Partners in Crime

“If you ever see a little blue box flying up there in the sky, you shout for me gramps, you just shout…” – Donna Noble

The offices of Adipose Industries attract two curious visitors, each unaware of the other, as Donna Noble and the Doctor investigate strange goings on at the pharmaceutical company. Posing as health and safety officials, they both attend a press conference held by the company head, Miss Foster, as she unveils a miraculous new slimming capsule currently being tested by one million volunteers in London, which is guaranteed to make the fat “just walk away”. In their own inimitable ways, the Doctor and Donna each question the Adipose Industries’ office workers, managing to obtain a list of volunteers and a free gift in the shape of a golden capsule on a chain. Shortly after, the Doctor visits one of the volunteers, Roger Davey, and learns that not only is the man losing weight at an impressive rate, but also something is setting off his burglar alarm at the same time every night – something that is apparently leaving his house via the cat-flap… Meanwhile, Donna calls on another test subject, an overweight woman named Stacey Harris. While Stacey goes to the toilet Donna idly fiddles with her free pendant, unwittingly triggering a signal that causes Stacey’s tummy fat to coalesce into a tiny creature that jumps free from its host’s body. At the same time, at Adipose Industries, an alarm alerts Miss Foster to an unscheduled parcinogenesis; she immediately despatches a collection squad and then triggers another, boosted, signal, causing Stacey’s entire body to be converted into the bizarre – yet cute – Adipose creatures. Hearing Stacey’s dying cries, Donna bursts into the bathroom, only to find Stacey’s vacated clothing lying on the floor – and an Adipose creature waving goodbye to her as it jumps out of the window. The Doctor’s detection device registers the parcinogenic activity, and he sets off Ito investigate – again narrowly missing Donna, who is also on the streets in pursuit of the Adipose; however, before either of them can locate their quarry, Miss Foster’s guards pull up in a black van, retrieve the fat-creatures and then speed off back to base. Suspecting that an activation pendant has been stolen, Miss Foster consults her CCTV recordings to look for an unauthorised presence. Donna returns home to another night of her mother’s nagging; in desperation she goes to visit her grandfather, Wilf, currently stargazing through a telescope in his hilltop allotment; Donna is in a wistful mood, regretting not travelling with a man she once met, a man who travelled in a mysterious blue box… The following morning, the Doctor and Donna return to Adipose industries, each finding a hiding place to wait out the day until everyone goes home for work. But when they both finally leave their hiding places, Miss Foster and her guards locate a third intruder, an inquisitive reporter named Penny. As Miss Foster questions her prisoner in her office, she is unaware that she is being overheard – Donna is listening outside her door, while the Doctor is at the window, having lowered himself down from the roof using a window cleaner’s cage. The executive decides to give Penny a scoop before she kills her, explaining that the weight loss capsules attract and galvanise the fat in their hosts’ bodies to form life – her ‘foster’ children. Suddenly spotting each other, Donna and the Doctor begin an excited, mimed conversation – which abruptly ends when they realise they have been seen by Miss Foster. Running for it, the Doctor and Donna finally meet – but they have no time for a long reunion, as armed guards are in pursuit. As Donna hurriedly explains that she has been looking for alien “trouble” in the hope of finding the Doctor, the two of them make their escape in the window cleaner’s cage; however, Miss Foster is not far behind, and with a sonic device of her own, she cuts one of the cage’s cables, sending Donna falling towards the street below. Luckily, Donna manages to grab the severed cable, and as she holds on for dear life, the Doctor stops Miss Foster from cutting the second cable by deactivating her sonic pen with his own sonic screwdriver. Climbing through the nearest window, the Doctor returns to Miss Foster’s office and pulls Donna through the window; having freed Penny from her bonds, the two ‘partners in crime’ head for the exits, only to be cornered by Miss Foster and her guards. The executive explains that she is really Matron Cofelia of the Five-Straighten Classabindi Nursery Fleet, Intergalactic Class – an extraterrestrial midwife employed by the Adiposian First Family to foster a new generation of children using humans as surrogate hosts, after their own breeding planet was lost. Knowing that the Adiposians’ scheme is against galactic law the Doctor vows to stop Miss Foster, and by combining his sonic screwdriver with the executive’s pen, he creates a powerful sound wave that distracts the baddies that allows him and Donna to escape. Having recaptured Penny, a furious Miss Foster decides to bring forward her birthing plan: she activates her Inducer machine, which transmits an activation signal across London – and all over the capital, Adipose Industries’ volunteers are shocked to find themselves suddenly giving ‘birth’ to the Adipose creatures… The Doctor attempts to stop the Inducer by hacking into its computer core, but Miss Foster boosts the signal; with horror the Time Lord realises that not only will the hosts’ fat be converted into Adipose, but also their bones and internal organs. Frantically using both his and Donna’s pendants, the Doctor is able to override the signal – but the streets are already filled with ten thousand Adipose, all waddling and prancing towards the Adipose Industries tower block to join the triumphant Miss Foster. Just then a huge spaceship appears overhead – the Adiposian First Family have arrived in their Nursery Ship to collect their children… Activating the tower’s systems, Miss Foster creates levitation beams that transport her and her multitudinous creations up to the alien ship; the Doctor tries to warn the matron that her bosses know that their actions are illegal, and will try to ‘dispose’ of her, by Miss Foster ignores him – until the beam carrying her up promptly shuts off, sending her plummeting to a messy end on the ground far below. Once she and the Doctor have watched the Adipose ship depart, Donna grabs her pre-packed luggage from the back of her mother’s car and barges her way into the TARDIS; the Doctor agrees to let her join him, but only on the proviso that they travel as mates. Realising that she still has the keys to the car, Donna calls her mother and tells her that she will leave them in a bin; just to be sure the keys are safe, Donna tells a nearby girl to keep a lookout – unaware that the girl is none other than Rose Tyler, the Doctor’s former companion, who was supposedly trapped in a parallel universe some time ago, as Donna rushes off, Rose vanishes into thin air… Standing in his allotment, Wilf is astonished to see a blue box fly past in the sky overhead; looking through his telescope he is overjoyed to see Donna waving to him as she sets off with the Doctor at last…

David Tennant (The Doctor), Catherine Tate (Donna Noble), Billie Piper (Rose Tyler), Sarah Lancashire (Miss Foster), Bernard Cribbins (Wilfred Mott), Jacqueline King (Sylvia Noble), Verona Joseph (Penny Carter), Jessica Gunning (Stacey Harris), Martin Ball (Roger Davey), Rachid Sabitri (Craig Staniland), Chandra Ruegg (Clare Pope), Sue Kelvin (Suzette Chambers), Jonathan Stratt (Taxi Driver)

Directed by James Strong
Produced by Phil Collinson
Executive Producers Russell T. Davies and Julie Gardner
A BBC Wales production

TX:
5th April 2008 @ 6.20 pm