10 Doctor Who Moments That Were Improvised

When Catherine Tate joined Doctor Who as a full-time companion in Series 4, there were a lot of concerns that the show would become far too goofy and light-hearted, since the majority of viewers associated Tate with her comedy work.

In the end, those concerns turned out to be needless, because Tate's dramatic chops were revealed to be just as strong as her comedy chops. Still, the actress did have some jokey moments to work with, and while she nailed all of them, the best one has to be the window mime scene from the first episode of the series, Partners In Crime.

After having several close encounters during the opening ten minutes of the story, the Doctor and Donna finally notice each other through an office window, but since they can't hear each other, all they can do is mime their conversation.

It's genuinely hilarious stuff, and while David Tennant rises to the challenge, it's Tate who steals the show with a series of exaggerated expressions and funny gestures.

While watching this scene, you might assume that the whole thing was heavily scripted, but in reality, Tate was given very little guidance on how to actually perform her mimes. Showrunner Russell T Davies simply said "see what Catherine comes up with", and as a result, she had to improvise this entire sequence on the spot.