The Doctor and Fleabag's Hot Priest voted the top TV characters for a Valentine's date

The Doctor garnered 28% of the vote in the female poll, followed by Jodie Comer's mesmerising maniac Villanelle from Killing Eve with 16%, Gillian Anderson's sexpert Dr Jean Milburn from Sex Education with 12%, Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Fleabag herself with 10% and another character of the cloth in Dolly Wells's Sister Agatha van Helsing, from the BBC's recent Dracula adaptation, with 8% of the vote.

In the poll of male TV characters, Scott's Hot Priest from Fleabag won 22% of the vote, followed by Peaky Blinders' gorgeous gangster Tommy Shelby, played by Cillian Murphy, with 19%. Another villain, Sacha Dhawan's new incarnation of Doctor Who's The Master, took 11% of the vote, with Henry Cavill's monster-mashing Witcher Geralt of Rivia on 10% and Line of Duty's silver fox Superintendent Ted Hastings, AKA Adrian Dunbar, with 9%.

See below for the full shortlists of the TV characters viewers would most like to date this Valentine's Day – and even if you don't get to go out with your fantasy date, here's wishing you a romantic tryst with a real-life admirer or a cosy night in with a romcom!

Female TV characters you'd most like to take on a Valentine's date

1. The Doctor (Doctor Who, Jodie Whittaker) – 28%
2. Villanelle (Killing Eve, Jodie Comer) – 16%
3. Dr Jean Milburn (Sex Education, Gillian Anderson) – 12%
4. Fleabag (Fleabag, Phoebe Waller-Bridge) – 10%
5. Sister Agatha van Helsing (Dracula, Dolly Wells) – 8%
6. Eleanor Shellstrop (The Good Place, Kristen Bell) – 8%
7. DS Madeleine Dumas (Death in Paradise, Auge Legastelois) – 6%
8. The Doctor (Doctor Who, Jo Martin) – 5%
9. Eve Polastri (Killing Eve, Sandra Oh) – 4%
10. Mercedes McQueen (Hollyoaks, Jennifer Metcalfe) – 3%

Male TV characters you'd most like to take on a Valentine's date

1. The Hot Priest (Fleabag, Andrew Scott) – 22%
2. Tommy Shelby (Peaky Blinders, Cillian Murphy) – 19%
3. The Master (Doctor Who, Sacha Dhawan) – 11%
4. Geralt of Rivia (The Witcher, Henry Cavill) – 10%
5. Superintendent Ted Hastings (Line of Duty, Adrian Dunbar) – 9%
6. Count Dracula (Dracula, Claes Bang) – 8%
7. Reverend Will Davenport (Grantchester, Tom Brittney) – 7%
8. Chidi Anagonye (The Good Place, William Jackson Harper) – 6%
9. Eric Effiong (Sex Education, Ncuti Gatwa) – 3%
10. Mick Carter (EastEnders, Danny Dyer) – 3%

Percentages are approximate