In the run up to the Alliance the readers of these stories speculated a lot over the roles the male characters might play in the Alliance. Somebody had to be best man. Somebody had to give Rose away. Somebody had to conduct the ceremony. A few people worked it through part of the way. There were some who favoured the idea of TEN making an appearance to give Rose away, but I thought that was too cruel to him. Likewise being Best Man or conducting the ceremony. I settled early on that Christopher would take the latter role and Jack, who HAS been his best man for a long time, the former. DAVID, would give Rose away, in place of her father.

And TEN, would be something of the ghost at the feast. He comes to see the ‘what if… the could have been… of his life.’ That phrase was mentioned several times in previous stories, of course. He watches Rose marry the other version of himself and closes that part of his life.

While The Doctor and Rose are getting married, it is TEN who gets to the bottom of the mystery. He tracks down Andrell, and works out who he is. And it is a heartbreaking shock. The son of his old friends, Leela and Andred, bitter about the deaths of his parents on Gallifrey, blaming The Doctor for it all.

Interestingly, the reaction of Nine and Ten to the death of Andrell mirrors the reaction of The Doctor in Last of The Time Lords when he is so desperate to save The Master, for the sake of a one time friendship, and for the sake of their race.

And so…

The Doctor and Rose are married. He takes her to their honeymoon suite. The door closes in good old fashioned Mills and Boon fashion and that finishes the Unfinished Business. But not their story. That continues in New Lords of Time.