The Shakespeare Code
180 – "The Shakespeare Code" | |||
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Doctor Who episode | |||
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Others
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Production | |||
Directed by | Series 3 | ||
Running time | 45 minutes | ||
First broadcast | 7 April 2007 | ||
Chronology | |||
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"The Shakespeare Code" is the second episode of the
In the episode, the alien time traveller the Doctor (David Tennant) takes his new travelling companion Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) in her first trip in time and space. They arrive in 1599 near the Globe Theatre in Southwark, where they meet the playwright William Shakespeare. Shakespeare is being bewitched by three witch-like Carrionites to rewrite the ending to his play Love's Labour's Won so that the performance will create the right words to free the rest of the Carrionite race from imprisonment.
Plot
The Tenth Doctor, who promised to take Martha on one trip, takes her to a performance of Love's Labour's Lost at the Globe Theatre in Southwark in 1599. At the end of the play, William Shakespeare announces a forthcoming sequel entitled Love's Labour's Won. A witch called Lilith uses a voodoo doll to influence Shakespeare to declare that the new play will premiere the following evening. When Lynley, the Master of the Revels, demands to see the script before allowing the play to proceed, Lilith plunges a voodoo doll made of his hair into a bucket of water and stabs it in the chest. Lynley collapses on the ground dead. Lilith compels Shakespeare to write a strange concluding paragraph to Love's Labour's Won before flying away on a broom.
In the morning, the Doctor, Martha and Shakespeare proceed to the Globe Theatre, and the Doctor asks why the theatre has 14 sides. They decide to visit the architect of the theatre in Bethlem Hospital. They find the architect, Peter Streete, in a catatonic state. The Doctor helps him emerge from his catatonia long enough to reveal that the witches dictated the Globe's tetradecagonal design to him. The witches Lilith, Doomfinger, and Bloodtide observe this through their cauldron, and Doomfinger teleports to the cell and kills Peter with a touch. The Doctor identifies the witches as Carrionites, a species whose magic is based on the power of words which allows them to manipulate psychic energy. By uttering the name Carrionite the Doctor is able to repel her.
The Doctor deduces that the Carrionites intend to use the powerful words of Love's Labour's Won to break their species out of imprisonment. The Doctor confronts Lilith, who explains that the three witches were released from their banishment by Shakespeare's genius words after he lost his son Hamnet. Lilith temporarily stops one of the Doctor's two hearts and flies to the Globe Theatre. Shakespeare fails to stop the play from being performed. The actors speak the last lines of the play. A portal opens up, allowing the Carrionites back into the universe. The Doctor tells Shakespeare that only he can find the words to close the portal. Shakespeare improvises a short rhyming stanza but is stuck for a final word until Martha blurts out Expelliarmus. The Carrionites become trapped in a crystal ball the Doctor locks away in the TARDIS and all the copies of Love's Labour's Won are sucked back through the closing portal.
Continuity
Shakespeare in Doctor Who
Shakespeare has appeared in one earlier Doctor Who episode, and the Doctor has also mentioned prior meetings. The Bard is seen by the Doctor and his companions on the screen of their Time-Space Visualiser in The Chase (1965), conversing with Elizabeth I; in Planet of Evil (1975), the Fourth Doctor mentions having met Shakespeare, and in City of Death (1979) he claims that he helped transcribe the original manuscript of Hamlet; and in The Mark of the Rani (1985) the Sixth Doctor says "I must see him [Shakespeare] again some time".
Among non-TV material, Shakespeare features in the
Producer Russell T Davies and screenwriter Gareth Roberts have both stated that they were aware of these past references to meeting Shakespeare, but that they would neither be mentioned nor contradicted in the episode.[3][4] Roberts added that although an early draft of "The Shakespeare Code" contained "a sly reference to City of Death", it was removed because "it was so sly it would have been a bit confusing for fans that recognised it and baffled the bejesus out of everyone else."[4]
References to earlier Doctor Who episodes and stories
The name of the Carrionites derives from screenwriter Gareth Roberts' own New Adventures novel, Zamper (1995), which refers to a slug-like race known as "arrionites". Roberts has said, "I always thought it was a nice word, and I was thinking of the witches as carrion creatures, so I bunged a C in front of it".[5]
In Douglas Adams' lost adventure Shada, there is a passing reference to a Time Lord, Scintilla, who was imprisoned for conspiring with Carrionites; the novelisation of Shada was also written by Roberts.[6]
There are several references to races from earlier Doctor Who episodes. At one point, the Doctor uses the title "Sir Doctor of TARDIS," which had been awarded to him by
Other sequences include subtle references to much earlier episodes. One of the putative lines of Love's Labour's Won, "the eye should have contentment where it rests", is taken from episode three of the 1965 serial The Crusade[7] — a story consciously written in Shakespearean style.
Outside references
The episode concerns the "lost" Shakespeare play Love's Labour's Won, which is referred to in more than one historical document, but which may be just an alternative title for an extant play. Historically, a reference to Love's Labour's Won (in Francis Meres's Palladis Tamia, Wits Treasury, 1598) predates the construction of the Globe Theatre (1599).
The Doctor and Martha make numerous references to Shakespeare's appearance: she notes that he looks nothing like his portrait, and wonders why he is not bald, while the Doctor says he could make his head bald if he rubs it and later gives him a ruff to keep (calling it "a neck brace"). Shakespeare himself speaks with a noticeable Midlands accent, a reference to his birth and upbringing in Stratford-upon-Avon.
