The Donna Noble Effect: How 'Partners in Crime' Reshaped Doctor Who
The Series 4 premiere brought back a memorable guest star and kicked off a run of what might be NuWho's best-ever TARDIS team.
Plot Summary
The Doctor reunites with a special friend when he confronts an alien race using human bodies as raw material for their next brood.
Notable for:
The return of:
Catherine Tate as Donna Noble
Wilf, previously seen in Voyage of the Damned
Sylvia Noble, previously seen in The Runaway Bride
Billie Piper as Rose, not seen since Doomsday
No cold open
Scenes with Donna’s dad, played by Howard Attfield, were filmed and not used.
If Catherine Tate didn’t return, a new companion named Penny Carter was going to be introduced. The reporter character has nothing to do with the companion — they just re-used the name.
RTD considered reshooting the Christmas special after they decided Wilf would be Donna’s granddad. But then Davies realized he could make it part of the overall arc.
Pete commentary
As a season opener with a new companion, Partners in Crime resets the show, and with Catherine Tate on board, they lean into the obvious strength: comedy. This is a comedic triumph, because RTD and crew give Tennant and Tate so much to work with.
It’s also a smart choice for the overall premise: because it’s farcical in nature, you’re more willing to overlook the coincidence of the two of them meeting again.
Interesting choice of angled shots in places — definitely a “flavor” of this era. James Strong signature?
Sarah Lancashire as Ms. Foster is brilliant. Her tone, her head-cock, the way she looks down at you through reading glasses that are just a bit down on her nose — it’s really more sexy librarian than nanny. Throw in the shots of the heels, and you get the sense her whole look was architected “for the dads.” Well, some of them, anyway.
The Adipose are cute little critters, aren't they? Obviously that’s the point: Have a cute monster so we’re not “frightened” of them, even in an ironic way. They’re just decoration: icing on the low-calorie cake of this plot that is here simply to give the Doctor and Donna something to both focus on, bringing them together.
That said, there are some moments of genuine peril when Donna is hanging off the window-washing cradle. It gets tense for a minute when Donna is holding onto the cable for her life. The never quite explain how the Doctor is able to get past the deadlock. That was a bit unnecessary — assuming Foster can just “deadlock” the whole building is a bit extreme. I would have liked a different version where they just don’t have time get in the window before Foster breaks the cable.
Similarly, the guards have no reason to NOT shoot them immediately. Why not have Tennant put the two sonics behind his back instead of talking at them?
The science correspondent reporter is pretty forgettable — it’s too bad she doesn’t get anything more interesting to do than get tied up. She’s mainly there to get captured in lieu of Donna.
Speaking of, it’s implied Donna spent all day in the bathroom stall, and so did the reporter. Did they really not notice each other during the long spells when it was just the two of them in there?
And the Doctor waits all day in a broom closet? Why? Couldn’t he break in anytime? If he has to do it at night, why not do a quick time jump?
“I’ve met cat people,” is a nice reference to Survival. IYKYK
Twisting the pendant is what makes the adipose come out — I forgot that the pendants were part of the plot! They then use two of them to defeat the bad guys, which is fine — though you’d think Foster would have hundreds of these things to reload.
Lots of Tennant running, and early on it’s in his long brown coat. It really does look dramatic with it flapping behind him, doesn’t it?
Nice bit of storytelling by cutting several shots of Sylvia in the kitchen, lecturing Donna. Most of the scenes that focus on Donna in act 1 are like this: they do a good job of letting us know where she’s at, what she’s trying to do. You might think she would run into Sarah Jane before encountering the Doctor.
Donna’s mom mentioning it’s “not like the 1980s” with respect to unemployment — reference to bad economic times in Europe in the early ’80s.
The back-to-back scenes of Donna wistfully wishing she was with the Doctor to Wilf, and the Doctor getting excited to about what he’s discovered in the TARDIS — but having no one to talk to about it — are the heart of the episode. These two go together, and complete each other, in ways that no one else does — not Rose, not Martha. Time for the universe to push them together.
So Ms. Foster “travelled a long way to find obesity on this scale.” Did she even bother with America? Plenty of other countries way above the UK as well. This is kind of addressed in Turn Left.
The scene with the Doctor and Donna talking to each other silently through windows on opposite sides of the room is the centerpiece, and the most memorable scene (apart from maybe Rose’s cameo).
Tennant and Tate are perfect talking to each other through the windows. Love how the scene ends with Ms. Foster’s comment: “Are we interrupting you?”
Kind of hilarious that Tennant is in the same suit – glad they made reference to it.
Stunning the guards with dueling sonic screwdrivers — somehow I think the Doctor was lying when he said he didn’t know what was going to happen.
The Adipose ship is SOOOOO Close Encounters
Great little exchange that’s easy to miss — reminds us that Donna’s only seen the Doctor messed up after Doomsday. And yes, he has been on a journey since Eccleston. S4 is the series where he gives the Sontarans a chance even though he’ll probably die.
DONNA: What you going to do then? Blow them up?
DOCTOR: They're just children. They can't help where they come from.
DONNA: Oh, that makes a change from last time. That Martha must've done you good.
“I'm going to report you for madness,” says Penny. Can’t think of a more apt charge for the Doctor, the “madman with a box.”
What did Pete’s family think?
“So close! This is hurting!” Grace said as the Doctor and Donna continue to miss each other in the first act. Nice to know it had the intended effect!
Four Questions to Doomsday - Pete
Why did the Randomizer take us here? Donna’s reference to Ten wearing the same suit as the day they met in The Runaway Bride underscored the difference with Gatwa and Fifteen — let’s just wear some clothes.
What if the evil plot had succeeded? Presumably Donna lost the pendant, which means the Doctor can’t save 1 million people from dying in London. That would result in a darker, more wounded world, and generally put a downer on things. Maybe she doesn’t even want to travel with him after that. The Doctor travels alone, feeling the guilt of his failure, at least until Dalek Caan forces them together.
Where's the Clara splinter? She’s a SVP at Adipose, advocating for maintaining a full cinema, complete with projection booth as well as wiring up the computer core to the… doorways? So they can be electrified anytime, of course.
Dalek, Ogron, Professor Hayter, Viscount Banger, Fixed Point in Time, or Lady Cassandra? Dalek for great parallel storytelling between the Doctor and Donna that converges in the middle. Points also for a memorable “monster” whose whole premise is that it’s cute, and its scariness lies in what it is.