R&J (audio story)

R&J
Main character(s):	Jack, River
Featuring:	Jackie, Ninth Doctor
Key crew
Publisher:	Big Finish Productions
Writer:	James Goss
Director:	Scott Handcock
Producer:	James Goss
Music:	Blair Mowat
Sound:	Richard Fox & Steve Foxon
Release details
Release number:	3.3
Part of:	The Lives of Captain Jack: Volume Three
Release date:	25 March 2020
Format:	1 Episode on 1 CD (3rd of 3 stories); Download
Production code:	BFPHARKNESS03CD
ISBN:	ISBN 978-1-83868-189-0 (physical); ISBN 978-1-83868-190-6 (digital)
The Lives of Captain Jack
← Previous	Mighty and Despair

R&J was the third and final audio story in the anthology The Lives of Captain Jack: Volume Three. It was written by James Goss and starred John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness and Alex Kingston as River Song.

Publisher's summary

From ancient battles to eternal wars
A pair of time-cross'd lovers take the stars

Plot

to be added

Cast

• Captain Jack Harkness - John Barrowman
• River Song - Alex Kingston
• Jackie Tyler - Camille Coduri
• Snorvlast - Jacob Dudman
• Nun - Maeve Bluebell Wells
• Priest - Vikash Bhai
• Assassin Pilot - Jonny Glynn
• Boeshane Nurse - Laura Dalgleish
• Student - Harley Viveash

Uncredited

• The Doctor - Jacob Dudman

Worldbuilding

• River is an archaeologist.
• Jack meets River while getting a Kronkburger for the Doctor and Rose.
• River masquerades as Queen Elizabeth I.
• River has a staser rifle.
• Jack's vortex manipulator has a fast return switch.
• River pretends to be Jack's boss and says she will put him on Blinovitch Incursion Duty.
• Jack replaces Bernice Summerfield as River's lecturer.
• River mentions the Doctor left her a note on how to make a time flow analog.
• River and the Doctor once went fishing "with a fish".
• Jack and River ride Triceratops during an Ice Age.
• River meets Jackie Tyler and helps her wash a duvet.

Notes

• This story makes the suggestion that the knocking on the door of the spaceship at the end of the universe in Listen was Jack and River playing a prank on Orson Pink. Jack also refers to a woman waiting to play chess, likely meaning Ashildr, which would suggest the planet Orson Pink is stranded on is Gallifrey.
• This was John Barrowman's last appearance in a Big Finish audio drama before he was blacklisted by the BBC, in the wake of a reignited discussion of the nature of him flashing cast and crew members on-set. He had recorded the story Absent Friends but Big Finish cancelled its release following the allegations.

Continuity

• A nun informs River that the Face of Boe has recently died. (TV: Gridlock)
• In 1941 London, Jack is expecting a Time Agent to show up he can do business with. He assumes River is one, and remarks that she's arrived sooner than expected. (TV: The Empty Child)
• Jack and River both have vortex manipulators. (TV: The Empty Child, The Pandorica Opens etc.)
• Jack and River both brandish their sonic blasters. (TV: The Doctor Dances, Forest of the Dead)
• River is destined to kill the Doctor. (TV: The Wedding of River Song)
• Jack meets River at a time when she believes the Doctor will destroy the universe. (TV: The Pandorica Opens)
• River is held in Stormcage for the murder of the Doctor. (TV: The Time of Angels etc.)
• Jack has a sonic lockpick hidden on his person. He previously used this with Jackie Tyler. (AUDIO: Crush)
• River stands in for Queen Elizabeth I while she is on honeymoon, and comments that shape changers love the Elizabethan era. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)
• Jack encounters River while he is working as a time agent, using his real name Javic. (AUDIO: Month 25)
• River calls Jack "Jack Harkness" before he takes up the name. He comments that it is a nice name. (TV: The Empty Child, Captain Jack Harkness)
• River was due to attend a lecture by Professor Summerfield (PROSE: Love and War etc.), who had spent the last four weeks talking about Sumaran bricklaying. (TV: Snakedance) The lecture is instead taken by Professor "Hack Jarkness", who discusses the possibility that some examples of ancient graffiti are in fact "time travellers leaving each other notes". (TV: The Time of Angels, The Pandorica Opens)
• River attends university while waiting for a friend to call. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler)
• Jack can't die. (TV: The Parting of the Ways etc.)
• Jack asks River what kind of psychopath she is, to which she responds she's trying to work it out. (TV: Let's Kill Hitler, The Angels Take Manhattan, The Time of the Doctor)
• Jack encounters River during her time as a child on the streets on New York City in 1969. (TV: Day of the Moon)
• Jack meets River near the end of her time with the Doctor. She is sad and says either she or the Doctor will die. (TV: Forest of the Dead)
• River finds Jack in the Doctor's TARDIS in Roald Dahl Plass during the events of TV: Boom Town. He's struggling to refuel the ship with the Cardiff Space-Time Rift using an "alien surfboard". The Doctor is on a "date" with a Slitheen. River successfully fuels up the TARDIS for him, just as the Rift opens and an earthquake hits. (TV: Boom Town)
  • River is annoyed to have found the "wrong" Jack in this time period, hoping to come across the Jack who lives in Cardiff and works for Torchwood Three, beneath the plaza. (TV: Everything Changes)
• Jack begins to say his nickname from the Boeshane peninsula, before being cut off. (TV: Last of the Time Lords)
• River meets Jack while he's chained up by the Master during the events of TV: Last of the Time Lords, giving him a hacksaw to cut himself free.
• River says she and the Doctor got married in a collapsing timeline. (TV: The Wedding of River Song) Jack says he wouldn't be caught dead in one of those, which is precisely what has previously happened to a version of him. (AUDIO: The Death of Captain Jack)
• River meets Jack at Gallipoli, shortly after he has lost a close friend. (AUDIO: What Have I Done?)
• River knows that she cannot die before she goes to a restaurant. (TV: Forest of the Dead, The Husbands of River Song)
• River goes to the Boeshane peninsula during an attack. (TV: Adam, Exit Wounds) She says the wisest creature in the universe came from here and that she would love to meet them. A speculative future for Jack is that he becomes the Face of Boe, in which case River has met him many times. (TV: Last of the Time Lords)
• At the end of the universe, Jack says "there's a woman waiting for someone to play chess with" (TV: Hell Bent) and a visitor investigating whether any life was left. River and Jack go to bang on his door. (TV: Listen)
• Jack chances upon River in the restaurant on Darillium, and finally discovers her husband is the Doctor. River says she's been dreading coming here, as she knows it means her end. (TV: The Husbands of River Song)
  • Jack will later indicate to the Sixth Doctor, at some point before uniting with the Tenth, that he knows he's met the Doctor's wife. (AUDIO: Piece of Mind)
  • When Jack sees that River's husband is the Doctor, he says "you too, huh" indicating that he is also in love with the Doctor. He said the same thing to Martha in a similar situation. (TV: The Sound of Drums)
• River Song says 'snap!' to Jack Harkness on two occasions when meeting him, mirroring the Doctor when meeting his other incarnations. (TV: The Two Doctors, Time Crash)

External links

• Official R&J page at bigfinish.com