Episode #183: The Shakespeare Code.
Companions: The 10th Doctor and Martha Jones.
Air Date: 7th April 2007.
As a reward for her help in the last episode, Martha Jones gets a trip in the TARDIS. The Tenth Doctor takes her to 1599 England. After viewing a performance of Shakespeare's latest play, the time travellers are beset by apparent sorcery. Under threat of annihilation from a species from the Dark Times, the TARDIS team have to establish whether there is a connection between a witch they've met and Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Won — a play that was legendarily lost to time.
The Shakespeare Code is a typical Doctor Who adventure where the time travellers drop into historical events and become embroiled in the schemes of an extraterrestrial nature. Normally I would see this as a good adventure but as seems to be standard in the 10th Doctor stories the writers start messing about with things and it spoils the episode. In this case everything is fine until Shakespeare himself starts talking in an all too modern style. While it can be interpreted as being the effect of the villainous Carrionites I find it just a little too out of place and it spoils the entire thing for me.
One adventure in and Martha Jones has become infatuated with the Doctor. Why the writers and producers feel the need to do this especially after the perceived negativity from of the Doctor/Rose love story I don't know. At least in this case the Doctor doesn't reciprocate and seems to not be aware that Martha has fallen for him.
The Carrionites are the villains of the piece, ancient enemies of the Time Lords cast out into another reality prisoned for all eternity. Their powers manifest in the real universe as what we would consider magic. They make quite a cool villain for a one off episode.
At the end of the episode we get a short scene that sets up events not to be revealed for a few years. As the Doctor and Martha enter the TARDIS, Queen Elizabeth appears, spies the Doctor and orders her guards "off with his head!"
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