Partners in Crime (TV story)
Partners in Crime is the first episode of the fourth series of British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 5 April 2008 at 6:20 p.m. The episode reintroduced comedienne Catherine Tate as Donna Noble, who previously appeared in "The Runaway Bride". Donna and the 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 the Adipose, 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. The episode is stylistically different from other Doctor Who episodes; "Partners in Crime" has no clear antagonist, and the creatures are in a different style to Doctor Who's regular "big [and] scary"[2] monsters.
"Partners in Crime" features the return of three other 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". Cribbins was recalled to replace the character of Geoff Noble after actor Howard Attfield died. Billie Piper briefly reprises her role as Rose Tyler for the first time since the second series' finale "Doomsday", in a scene that was not included in preview showings.
