TV’s Best-Ever Time-Travel Romance Shows, Ranked

This superhero series introduces decades-spanning romances when Viktor (Elliot Page) strikes up a romance with Sissy (Marin Ireland) and Klaus (Robert Sheehan) falls for Dave (Cody Ray Thompson) after the two super-powered characters travel to the 1960s.

The shape-shifting Time Lord of this long-running sci-fi drama (played by various actors) has companions but not really companions, though River Song (Alex Kingston) becomes his wife in a timeline-repairing wedding. They even spend a 24-year night on the planet Darillum together!

This hit castaway drama features characters traveling through time, either physically or mentally. And Season 4’s “The Constant” sends Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) on a decade-skipping head trip, leading to a phone call with Penny (Sonya Walger) that probably ranks as the most romantic moment of the series.

Fans of this sci-fi drama — based loosely on the 1995 film of the same name — shipped the couple dubbed Casserole. That’d be James Cole (Aaron Stanford), a time traveler from the future, and Cassandra Railly (Amanda Schull), the current-day virologist who helps him try to thwart a global outbreak.

In this Taiwanese drama, Yu-hsuan (Ko Chia-yen) is still mourning the death of boyfriend Chuan-sheng (Greg Hsu) when she is transported two decades in the past and finds a boy who looks exactly like him. And it’s a Walkman that triggers her time-traveling — talk about a plot device!

A wormhole in the cave system under a German town’s nuclear power plant fractures this sci-fi series’ storyline into several decades: the 2050s, 2010s, the 1980s, the 1950s, the 1920s, and the 1880s. Romance abounds, though, which leads to some weird and paradoxical relationships: One character dates his own aunt, for example, while another character’s mother is also her daughter.

Dinosaurs aren’t the only ones in the wrong timeframe in this series. Matt (Ciarán McMenamin), an Anomaly Research Centre researcher from the future, and Emily (Ruth Bradley), a team member from the Victorian Era, bridge a centuries-long gap with their romance.

When Montego Air Flight 828 lands five and a half years late — the travel delay from hell! — its passengers have to adjust to an unfamiliar world. And one of the biggest shocks is that, for some of them, their significant others are now involved with other people.

This Stephen King adaptation stars James Franco as Jake, an English teacher assigned to travel to 1963 and prevent John F. Kennedy’s assassination. In that decade, he finds an ally — and a romantic prospect — in librarian Sadie (Sarah Gadon). Eventually, he tells Sarah everything, and they work together to alter history forever.

Over a six-year run in the 1990s — and a TV special in 2016 — this sitcom chronicled the double life of TV repairman Gary (Nicholas Lyndhurst) as a portal lets him toggle between the 1940s and the present day. In the former timeframe, he’s dating Phoebe (Dervla Kirwan, then Elizabeth Carling). In the latter, he’s married to Yvonne (Michelle Holmes and Emma Amos). That still qualifies as cheating in our books!

How does a guy prove to his skeptical wife he’s a time traveler? In the case of San Francisco reporter Dan Vassar (Kevin McKidd), he buries her wedding ring in the backyard in the past and digs it up in the present. But then there’s that pesky fact that his ex-fiancée, Livia (Moon Bloodgood), is traveling through time, too…

In this adaptation of a Deborah Harkness book series, present-day witch Diana (Teresa Palmer) unwittingly brings fellow witches, daemons, and a dashing vampire named Matthew (Matthew Goode) to her doorstep. As you might expect, Diana and Matthew form a bond in Season 1. As you might not expect, they travel back to 1590 in Season 2.

You know you’re not watching any old British cop show when the main character is hit by a car and sent from 2006 to 1973. And that timeframe is when detective Sam Tyler (John Simm) develops a relationship with the skeptical but sympathetic constable Annie Cartwright (Liz White).

This adventure series follows a Lifeboat team tasked with recovering a time machine from a fugitive (played by Goran Višnjić) who develops feelings for Lifeboat leader Lucy (Abigail Spencer). Lucy. however, only has eyes for teammate Wyatt (Matt Lanter)… though their timeline-meddling results in her engagement to another man!

A World War II nurse mysteriously travels two centuries in the past, where she meets a Highland warrior who will become her true love. This hit show, an adaptation of Diana Gabaldon’s historical fantasy novel series, has countless fans swooning for, shipping, and fanficcing Claire (Caitríona Balfe) and Jamie (Sam Heughan).