 Donna 's costume initially involved short skirts , tight @-@ fitting tops , multi @-@ coloured hair extensions and a nose @-@ stud . Jacobs , who affected a Bristolian accent for the role , commented that Donna had " no sense of what she should keep covered up . " A size 12 , Jacobs was not pressured to lose weight for the role , and considered Donna 's figure " part of her loveable charm " . In early episodes , the character was seen to partake in recreational drug use and arrive for work hungover . Jacobs described her as " everything that you secretly want to be , but can 't get away with in normal society " , calling her " very gregarious " and immune to maturing . The Guardian 's Grace Dent deemed her " weak @-@ willed " in a 2006 feature on television medics , and in 2008 , the Daily Mirror 's Jane Simon branded her unintelligent . 
