10 Doctor Who Love Stories That Will Warm Your Heart(s)

7. The Tenth Doctor And Madame De Pompadour

Steven Moffat's fascination with the implications of time travel has led to some of the most brain-bending of Doctor Who plots and some of the show's more interesting romances. Back in Series 2, the Doctor, Mickey and Rose find time windows on a futuristic ship connecting it to 18th Century France and the King's mistress Reinette. In an attempt to solve the problem, the Doctor meets the girl and then woman, starting a relationship that passes in hours for him but lasts her entire life.

Trained in the arts of seduction, intelligence and perceptive, Madame de Pompadour is more than a match for the Doctor and the attraction is obviously mutual. The kiss they share goes beyond anything he experiences (on screen anyway) until River gets hold of him and they not only connect physically (fans all know where he spent the night...) but mentally, too. Reinette is reading his mind when he thinks he's reading hers. "Such a lonely boy!" she gasps. "Lonely then and lonelier now. How can you bear it?"

In no way is this love better expressed by the Doctor than leaping to her rescue - on a horse! - to save her from the Clockwork Droids knowing it will strand him in her time. However, with human lives so fleeting and with time running faster on the ship's side, she has sadly passed away when he escapes and goes back for her. The Doctor's face speaks for itself as he reads her letter. He is heartbroken.