March 14: "Partners in Crime"

It took me longer than it probably should have to realize "Partners in Crime" is meant to be a farce.

In retrospect, all the signs are there.  There are definitely genuinely funny moments in this -- the mime between the Doctor and Donna is truly wonderful (and Miss Foster's dry interjection -- "Are we interrupting you?" -- is superbly delivered), and there are tons of funny moments and lines scattered throughout.  The first clear sign that this is meant to be less than serious is the way Donna and the Doctor keep just missing each other in the Adipose Industries office.  The whole episode has moments like this as a result -- and in particular, Miss Foster's fate (where she remains suspended in the air for a moment before falling) looks incredibly strange without this piece of information.

Donna gives the Doctor a second pendant. ("Partners in Crime")
©BBC

Part of the problem, I suspect, is that "Partners in Crime" isn't only a farce -- there are also more serious emotional moments as well.  Donna is redefined as a more nuanced character than she was in "The Runaway Bride" -- she's thankfully significantly less shouty and abrasive than she was there, and her interactions with the Doctor are far more varied as a result.  Her conversation with her grandfather (as played by national British treasure Bernard Cribbins, last seen in "Voyage of the Damned") is really lovely -- even if I'm utterly sick of parts of this speech, thanks to them being in the series 4 trailer that I've been seeing off and on for fifteen months now.  Nevertheless it's still a nice conversation, and both Cribbins and Catherine Tate do a great job with the material.  (Oh, and it's nice how the episode is dedicated to Howard Attfield, who played Donna's dad in "The Runaway Bride" and started to film scenes for this episode before he died.)

It's this blend of styles, though, that makes it difficult at times to see what "Partners in Crime" is trying to do.  It's not as much of a problem as it was in Torchwood's "Something Borrowed" -- though that's possibly because the jokes are better here, and everyone is more committed to making them work.  Catherine Tate obviously excels here, but even a character like Penny Carter¹⁹⁴ works well by actress Verona Joseph being fully committed to her role.  But nevertheless the seriousness of some scenes, and the bizarre horror of the Adipose being formed from people being fully converted into Adipose children, does mean that the juxtaposition can be jarring, and the farcical nature of the episode isn't as strong as it was intended to be.

Still, repeated viewings lessen that jarring sensation, and what's left is a very entertaining season opener.  "Partners in Crime" does well with what it's given, and the end result is very satisfying.







¹⁹⁴ Before Catherine Tate agreed to come back to Doctor Who Russell T Davies created a provisional new companion named Penny Carter, although her character didn't get very far before Donna Noble was confirmed.  But the character's name lives on.