Doctor Who: the Doctor, loneliness, and Rose=Vince=Rose

His loneliness eats away at him, wears away at him, every moment of every day. Every second that his mind reaches out and he's the only one left. There's this silence, this gaping aching hole that was created when his people died. In the Confidential for Aliens in London (entitled I Get A Sidekick Out Of You), Christopher Eccleston says this: "The notion is that the Doctor's lonely and Rose is bored. He loses some of his loneliness and she loses all of her boredom, when they meet."

Rose is human. She can't fill that empty space in his head where the Time Lords used to be. But she can hold his hand and smile at him and things can be better than they were before he met her. That's enough for both of them, that she helps. One of the things that series one and two put a lot of focus on is what an empathetic character Rose is -- "These people are dying and Rose would care," the Doctor says in New Earth, knowing for certain that something is wrong with Cassandra-Rose (that something's been done to her) because she only worries about whether or not she'll get hurt. From Raffalo and Gwyneth to Chloe and Trish, Rose notices people, notices when things are wrong, and she cares.

She notices that the Doctor's hurting and offers her company. Knowing that she can't make up for the loss of his people, but willing to give what she can to help him. The Doctor is a soldier after a war, one that lost everything. Nothing can ever make that all better. But life can be made endurable, even joyous. Rose did that for him -- made him smile and flirt and care. He looked at her and saw someone that made the universe beautiful and vivid and alive again. And, as they say, that's not nothing.

Additionally, something that I said ages ago about QaF (UK):( spoilers through Doctor Who 3x12 -- The Sound of the Drums )

Everything I needed to know about New Who, I learned from Queer as Folk (UK), apparently.