The argument of the Doctor’s romantic nature is nearly as long as the show’s history, with feisty fans on both sides passionate about the character’s passion, or lack-there-of. Many consider the Doctor to be “Asexual” or at least above such base human emotions, (an idea I definitely do NOT share) and it came as a shock to many when Eighth Doctor Paul McGann planted a kiss on companion Grace Holloway in Doctor Who: The Movie.
That event sparked the debate into high gear, and it’s continued throughout the revised series with The Doctor being kissed by Captain Jack, the Doctor kissing Rose (albeit to withdraw vortex radiation from her), Rose kissing the Doctor (albeit while being possessed by Cassandra), the Doctor kissing Madame de Pompadour, the Doctor kissing Martha Jones (albeit for a genetic transfer), Donna kissing the Doctor, Amy kissing the Doctor, River kissing the Doctor, etc… In short, there’s a whole lot of snogging going on.
But I want to drill in on a specific nature of these romantic entanglements, the idea of the Doctor being married. It’s not a new concept, although the idea has been explored much more in the revised series, but even the First Doctor flirted with—and became accidentally engaged to—Cameca in The Aztecs. Granted, this was all part of a plot to get back to the TARDIS, but there was more than a hint of mutual attraction in Hartnell’s performance, AND he is unable to leave behind the love token she gives him.
As for actual weddings, in the New Series Adventures novel Only Human by Gareth Roberts, Rose asks the Doctor how he would know that marrying for love is overrated, to which he cryptically answers, “Who says I don’t? You ask the Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.” And now the purists will cry foul, since “only televised appearances count!” Okay, how ‘bout these:
In the episode Blink, the Tenth Doctor refers to being “rubbish at weddings, especially my own”. At the beginning of The End Of Time, he claims to have married “Good Queen Bess, and let me tell you, her nickname is no longer… (clears throat)”, a pun on Elizabeth I’s nickname “The Virgin Queen”. The marriage, which he calls “a mistake”, explained Queen Elizabeth’s reaction to seeing him in the earlier episode, The Shakespeare Code. And of course, in the 2010 special A Christmas Carol, the Eleventh Doctor finds himself accidentally engaged to Marilyn Monroe. Although he follows through with the wedding, he later claims it took place in a chapel that wasn’t “legitimate”.
So that’s three distinct marriages, one to Monroe, one to Queen Elizabeth, and one to… who? Who was the Doctor referring to in Blink?
How about this? While watching Destiny Of The Daleks last night, I found a bonus extra in the special features. A series of 1980 television commercials broadcast in Australia and the US for Prime Computers. The commercials starred Tom Baker and Lalla Ward in character as The Doctor and Romana. Which I’ve included here:
As you can see, Romana became more flirtatious with The Doctor as the series progressed, ending with The Doctor (prompted by the computer) proposing marriage. Obviously a spoof of Baker and Ward’s real life marriage, but is it possible that Romana is the other marriage the Doctor was referring? They were after all, In Character and Televised which fit the requirements of cannon for some.
Of course, it would have been a rocky marriage indeed if Romana choose to leave by staying in the confines of E-Space…
