Since Victoria from Victoria Loves Books did her fantastic book boyfriend feature (and you can see my choices here) it got me thinking about other characters that I’ve fallen for on TV and film, because as much as I love books, I’m all about TV too. I’m the sort of person who tends to fancy an actor in a particular role, rather than the actor themselves (there are one or two notable exceptions, Colin Morgan I’m looking at you…) but generally that does seem to be the case. So it must be the character they’re playing that is the biggest factor in the attraction. I’ve only listed five here, because we have actual lives and I could be here for a lot longer. I’ve resisted the urge to list Father Dougal Maguire (don’t ask) and Vince Noir (purely because I think he just is Noel Fielding) but if you think those are weird choices, spare a thought for one of my best friends who had a crush on Edward Woodward in The Equaliser. After that particular revelation, it’s a miracle the friendship survived at all.

Merlin (Merlin 2008 – 2012 played by Colin Morgan)

Where do I start? From episode one when he walked into Camelot, wide-eyed but full of hope (and incredible cheekbones) I was sold. He still remains my all-time favourite and I can’t imagine anyone coming close. Why do I love him so? Because he’s quietly brave, intelligent, does what he believes is right, even when he’s misguided, is willing to sacrifice himself time and time again, not just for Arthur, but for others too, he’s just a little bit nerdy… oh yeah, and that really hot thing he does when he gets all manly and COMMANDS DRAGONS…

Connor Temple (Primeval 2007 – 2011 Played by Andrew-Lee Potts)

I adore Connor. Every time he’s on the screen I just want to squeeze the life out of him. He’s such a geek, but he’s really brave and incredibly clever. Just the way he spouts stuff about dinosaurs and sci-fi techy stuff makes me go all weak at the knees. And his massive crush on kick-ass Abby is just so cute that you’re just shouting at the telly ‘kiss her for god’s sake!’ It helps that he’s pretty darned attractive too, and he just gets better as the series go on; when it got to series five, he was a bona fide hottie.

Casanova (Casanova 2005 played by David Tennant

The first thing I really remember David Tennant in and I totally fell for him. I didn’t know the story of Casanova, particularly, other than the famous reputation for womanising. His Casanova was a quick, clever, cheeky chappie, starting out with optimism and a thirst for adventure. He justified his womanising reputation in a way that, far from being sleazy, made you understand his addiction and feel so sorry for him that you could forgive it. His devotion to a woman that he could never have was heartbreaking and every time he got close to happiness elsewhere, fate snatched it from him. It was no wonder he turned so bitter. DT shared the role with Peter O’Toole, who played him as an older man, and those closing scenes flitting between the two of them… I wasn’t sure my heart would ever mend.

Jeff Randall (Randall and Hopkirk Deceased 2000 – 2001 played by Bob Mortimer)

Yep, this is a weird one. Maybe only Bob Mortimer’s wife can call him a bona fide hottie, but I just loved him in this. I think it was just that he was so hapless but so sweet, and the adorable loyalty to his dead mate, and the equally adorable devotion to Jeanie, who he was quite clearly head-over-heels in love with but who had been almost married to said dead mate and so was morally slightly out-of-bounds. He was just the cutest thing and I was sold, bald patch, dodgy trousers and all.

The Doctor (Doctor Who, like, forever… played by Paul McGann, Christopher Ecclestone, David Tennant, Matt Smith)

I don’t know where to start with this man! How can it be that vastly different actors have all played him in vastly different ways and yet all have managed to elicit feverish crushes in me? It must be something deeply fundamental to the Doctor’s character that pulls me in, but what it is is anyone’s guess. But from the TV movie (awful, but a fabulous Doctor) to its subsequent return to our screens, I’ve developed an unhealthy interest in every single one. There’s McGann (foppish and vulnerable), Ecclestone (damaged and angry), Tennant (cute and cocky) and Smith (weird and… nope, just weird). Maybe it just demonstrates the old adage that ‘it’s what’s inside that counts’. Or is that a song from The Mighty Boosh? Now then, back to Vince Noir…

Oh no! I forgot Sam Tyler from Life on Mars! And Sam from Quantum Leap! And Oz from Buffy the Vampire Slayer! I’ll just have to do another feature. What a crying shame…