The Doctor has had a total of 16 love interests since Doctor Who premiered 62 years ago, but his romantic tendencies have increased massively in recent years. While there has been an uptick in love interests in Doctor Who since the series was revived in 2005, the Doctor has always been a romantic and family-oriented, even from the very start. Many of these romances have developed naturally and have been great to see, while some have been more awkward and controversial — especially since the Doctor is significantly older than any of his potential lovers.
Videos by ComicBook.com
You might not have realized that the Doctor has been the subject of so many romantic storylines in Doctor Who. There are 16 confirmed romances in live-action, and even more in novels, audiobooks, comics, and other media in the Whoniverse. For the purpose of this list, let’s focus just on the long-running sci-fi TV series, which celebrates its 62nd birthday in November 2025. Surprisingly, 11 of these romances have occurred since 2005, and almost half of them have involved the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant), though they have started to become sparse again as the series has continued.
16) The Doctor’s Original Family
When we were first introduced to William Hartnell’s First Doctor back in 1963, he traveled time and space with three human companions, Ian (William Russell), Barbara (Jacqueline Hill), and his very own granddaughter, Susan (Carole Ann Ford). Susan’s existence proves that the Doctor had a biological family on Gallifrey, presumably having relations with a woman to produce one of Susan’s parents as his own child. The Doctor surely had a huge amount of love for his original family on Gallifrey, but this didn’t stop him from running away with his granddaughter to travel the universe.
15) Cameca
When the First Doctor and his companions landed during the Aztec Empire in 1964’s “The Aztecs,” the team crossed paths with Cameca (Margot Van der Burgh), an elder who spent most of her time in the Garden of Peace. It was here that a relationship with the Doctor blossomed, as he unwittingly proposed to her when he shared cocoa with her, knowing nothing about Aztec culture and tradition. Cameca was the first human woman that the Doctor showed romantic admiration for, hinting at him being something of a ladies’ man, but this wasn’t seen again for many years.
14) Sarah Jane Smith
Although not specifically mentioned on-screen, there was serious chemistry between Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith (the late Elisabeth Sladen). Smith witnessed his regeneration into his fourth incarnation, yet stuck around for more adventures, and only left the TARDIS when the Doctor had to return to Gallifrey — where humans weren’t allowed. When Sarah Jane Smith and the Tenth Doctor reunited in 2006’s “School Reunion,” Smith clearly hinted that she had some romantic attachment to the Doctor prior to her being dropped back on Earth, which made their “break-up” even harder.
13) Romana II
Similarly to his relationship with Sarah Jane Smith, a romance between the Fourth Doctor and Romana’s second incarnation (Lalla Ward) was never mentioned on-screen. However, during their time together in Doctor Who, Baker and Ward dated and eventually got married in real life, which gave them incredible chemistry and sexual tension on-screen, leading many to suspect the two Time Lords were also romantically involved. Baker and Ward divorced a year after the former departed Doctor Who after a whopping seven-year stint as the Doctor, making him the longest-serving actor to play the role.
12) Dr. Grace Holloway
Doctor Who was cancelled amid Sylvester McCoy’s run as the Seventh Doctor in 1989, but BBC Worldwide and Universal Pictures co-produced an attempt at reviving the series in 1996, which starred Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor and his new companion and instant love-interest, cardiologist Dr. Grace Holloway (Daphne Ashbrook). The revival attempt failed, but the Eighth Doctor’s charming, romantic, and enthusiastic personality was hugely attractive as he continued in audiobooks. Fans still want to see more from McGann’s Doctor, so we might see more of his romances in live-action in the future.
11) Rose Tyler
Russell T. Davies successfully revived Doctor Who in 2005, and after one season with Christopher Eccleston’s Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler (Billie Piper), Rose continued on with the Tenth Doctor. It was Tennant’s incarnation that she fell for, but the Doctor avoided starting a romance given the fact that he won’t grow old and die, but she would. This was a tragic storyline solved when the Metacrisis Doctor realized he would age like a human. This version of the Doctor stayed on “Pete’s World” with Rose in 2008’s “Journey’s End,” but the Doctor’s love for Rose will always persist.
10) Reinette Poisson, Madame de Pompadour
While his feelings for Rose were growing, the Tenth Doctor got somewhat distracted after landing on a spaceship in the 51st century that contained windows to various periods in the life of Reinette Poisson (Sophia Myles). Reinette grows up to become Madame de Pompadour, the mistress of King Louis XV, but her true love was always the Doctor. This was a love story for the ages, beautiful, tender, long-lasting, but doomed from the beginning and hugely tragic. Myles and Tennant portrayed this heart-breaking storyline to perfection.
