Doctor Who: The Shakespeare Code

The Doctor and Rose-clone Martha travel back in time and meet William Shakespeare, who’s trying to put on a sequel and getting hassled by three witches…


This one works. Yes it’s got early-90s level CGI work, a thoroughly overmilked running joke, and bares a suspicious resemblance to The Unquiet Dead too, but hang on, it’s fun, and without all the usual pretentiousness.

Transplanting the show’s love of taking well-known modern London landmarks and turning them into camoflaged alien bases, here it’s the original Globe Theatre that is the catalyst. The Doctor’s reasoning, that just as humans express science using maths the carrionites use words, was a great idea too. And the final chase away from Queen Elizabeth was fun as well.

On a more personal level, I guess I was also able to buy into this one more, having performed on a replica Globe stage in Jack Drum's Entertainment in the nearby Bear Gardens Globe Museum 1987.

This ain’t highbrow stuff (it’s got historical errors a schoolkid could see through) but it captured the ideas and silliness of the brand.

I could list other shortcomings, but I don’t much feel like it. I guess I enjoyed it too much.