"The course of true love never did run smooth", and ever was the case for TV's most iconic romances.
While it isn't fate getting in the way but rather plot, our favourite long-running shows usually have an on-off relationship at the heart of their storyline, and never was it more prevalent than in Friends between Ross and Rachel, whose love story dragged on for 10 years.
We were kept on tenterhooks from the moment Ross (David Schwimmer) set eyes on Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) in the first series, then when they finally got together in the second, before going on a "break" in the third and having a baby in the seventh instalment.
Their constant toing and froing captured global attention and commanded lunchbreak chat in school canteens everywhere between 1996 and 2006 so when they finally confessed their undying love for one another in the last ever episode, we all breathed a sigh of relief.
Yet, there's a new TV couple in town vying for that on-again-off-again crown in the wake of Gavin And Stacey's Christmas Special.
The BBC one-off was filled with magical musical moments, fantastic one-liners but possibly one of the most heartwarming TV scenes of this decade, when Nessa shocked Smithy (and viewers) by getting down on one knee.
The TV couple has been through ups, downs, weddings, babies and everything in between at this stage. And the more we look back on their history, the more we realise they've become Britain's answer to Ross and Rachel.
Although the beginning of their romance couldn't be more of an antistasis to America's sitcom sweethearts, they've always had some magnetic force pulling them together and no, it's not because their best friends are Gavin and Stacey.
Their will-they-won't-they relationship formed the crux of the last run of episodes in the third and final series after a fraught few years of them trying to figure out their feelings for one another.
Unlike when Rachel jetted to London in a bid to (unsuccessfully) stop Ross's nuptials Emily, Smithy (James Corden) successfully scuppered Nessa's (Ruth Jones) plans to wed Dave Coaches.
Although we didn't get any definite sense of whether they actually got together as a couple, we had the feeling that things weren't really over for their long-distance kind-of love affair.
And that feeling was definitely revisited during the festive special as Gwen, Bryn, Pam, Mick and all the family came together in anticipation to meet Smithy's new girlfriend Sonya.
During the 60-minutes, pockets of Nessa's adoration for Smithy shone through as did her longing for him, but when they ended up in bed together following an Archers-fuelled Christmas Eve, you knew that something was stirring.
And all those feelings came to a crescendo as Smithy's rather horrid girlfriend made a dash to get back to Essex after spending all of two hours in Barry, where she insulted Nessa's taps, asked about what happened on that fishing trip and admitted she signed Smithy up to a fat camp.
Like when Rachel got off the plane to tell Ross she loved him too, Nessa stepped up to the plate and poured her heart out to a dejected Smithy in her own special way, before getting down on one knee.
"I won't lie you're not everyone's cup of tea but at the end of the day when all's said and done, you're tidy.
"I means it. I know it's been complicated you and me. All this life. But I loves it and truth be told, I loves you. No Smithy you're not listening. I know it's weird alright, but I do.
"I loves you with all my heart."
With Ross and Rachel's final words, "we're done being stupid", ringing in my ear, we hope that Smithy and Nessa can give us fans some emotional relief and finally give in to what they've been fighting for too long - each other.
Because after all they are each other's lobster.
Featured Image Credit: BBC/NBCTopics: TV News, gavin and stacey, TV Entertainment, Friends