Valentine’s Day is upon us, which is good news for makers of giant heart-shaped balloons and startled-looking teddy bears. But while it’s easy to be cynical about the commodification of love, the cheery truth is that your television has enough heartwarming stories to restore your belief in romance.
Log out of Tinder, put that Romantasy novel down and look deep into our eyes as we bring you the definitive countdown of on-screen couples – 14 pairings especially for 14 February.
Ross and Rachel – Friends
David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston in ‘Friends’ (Photo: Danny Feld/NBCUniversal)
Not content with introducing the concept of “we were on a break!” to at least two generations (it was not a break, Ross), the 1990s’ ultimate on/off couple gave Friends its emotional core while delivering a relatively realistic portrait of the ups-and-downs of 20-something love. It helped that Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer had the perfect “couple not getting along” chemistry – they were 100 per cent convincing as people who were meant to be together if only they could get out of each other’s way.
Tim and Dawn – The Office
Martin Freeman as Tim and Lucy Davis as Dawn (Photo: Adrian Rogers/BBC)
If Shakespeare was from Slough and had spent his formative years working in accounts, Romeo and Juliet might have ended a lot like Tim (Martin Freeman) and Dawn (Lucy Davis) from The Office. Here was the heartwarming tale of a couple whose gazes lock across the kitchenette microwave and who know they are meant to be together despite daunting obstacles (Dawn’s boorish boyfriend, Lee). Week by week, their slow-burn romance rose above The Office’s scorched earth cynicism. Their epoch-defining Christmas party snog encouraged an entire generation to believe in the possibility of true love.
Streaming on BBC iPlayer
Tara and Willow – Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Alyson Hannigan and Amber Benson in ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ (Photo: Youtube)
Same-sex couples were not a thing in late 1990s/early 2000s television, and so the love affair between dorky Willow (Alyson Hannigan) and cool and collected Tara (Amber Benson) was genuinely groundbreaking. There has since been grumbling that this was a lesbian relationship that catered to the male gaze – and revelations about Buffy creator Joss Whedon’s onset bullying have tarnished the series’ overall legacy. In the moment, however, Tara and Willow moved the needle and showed that television had gone beyond the shock value of the Anna Friel-Nicola Stephenson kiss on Brookside in 1994.
Streaming on ITVX
Tami and Eric – Friday Night Lights
Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler in ‘Friday Night Lights’ (Photo: Virginia Sherwood/NBCUniversal)
On-screen romance tends to focus on the thrill of young love – and American football soap Friday Night Lights certainly had its share of steamy assignations. Yet it also delivered a moving portrayal of married romance in the shape of Eric (Kyle Chandler) and Tami (Connie Britton) – a couple who stay together through thick and thin – and who genuinely respect one another. They remained true to one another when every other character on television seemed to be having affairs, running away with younger paramours, or simply descending into bitterness and resentment. This duo kept the flame burning, and for all of Friday Night Lights’ All-American soapiness, they shared some encouraging truths about the quiet joy of a long-term relationship.
Available to buy or rent on Apple TV, Prime Video and YouTube
Keith and David – Six Feet Under
Mathew St. Patrick and Michael C. Hall in ‘Six Feet Under’ (Photo: HBO)
As a mixed-race same-sex couple, David (Michael C. Hall) and Keith (Mathew St. Patrick) should, in theory, have been the most radical thing about Alan Ball’s long-running funeral home melodrama. They were, in fact, a picture of domestic bliss – a rock-steady romance that contrasted with the chaotic personal lives of David’s siblings, Nate and Claire. They were also a compelling on-screen portrait of opposites attracting: David was tightly wound and neurotic, LAPD cop Keith was a regular guy with a lot of love to give. In other words, just like the sort of couples you might actually encounter in the real world. Well done, television.
Streaming on Now TV
Mindy and Danny – The Mindy Project
Mindy Kaling and Chris Messina in series two of ‘The Mindy Project’ (Photo: NBC/Channel 4)
They meet, they dislike each other, they fall in love. Such was the trajectory followed by Mindy (Mindy Kaling) and Danny (Chris Messina) in Kaling’s wry medical dramedy. In season one, they went from enemies to cautious friends, and halfway through season two, were a full-fledged couple. It was an unsentimental depiction of how people can get together despite a bad start – a reminder that, in real life, meet-cutes are for the birds and your frenemy might just be the significant other you haven’t gone for cocktails with yet.
Available to buy or rent on Apple TV, Prime Video and YouTube
Fleabag and Hot Priest – Fleabag
Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Andrew Scott in ‘Fleabag’ (Photo: Luke Varley/BBC)
Viewers got hot under the collar for Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s portrayal of her on-screen alter ego’s obsession with Andrew Scott’s dishy cleric. Their love could not be – she was a self-involved millennial; he was a man of the cloth – and yet the sizzling spark they shared showed why forbidden love can be the most bittersweet of all.
