And we got a little too far from the most basic, elemental relationship that makes the show tick -- the romance between a normal girl and an eccentric stranger who brings adventure to her life.
Relationship, not romance.
And I'm not one of those "he shouldn't shag" group members; I simply feel it doesn't work in this show.
I, on the other hand, think that the show works best when it
is a romance. For a comparison... It's like
Aladdin: the Doctor is Aladdin and Genie mixed in one, the companion is Jasmine, and the TARDIS is their magic carpet ride. It just works better if there's a romance involved. The emotional stakes are higher, and the dramatic tension between the desire for intimacy that comes with romance and the Doctor's obsessive need to hide so many important aspects of himself is brought front and center.
That, and, well, sci-fi TV is missing well-written
romances. Not adventure stories with hints of romance. Not military sci-fi epics with romantic subplots. An honest-to-goodness
romance set against the backdrop of a magical machine that lets them explore time and space.