Theory:Doctor Who television discontinuity and plot holes/Partners in Crime


 * If the Adipose are made out of living fat how can they have teeth/a tooth?
 * As Miss Foster states, the Adipose can convert bone, hair and organs.


 * The building Miss Foster stands in front of when she is giving the speech is the same building Jack Harkness got pushed off by John Hart in the Torchwood episode Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. Partners in Crime occurs in London, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang in Cardiff.
 * They just happen to be a similar shape. The outside scenes of new Who are largely filmed in and around Cardiff. So yes this is the same building but it's appearance here is a production continuity - not Who continuity.


 * In the scene where Stacey is sprouting multiple Adiposes in the bathroom, the staircase wall is covered in empty picture frames, and the mirror in the hallway has no glass either.
 * It's actually fairly common to use empty frames as decoration.


 * If this episode is set in 2009, how come Sylvia Noble says 'no one's unemployed these days'?
 * The Whoniverse is different to our universe, there may be some similarities but its not the same. That sort of discontinuity opens the floodgates for others such as "Why haven't the alien invasions started?"
 * It is likely that Sylvia only said that to remark on Donna's lifestyle, instead of using actual facts.


 * How do we know this episode is set in 2009? As of series 2 we got no indication of the date.
 * In Christmas 2006 (The Christmas Invasion) the Sycorax arrive above Earth, a year later in 2007 it is the Racnoss (The Runaway Bride), and a further year later in 2008 the Titanic almost crashes (Voyage of the Damned). Therefore, since this episode takes place the year after Voyage of the Damned, it is in 2009.


 * Miss Fosters guards shoot down the door, however when the Doctor returns to save Donna the door is still on.
 * The door we see him push open is the door from the staircase. He runs straight through from the corridor to the room.


 * Why would the Doctor dispose of the Sonic Pen? He should know by now that having an extra sonic device around would be handy.
 * It's possible that the pen was damaged when the two sonic devices were used together. Pens are, after all, more delicate than screwdrivers.
 * It's unlikely he'd dispose of a working sonic device in London - so the former point stands to reason.


 * The fat comes out of people's bodies in unlikely ways. The skin is stretched then seems to just turn into fat which would not work.
 * The technology and biological processes involved are outside human knowledge, and may be more complex than they appear.


 * If Miss Foster needed a high obesity scale then why didn't she go to America or one of the other countries with a bigger weight issue than Britain.
 * There may have been other factors leading to her choice of location. Regardless, there is no indication that the obesity rates of countries in the Whoniverse are the same as in reality.
 * The Adipose do choose America in another universe - as seen in 'Turn Left'.


 * Surely someone would have been suspicious that Donna just walked into Adipose Industries and went into the toilet and never came out all day.
 * Everyone may well have been too focused on their work to notice Donna's arrival, especially since Miss Foster has demanded a dramatic increase in sales.


 * Either Penny or Donna could have heard the other move in the cubicle and unite against Miss Foster.
 * Neither did however, so they didn't know each other was there. They were, after all, hiding.


 * Shouldn't Miss Foster have checked all the cubicles after Penny was found, just to be on the safe side?
 * She had no reason to believe there was more than one intruder.


 * When Miss Foster activates the inducer, she remarks that a million Adipose are going to be born. However, when a person is totally converted into Adipose, they form several of the young ones, and Miss Foster was planning to convert a million people, which meant there would have a lot more then a mere million baby Adipose.
 * She may have been estimating.


 * If Rose is able to cross to this universe in this episode, why didn't she warn the Doctor about the darkness? Why did she have to wait to meet Donna in another universe in Turn Left?
 * The way Rose disappeared implied she wasn't truly there, just an imprint, incapable of speaking.
 * It may be possible that Rose can only cross universes for a few hours/days which is not enough time to find the Doctor since he could be anywhere.


 * Why did Rose not appear during Last of the Time Lords? If she had been appearing for a year on Earth she should have been around during the year that never was. Wouldn't she have helped the Doctor and Martha and Jack against the Master.
 * Maybe she did, however due to the state the Earth was in, she wasn't able to find the Doctor as he was imprisoned on the Valiant. She may have been found by the Toclafane who thought she was part of a resistance and killed.
 * If any of the Doctor's actions of series 4 indirectly affected the reality bomb, it may not have been created, therefore Rose would have no need to appear.
 * Additionally - the fact that The Year That Never Was was powered by a Paradox Machine could have made the reality impenetrable or unlocatable to those on Pete's World.