The episode makes reference to the many debates about
There is a running joke throughout the episode in which the Doctor creates an apparent
There are numerous other allusions to Shakespeare's plays. Just before the Doctor steps out of the
Lilith credits the Carrionites' escape from the Eternals' banishment to 'new...glittering' words. Shakespeare is credited with
The character Kempe is William Kempe, a highly regarded comic actor of the era, who was a member of the Lord Chamberlain's Men along with Shakespeare and Richard Burbage.
Wiggins is named after Doctor Martin Wiggins, a distinguished academic in the field of Elizabethan and Jacobean literature and the editor of several editions of influential plays of this period. Wiggins is also a Doctor Who fan and a friend of writer Gareth Roberts. According to Roberts, "if anyone was gonna trip me after transmission it'd be him, so I thought I'd butter him up first".[5]
Other
There are several references to the
There are several references to the paradoxes of time travel. Martha mentions the possibility of killing her grandfather, an allusion to the
Some of the words and names used are derived from other works. The Doctor claims Martha comes from
The Doctor quotes the line, "Rage, rage against the dying of the light," from "Do not go gentle into that good night" by Dylan Thomas — but warns Shakespeare he cannot use it as it is "somebody else's".
Production
Writing and pre-production
The episode was
As revealed in Doctor Who Adventures issue 30, this episode had the working title of "Loves Labour's Won". By the time of production, however, the title had been changed to "Theatre of Doom", according to David Tennant's video diary shot during production and included as a bonus feature of the Series 3 DVD set. Tennant remarks that the title would likely change before broadcast, suggesting "Theatre of Doom" was only a temporary title.
The ending featuring Queen Elizabeth was Russell T Davies's idea, who told Roberts to "make it a bit like the ending of The One Doctor", a Big Finish Productions audio drama also written by Roberts.[5]
The scene in which the Doctor and Martha share a room was originally written to have the Doctor casually undress down to his underwear; and still obliviously invite Martha to share the bed. It was rewritten as the producers and Tennant thought it would be inappropriate.
Filming
Filming for the episode took place from 23 August to 15 September 2006. Production started at the production team's Upper Boat Studios in
Production then went on a week of location night shoots, beginning in
Apart from Newport Indoor Market, where the scenes at Bedlam, as the Bethlem Royal Hospital was known as then, were recreated in the basement, the remainder of the shoot took place in Upper Boat Studios, for the scenes set in the Elephant Inn, sections of Globe Theatre material, and the TARDIS scenes.[8]
In
Special effects
The special effects on the episode were done by
One shot of the Doctor and Martha looking at the Globe Theatre was changed between the Series Three preview at the end of "The Runaway Bride" and the final episode; the edge of the Globe Theatre has been replaced with a CGI shot of a village and the distant theatre itself.
Broadcast and reception
The episode was first broadcast at 7pm on 7 April 2007. It was seen by 7.2 million viewers, and was the fourteenth most watched programme of the week.
"The Shakespeare Code", along with "Smith and Jones" and "Gridlock" was released on a DVD on 21 May 2007. It was then re-released as part of the Series Three boxset in November 2007.
Scott Matthewman of The Stage gave "The Shakespeare Code" a mostly positive review, highlighting the guest performances and the theme of the power of words.[13] Digital Spy's Dek Hogan found the plot "ludicrous" but praised the production values and special effects. He speculated that he might like it better when watching it again later after he has warmed up to Martha.[14] Nick Setchfield, writing for SFX, awarded the episode five out of five stars, finding the production "confident". He praised the acting, "witty" script, and the concept of the Carrionites' witch-like appearance.[15] IGN reviewer Travis Fickett rated the episode 7.2 out of 10. He found the plot "straightforward", but still said it was entertaining with a good performance by Kelly.[16]
References
- ^ "Doctor Who UK airdate announced". News. Dreamwatch. 27 February 2007. Archived from the original on 12 March 2007.
- ^ "The Shakespeare Code commentary podcast". podcast. BBC. 7 April 2007.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Lizo Mzimba, Russell T Davies (12 September 2006). Exclusive Q&A: The brains behind Dr Who (News Programme). Newsround studio: BBC.[permanent dead link]
- ^ a b Duis, Rex (January 2007). "Script Doctors: Gareth Roberts". Doctor Who Magazine (377): 13–14.
- ^ a b c Doctor Who Magazine 382
- ISBN 9781446417812.
- ^ Whitaker, David. "The Crusade – Episode 3". Doctor Who Scripts Project. Retrieved 9 April 2007.
- ^ a b Pixley, Andrew (August 2007). "The Shakespeare Code". Doctor Who Magazine Special – Series 3 Companion. Panini Magazines.
- Trinity Mirrorgroup. Retrieved 30 August 2006.
- ^ Orland, Rob (August 2006). "Historic Coventry – the visit of The Doctor!". Historic Coventry. Archived from the original on 14 April 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2006.
- ^ "Fan Photos from Warwick". Freema Agyeman fansite. August 2006. Retrieved 2 September 2006.
- ^ "Podcast Commentary".[permanent dead link]
- ^ Matthewman, Scott (8 April 2007). "Doctor Who 3.2: The Shakespeare Code". The Stage. Archived from the original on 28 January 2013. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
- ^ Hogan, Dek (9 April 2007). "Losing grip". Digital Spy. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
- ^ Setchfield, Nick (7 April 2007). "Doctor Who 3.02: The Shakespeare Code". SFX. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
- ^ Fickett, Travis (16 July 2007). "Doctor Who "The Shakespeare Code" Review". IGN. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
External links
- "The Shakespeare Code" at the BBC Doctor Who homepage
- "Witchcraft" – episode trailer
- "The Shakespeare Code" at IMDb