Streaming on BBC iPlayer
Pam and Mick – Gavin and Stacey
Alison Steadman and Larry Lamb in ‘Gavin and Stacey’ (Photo: BBC)
James Corden and Ruth Jones’s cosy sitcom was never more charming than when it gave centre stage to the happily married Pam (Alison Steadman) and Mick (Larry Lamb) – the eponymous Gavin’s loving parents and a couple whose every appearance warmed the cockles of viewers. The genius of the show was in how it knocked a laugh out of Pam and Mick’s eccentricities – Pam is introduced crying over a documentary about baby badgers – while never making them the target of the humour. Seldom has the sweet reality of growing old with a loved one been more realistically rendered on screen.
Streaming on BBC iPlayer
Yorkie and Kelly – Black Mirror: San Junipero
Mackenzie Davis and Gugu Mbatha-Raw in ‘Black Mirror: San Junipero’ (Photo: David Dettmann/Netflix)
Charlie Brooker became famous for his acid-bath television reviews – so who knew this multi-media grinch was such a softie? His inner squidginess was confirmed with the heart-wrenching series three Black Mirror episode “San Junipero”, which showed two women from radically different lifestyles enjoying the sort of sun-kissed love affair that exists only in a banging Belinda Carlisle song. Too good to be true? Yes, as we discovered in the heartbreaking denouement that revealed both the shy Yorkie (Mackenzie Davis) and outgoing Kelly (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) to be elderly people nearing the end and whose romance had been conducted in virtual reality. Black Mirror generally serves as a warning against the evils of technology – but when it brought Yorkie and Kelly together in electric dreams, it showed that future dystopias can have an upside too.
Streaming on Netflix
Bill and Frank – The Last of Us
Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett in ‘The Last of Us’ (Photo: HBO/Warner Media)
HBO’s zombie thriller took a pause from all the killing and running with a single meditative episode about conspiracy theorist Bill (Nick Offerman), who finds love late in life when Frank, a survivor of the undead apocalypse (Murray Bartlett), blunders into his fortified compound. Their romance blossoms even as the world orbits the void – a beautiful portrayal of how the need for human connection can flourish in even the darkest environment.
Streaming on Now TV
Marianne and Connell – Normal People
Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal in ‘Normal People’ (Photo: Enda Bowe/BBC)
She’s a posh girl from a posh family, he’s a jock and first pick for the school football team who is embarrassed to be seen with his nerdy girlfriend. Such was the premise of Sally Rooney’s stark dissection of modern love – which flourished on screen thanks to the searing zing between Daisy Edgar-Jones and a wide-eyed Paul Mescal about to ascend to superstardom.
Streaming on BBC iPlayer
Jim and Pam – The Office (US)
John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer in the US version of ‘The Office’ (Photo: Chris Haston/NBC)
The dynamic between Jim and Pam in the US version of The Office was different from that of Tim and Dawn in the BBC original in that the American show made it clear from the outset that the two were destined to be together. That was in contrast to the UK version, which was upfront that, for all his negative qualities, Dawn’s boyfriend Lee was more outgoing and personable than Martin Freeman’s intense and in many ways unlikable Tim. But the distinction worked – the US Office was a cuddlier affair anyway and the progression of Jim and Pam relationship to full-on romance brought the feel-good factor in spades.
Streaming on Disney+, Prime Video, Netflix and Now TV
Lorelai and Luke – Gilmore Girls
Scott Patterson and Lauren Graham in ‘Gilmore Girls’ (Photo: Youtube)
There is slow-burn and then there is the four seasons it took chirpy but acerbic single mum Lorelai (Lauren Graham) to get in a clinch with her cynical, curmudgeonly best pal Luke (Scott Patterson). But this was a happy ending with a frustrating twist, as it emerged that Luke had a teenage daughter he didn’t know about – a spanner in the works that the couple had to work through, and which brought some much-needed grit to their cheery love affair.
Streaming on ITVX, Netflix and Disney+
Patrick and David – Schitt’s Creek
Noah Reid and Dan Levy in ‘Schitt’s Creek’ (Photo: UKTV)
The cult Canadian sitcom often seemed to take place in a whimsical alternative reality slightly removed from our own world – but was thoroughly realistic in its chronicling of the opposites-attract romance between ditzy, tightly wound David (Dan Levy) and the rock of sense that was Patrick (Noah Reid). Their marriage in the series finale was a big weepy cherry on top of a show that brimmed with bizarre humour but bowed out with the perfect emotional send-off.
Streaming on Netlix
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