Partners in Crime
- Episode aired Apr 25, 2008
- TV-PG
- 48m
With a new weight-loss pill tested in London by Adipose Industries, The Doctor goes to investigate the sinister truth behind the product, only to find out that his old friend Donna Noble is ... Read allWith a new weight-loss pill tested in London by Adipose Industries, The Doctor goes to investigate the sinister truth behind the product, only to find out that his old friend Donna Noble is investigating as well.With a new weight-loss pill tested in London by Adipose Industries, The Doctor goes to investigate the sinister truth behind the product, only to find out that his old friend Donna Noble is investigating as well.
- Miss Foster Guard
- (uncredited)
- 1st Foster Guard
- (uncredited)
- Passerby
- (uncredited)
- Reporter
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- Russell T. Davies(showrunner)
- Sydney Newman(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaHoward Attfield did film some scenes as Donna's father, Geoff Noble, but became too unwell to continue and died during filming. This episode was dedicated to him. Bernard Cribbins, who had starred in the previous episode Voyage of the Damned (2007), as a newspaper salesman named Wilfred Mott, was brought back to re-film Attfield's scenes, now establishing Wilfred as Donna's grandfather. The video release shows Attfield's scenes in a special feature.
- GoofsThe security guards shoot away the lock on the door, which they then kick down with no real effort. But the door would still be held in place by the hinges - they don't kick it with enough force to rip the hinges out, and even if they had, we can see that there's no damage on the hinge side of the door anyway to demonstrate their forcible removal.
- Quotes
[mouthing words silently and exaggeratedly]
The Doctor: Donna?
Donna Noble: Doc-tor!
The Doctor: Wh - what - w - what?
Donna Noble: Oh! My! *God*!
The Doctor: How?
Donna Noble: [pointing at her face with both hands] It's me!
The Doctor: [nodding, gesturing to eyes, then Donna] Yeah, I can see that.
Donna Noble: [pointing to where she's standing, then two thumbs up] Oh, this... is... *brilliant*!
The Doctor: [pointing thrice at Donna] W - wha - what the hell are *you* *doing* *there*?
Donna Noble: [pointing to eyes, then at The Doctor] I... was looking... for... you!
The Doctor: [points at self questioningly] What for?
Donna Noble: [miming reading the paper] Read it...
Donna Noble: [typing fingers in the air] ... on the Internet...
Donna Noble: [wiggling fingers around mouth] ... so weird...
Donna Noble: [walking fingers] ... crept along...
Donna Noble: [thumb into room, hand-as-mouth] ... heard them talking...
Donna Noble: [ducks down, comes back up, points] ... looked, ah! *You*!
The Doctor: [imperceptibly nods]
Donna Noble: [thumbs back at Miss Foster, looks, freezes] Th...
[Miss Foster has stopped talking and is staring at Donna. Miss Foster turns and looks right at The Doctor. The Doctor turns to see Miss Foster]
Miss Foster: [aloud] Are we interrupting you?
- ConnectionsEdited into Doctor Who: Turn Left (2008)
- SoundtracksTwenty Four Hours from Tulsa
(uncredited)
Written by Burt Bacharach & Hal David
Performed by Dusty Springfield
We also get the great Bernard Cribbins as Donna's grandad, Wilf. He had previously appeared in a different Christmas special, Voyage of the Damned, preceding this series and in this story we learn he is Donna's grandfather.
Here, Donna is investigating Adipose Industries who claim to have invented miracle diet pills and has been hoping to meet up with the Doctor again to join him on his travels. The Doctor also arrives to investigate the same thing and the two initially keep missing each other before they finally meet up again. All of this is done to hugely enjoyable comic effect.
The witty humour, amusing dialogue and comedy interplay between the wonderful Tennant and Tate is joyous. The chemistry is there right from the start and would go on to be a magical partnership, helped by the fact Donna is so clearly not attracted to the Doctor. They are friends with edge and they would go on to not only continue to be very funny together but also to be a fabulous pairing for many dramatic, thoughtful scenes too.
This story works perfectly as comedy. The alien Adipose when they appear are only really effective as comedy or light family fun, they do not pose a menacing threat as they are simply very cute little blobs but their creation does cause deaths and so there is a bit of edge to the story.
It is all fun and nothing about it is bad. It is hard for me to rate this as a really great episode when it has such a tongue in cheek presentation of the aliens which is kind of cheesy but it is a good, solid comedic filler that works in its aims of family entertainment and establishing the new companion.
(Incidentally, I feel this episode was very influential on the 11th Doctor story The Bells of Saint John.)
Adding some real value on top of the fun and comedy this also has a great performance from the wonderful Sarah Lancashire as Foster and some beautiful emotional scenes with Donna and Wilf plus an intriguing appearance of Rose near the end that hints towards the series arc. This follows the solid Christmas secial and begins my favourite series of the modern era of Who very well.
My rating - 8/10.
- A_Kind_Of_CineMagic
- Mar 21, 2019
Details
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- Runtime48 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.78 : 1