We think you'll agree that Mums are a pretty brilliant lot, but to be a mum in Doctor Who you have to be something extra special: willing to let your kids swan off into mortal danger and still do their laundry when they get back, prepared to point a gun at a renegade Time Lord, and even slap a 900 year old man across the chops.
So in honour of Mother's Day - and because we forgot to get flowers - we salute the top ten mothers in Doctor Who...
Ambrose (The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood)
She's painted as an irrational ape in Cold Blood, but to be fair, if your son and husband had been kidnapped, you'd probably taser a Silurian to death too.
These days mums would probably do the same just to get their kids into a good school. 
Empress of the Racnoss (The Runaway Bride)
She buries her spider children at the centre of the Earth, and plans to free them by covertly dosing a temp from Chiswick up to the eyeballs with Huon particles...
Not exactly mother of the year material, but just imagine what hiring a babysitter for 4 billion years would have cost. Suddenly her plan seems a lot more cost effective. 
Mother of Mine (Human Nature/The Family of Blood)
Dying gas-alien mum? Get yourself the body of a serving girl from a local school and sniff out some of that sweet sweet Artron energy contained in the body of a Time Lord!
Yes she's evil, but by working with Son and Daughter, Mother of the Family makes hunting for The Doctor into a wholesome family activity. Nothing like spending quality time with the kids, eh mum? 
Francine Jones
As if her ex-husband wasn't enough to deal with, suddenly her daughter Martha's off gallivanting with a man that the Prime Minister tells her is evil. Imagine David Cameron calling you up and telling you your daughter's new friend was a bad’un.
All that and then she has to spend a non-existent year cleaning up after the Master. No wonder she picks up a gun and plans to shoot the rogue Time Lord. 
The Doctor's Mother (The End of Time)
Was the mysterious Woman (Claire Bloom) really the Doctor's Mum? We'll never know for certain, but it's the most probable probability.
It makes sense that she'd defy the laws of Time and James Bond Rassilon (Timothy Dalton) himself to save her son's life. And it's a beautiful bittersweet moment when the Doctor and her gaze at each other one final time. 
Nancy (The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances)
Plucky Cockney heroine Nancy is mother to gas-masked Jamie, but she's also a sort of adoptive mum to a whole Fagin's worth of air raid orphans in Blitz-ravaged London, finding them food and making sure that their table manners don't disappear just because Hitler's bombing the living daylights out of Blighty.
And, just like every mum, she makes everything better with a lovely big hug. Well, technically it's the software of Chula nanogenes being reprogrammed by a superior genetic sequence, but 'big hug' just sounds so much better. 
Amy Pond
Poor Amy gets practically no time at all to actually be a mother to Melody/River, but in fairness it is difficult to do any good quality parenting when an alien cult is busy kidnapping and brainwashing your daughter in order to kill your best friend.
That's not to say she's not a fantastic mum: based on the way she keeps the Doctor and hubby Rory in check you can imagine she'd have no problem with a kid, and by the speech she gives to Melody in A Good Man Goes to War she clearly loves Melody. And, just like any mum, she's quick to defend her offspring: 'She's a good girl!' she tells the Doctor in The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe. 
Gwen Cooper
Alright, this is a bit of a cheat, as she wasn't a mum when she appeared in The Stolen Earth/Journey's End, but Torchwood's Gwen is now a mother and part of the modern Who canon, so it'd be wrong not to give her a mention.
And really, if shooting at a helicopter while holding your ridiculously cute baby doesn't count as being an awesome mum, then we don't know what does. 
Jackie Tyler
Though at times more Albert Square than Mandragora Helix, Rose's mum Jackie (Camille Coduri) kept the 9th and 10th incarnations of the Doctor in check, making sure that he didn't put Rose in danger and scolding/slapping him when he did.
No matter how far Rose travelled she was always there to welcome her back home, with Jackie serving as a reminder to the viewers that there were consequences to being a companion, and that it wasn't so easy to simply drop everything and run off into Time and Space. 
Sarah Jane Smith
Sarah Jane is the ultimate mum in the Whoniverse, both to its characters and to the fans; her presence being as reassuring as a packed lunch. As well as adopting aliens Luke and Sky, she's practically been a second mum to Bannerman Road's Maria, Clyde, and Rani, and treats them all as if they were her own.
Though she'll always be that young ambitious reporter, there are times when she adopts an almost motherly tone with the new Doctors too; whether it's reminding Tennant's Time Lord that 'everything has it's time' in School Reunion, or becoming exasperated with yet another regeneration with a 'Oh you've done it again!' in Death of the Doctor.
Ultimately she’s the ideal mum - adventurous, smart, stern when she needs to be, and always fiercely protective of the people around her.
Who's your favourite mum in Doctor Who? Let us know below...
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Watch Gwen Cooper in action...
