!

You can also pick up the set in our New Series Bundle, which also contains fellow January release Doctor Who: The Churchill Years Volume 1 and July 2016's Doctor Who: Classic Doctors, New Monsters Volume 1. And remember, when you choose to buy this release on CD directly from Big Finish, you will also unlock instant access to a digital copy for download.

River Song will return in March 2016 in Doctor Who: Doom Coalition 2, joining the Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann), Liv Chenka (Nicola Walker) and Helen Sinclair (Hattie Morahan) in their next battle with the Eleven (Mark Bonnar). Click here for more details and listen to the trailer below:

Further adventures from the New Series of Doctor Who can be found across the Big Finish website. Titles include the return of John Hurt in Doctor Who: The War Doctor, further battles for Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave) in UNIT: The New Series, and the triumphant return of the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) and Donna (Catherine Tate) in Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Adventures. Special Bundles containing these titles are also available here.