Partners in Crime (Doctor Who)

189 – "Partners in Crime"
189 – "Partners in Crime"
Doctor Who episode
	The Adipose, CGI aliens depicted using MASSIVE, waddle through Central London towards Adipose Industries.
Cast
	Doctor David Tennant – Tenth Doctor;
	Companion Catherine Tate – Donna Noble;
	Others Billie Piper – Rose Tyler; Sarah Lancashire – Ms. Foster; Bernard Cribbins – Wilfred Mott; Jacqueline King – Sylvia Noble; Verona Joseph – Penny Carter; Jessica Gunning – Stacey Campbell; Martin Ball – Roger Davey; Rachid Sabitri – Craig Staniland; Chandra Ruegg – Claire Pope; Sue Kelvin – Suzette Chambers; Jonathan Stratt – Taxi driver;
Production
Directed by	James Strong
Written by	Russell T Davies
Script editor	Lindsey Alford
Produced by	Phil Collinson
Executive producer(s)	Russell T Davies; Julie Gardner
Music by	Murray Gold
Production code	4.1
Series	Series 4
Running time	50 minutes
First broadcast	5 April 2008
Chronology
← Preceded by; "Voyage of the Damned"	Followed by →; "The Fires of Pompeii"
	List of episodes (2005–present)

"Partners in Crime" is the first episode of the fourth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 5 April 2008. The episode reintroduced actor and comedian Catherine Tate as Donna Noble, who had previously appeared in the 2006 Christmas Special "The Runaway Bride". In the episode, Donna and the alien time traveller the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) meet while separately investigating Adipose Industries, a company that has created a revolutionary diet pill. Together, they attempt to stop the death of thousands of people in London after the head of the company, the alien Miss Foster (Sarah Lancashire), creates short white aliens made from human body fat. The episode's alien creatures, the Adipose, were created using the software MASSIVE, commonly used for crowd sequences in fantasy and science fiction films.

"Partners in Crime" features the return of three recurring characters: Jacqueline King reprises her role as Sylvia Noble from "The Runaway Bride"; Bernard Cribbins reprises his role as Wilfred Mott from "Voyage of the Damned", to replace the character of Geoff Noble after actor Howard Attfield died; and Billie Piper briefly reprises her role as Rose Tyler for the first time since the second series' finale "Doomsday" (2006), in a scene that was not included in preview showings.

The episode was received positively by critics. Most reviewers praised the visual effects used to create the Adipose and Tate's subdued acting in comparison to "The Runaway Bride"; Donna was changed from a "shouting fishwife"^[2] to a more emotional person when she became a full-time companion. Critics were polarised over the episode's plot: opinion on executive producer Russell T Davies' writing ranged from "pure pleasure"^[3] to "the back of a fag packet".^[4]

^ "30 reasons to be excited about Series 30!". Doctor Who Magazine (393): 9–10. 6 March 2008.
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[30reasons-1] "30 reasons to be excited about Series 30!". Doctor Who Magazine (393): 9–10. 6 March 2008.

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[preston-3] Cite error: The named reference preston was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[hyland-4] Cite error: The named reference hyland was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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