9) Martha Jones
Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) took over from Rose in the TARDIS after she became trapped on “Pete’s World,” and formed an instant romantic attachment to the Doctor. In an effort to avoid the mistakes of his past, however, the Doctor did not reciprocate these feelings, and viewed Martha as nothing more than his closest friend. Mixed signals confused her continuously, and she ended up torturing herself while traveling with the Doctor, but their friendship was too strong to be ruined by a silly crush. Martha eventually moved on from the Doctor, but remained as one of his strongest allies.
8) Joan Redfern
During his time traveling with Martha Jones, the Doctor was forced to hide his Time Lord persona in a fob watch while on the run from the Family of Blood. He settled as human teacher John Smith in 1913, his memories of being a time-traveler simply dreams, and Martha became the school’s maid. While human, the Doctor fell in love with the school nurse, young widow Joan Redfern (Jessica Hynes). Joan eventually urged John Smith to become the Doctor again to defeat the Family of Blood, sacrificing their relationship and possible life together, which had a huge impact on both.
7) Astrid Peth
After Martha left the TARDIS to forge her own path, the Doctor found himself aboard the space-faring cruise liner, Titanic. On board, he formed a quick bond with waitress Astrid Peth (Kylie Minogue). The Doctor swooned her with shore leave to Earth, and his acts of bravery while battling the Heavenly Host, and even asked Astrid to join him in the TARDIS after defeating Max Capricorn (George Costigan). Unfortunately, in order to defeat Capricorn and save the Earth, Astrid had to sacrifice her own life, ending her romance with the Doctor before it ever really began.
6) Queen Elizabeth I
At the end of 2007’s “The Shakespeare Code,” the Doctor and Martha were chased from 1599’s London by none other than Queen Elizabeth I and her men, but we didn’t know why until Doctor Who’s 50th anniversary special, “The Day of the Doctor,” in 2013. The epic story revealed that the Tenth Doctor and Lizzy I (Joanna Page) were romantically involved in 1562, but he was just with her as he thought she was a shape-shifting Zygon. Not able to solve which Elizabeth was which when another appeared, the Tenth Doctor formed an enemy for life without even knowing it.
5) Amy Pond
Throughout her time traveling with Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor, Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) was involved in her brilliant romance with boyfriend-turned-husband Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill). However, when the Doctor returned to collect her on the day before her wedding and whisk her away across the universe, she suggesting having a bit of last-night-of-freedom fun. The Doctor’s awkwardness about this situation at the end of 2010’s “Flesh and Stone” was hilarious, and this ultimately made the friendship between the trio of the Doctor, Amy, and Rory even stronger, which was fantastic to see.
4) Marilyn Monroe
Although not Amy, the Eleventh Doctor did have a couple love interests, and one of them was legendary actress and model Marilyn Monroe. During 2010’s “A Christmas Carol,” the Doctor took the grown-up Kazran Sardick (Danny Horn) and his love, Abigail (Katherine Jenkins), on one Christmas Eve adventure to Hollywood where he ends up engaged to Monroe in 1952. It has been hinted at since that the Doctor and Monroe actually went through with the marriage, making the Doctor her second husband in the Whoniverse after James Dougherty and prior to Joe DiMaggio and Arthur Miller.
3) River Song
It would have been awkward if the Doctor and Amy had become involved, as the Doctor’s true love was Amy and Rory’s grown-up daughter, Melody Pond, aka River Song (Alex Kingston). A fellow time-traveler and archaeologist, River was always destined to meet the Doctor, and was conditioned to kill him, but they always crossed paths out of order, and she ultimately refused, marrying him instead. The first time the Doctor first met River was the day she died, which made her 24 years on Darillium with Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor more special, as he knew where she would go next.
2) Yasmin Khan
The Doctor’s first female incarnation on-screen, Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor, adopted a larger TARDIS team than most of her predecessors, one of whom was police officer Yasmin Khan (Mandip Gill). The Doctor and Yas formed a very close bond, with her being the only companion to remain with the Doctor until the moments before her regeneration, which also saw them express their romantic feelings for each other. Nothing came of this, however, but it would have been beautiful and a huge mark of progress for representation to see the Doctor embark on their first same-sex relationship in Doctor Who.
1) Rogue
If not a same-sex romance between the Thirteenth Doctor and Yaz, how about one between Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor and Rogue (Jonathan Groff)? The Doctor and Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) met space-faring bounty hunter Rogue in 1813 while investigating the shape-shifting Chuldur, and he had incredible chemistry with the Doctor. Rogue eventually sacrificed himself to another dimension with the Chuldur to spare Ruby’s life and protect the Doctor, but urged the Doctor to find him. Unfortunately, Gatwa’s departure from Doctor Who means this might not get a satisfying conclusion, but it would be fantastic to see Rogue return somehow.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
Most Viewed
-
Courtesy of Crunchyroll
