The Shakespeare Code

It says something for a series when the not best of episodes are still bloody good telly. The kids will have loved the Witches, but old fans will hate it.

As the Doctor takes Martha Jones on a trip in the TARDIS to say thank you for helping him expose the Plasmavore in last week's opening episode of Series Three, they land in London 1599, where the eponymous Shakespeare is revered for his plays - and portrayed here as something approaching a rock star. This is a man who would have never have had to resort to appearing on Celebrity Big Brother had he been around nowadays.

Of course, not alot is known of the Bard as a person, so far as his personality goes, artistic license is given free reign. Here, the production team have opted to relieve a generation of school kids from English GCSE boredom and given him a new twist - he's a flirt, a genius, sexy, a celebrity and bloody likeable too. Dean Lennox Kelly plays him so convincingly that I don't think I could think of Shakespeare in any other way again. I loved the hints to his supposed bisexuality too.

In New Who, there's something for everyone - for the kids, the monsters and the scary bits, for the adults, the allusions to sex that will pass over their offsprings heads. The Shakespeare Code has plenty of both, from the surprisingly frank pre-credit opener to the Master of the Revels drowning on dry land. And - for adults at least - ?therein lies the problem with this weeks episode. It's New Series by numbers with none of the flair of the best of the bunch over the past two and a little bit years. The writing for the Doctor - apart from the scene in the bed - seemed almost flat, which is a cardinal sin, and despite Martha's wonderful glee at being in the past, and despite the brilliant set pieces of the streets and the Globe, it all seemed rather... ho-hum.

The Carrionites - witches by any other name - are a sure fire way of scaring kids. They're a staple of modern fiction and it's about time they were used. To me, though, their prosthetics looked a little too latex and their conviction a little too cardboard. I found I didn't really care about their evil plan and that the use of marrionettes could have been played upon a hell of a lot more effectively than it was.

What the Shakespeare Code lacks is spookiness to draw in the adults and keep them entertained as well as the younger generation. It's pure comic book Doctor Who, and while there's nothing wrong with that, it irritated me with all the missed opportunities and the too often repeated joke of giving Shakey good lines for his plays. Maybe I'd built myself up for Gareth Roberts' debut a little too much.

So, not the best of episodes then. The old fans will hate it, but the kids will love it. And that's ultimately what counts. Bloody good telly, but must try harder.