Partners in Crime

Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) who was introduced in an earlier Christmas Special The Runaway Bride becomes the Doctor's new regular companion in this story and what a fantastic companion she turned out to be. One of the best in my opinion.

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.

Doctor who has always been a part of my life. And after a long wait which seems like an eternity Doctor who is back on the BBC. At the start of a new doctor who season you always worry that it might be a disappointment but as usual the Doctir who crew managed to start on a bang and as "that" theme tune comes on the excitement gets bigger.

The openers of the series are usually poor in Doctor who because they tend to focus more on the character development than the storyline of the monsters. But enough said, this was the best opener since Rose and I am pleased the 4th series has gotten off to a good start.

There were many goods in Partners in crime. For me the the best of those goods was Catherine Tate and David Tennant. I found Donna a total pain in the runaway bride but she was absolutely fine in this opener. Her interaction with Tennant was good to watch and her comic timing definitely boosted some of the duller scenes in the episode.

The comedy can sometimes be to childish on Doctor who, but there were some great moments of comedy in this episode, my favourite when Gramps misses the spaceship behind him and the doctor and Donnas near-misses.

The submission of Rose in the series was known long ago since the crew find it hard keeping secrets but no one knew she would be in the first episode!

Now for the bad. As usual the doctor overuses his sonic screwdriver any plot dead-ends and tight spots. The story worked well, but I heyt the sillier plots in Doctor who, I know it needs to appeal to 7 year olds as well as 70 year olds, but I think plots about fat based aliens growing out of peoples bodies would be best suited on one of the more childish Doctor who spin-offs. And whenever Russel T Davies writes a story himself there is always a basic template that he refuses to budge from, which makes the scene with the adipose and miss foster feel too much like the evil company.

Overall this was an episode which has created a great lot of story lines for more episodes and I give it a 7/10.

This episode is a lot of fun.

This is a bit like 'New Earth' or 'Partner's in Crime' in the sense that the plot is a little thinner than usual as it's being used as a way to reintroduce David Tennant's wonderful version of The Doctor, and establishing Catherine Tate's Donna as an official companion.

I enjoy this episode whenever I see it.

There's a pill that can make you all thin, removes doubles from your chinny chin chin, one or two side effects, with a slight circumflex, as the fat walks away through your skin.

The Doctor and Donna recombine (novel idea), albeit after blindly chasing each other's tail, to investigate the effects of the Adipose Diet which consists of a pill and pendant. It's not long before punters are losing a lifetime on the hips, and several other lard and not so lard laden parts of themselves too, as the kindergarten becomes stuffed with flying Telethubbies - but where are all the bees going?

I loved this episode, I've seen it several times now and it's really an episode to listen too. It's very well written, a comedic plot line that's also touching and insights character development. I love Catherine tate. This probably isn't for you if you don't like her in any capacity. Luckily for me I like her comedy and I think she's a brilliant actress when she's given the right material. David tennant, always good. Sarah Lancashire, excellent. Bernard Cribins, love him. This series started around the time I started watching it as a kid, this has always been a favourite with its persistent naughties (2000's) nostalgia. Tennant and Tate are By far my favourite doctor/companion duo, there first episode together was hilarious and still is ! As are all this seasons episodes. What I enjoy is that they are JUST friends, for once he isn't in love, she isn't in love, they don't do any of that because there friendship grows instead. I wish they did more. Loved it. 10/10.