The Shakespeare Code

Poor Gareth Roberts. He had a lot to live up to for his first full 'proper telly' Doctor Who. But then again it's entirely his fault for writing such wonderful novels in the first place. The silly man.

Roberts' enthusiasm for his material shines through. The dialogue in this story is a healthy mix of Douglas Adams and the Bard himself. Literary references abound, and such is the verve with which they're employed you find yourself wanting to fire up Google (or a reference book if you're old fashioned) for the ones you didn't get, before firing it up again to look for pictures of Christina Cole in Hex.



However it just didn't...flow as well as you'd have hoped. The dialogue flowed freely, the actual plot did not. Your enjoyment was either spoiled or enhanced by this. In my case I felt the plot was a bit too lightweight to sustain all the action that was taking place. There is also the argument that it is scientific gibberish. Here however I will defend Roberts to the hilt (wherever that may be, I hope it's a pub in Cardiff) here, as his idea is a wonderful one. The story is about wordplay, the power they can have, all tied in with the fact that it's bloody Shakespeare prancing about over there, and the man's a genius (Romeo and Juliet notwithstanding), so the idea of a system of words being used in the same way as numbers in the field of science ? it's up there with the Bistromathic Drive as a bonkers yet brilliant idea. It just seems right, and anyone who is in love with ideas will find much to enjoy in this episode. Similarly, a knowledge of Shakespeare is helpful, but the script sticks to his most famous quotations in a running gag that unfortunately runs out of steam halfway through the story (even with variations on the theme it feels tired around about the half hour mark). The contemporary (well, in Back to the Future's case contemporary-ish) references seemed to grate for some people, but the 'Expelliarmus!' moment was, besides being very funny, a nice way to give Martha some involvement towards the end.

Fortunately Roberts has more than enough one liners to spread around the cast, but donates most of them to David Tennant, as if he needed them. Craziness reigned in there is almost nothing to dislike about his Doctor, give or take a few lines about Rose which will make you sigh ? whether this is a good thing or nor depends on your opinion of Rose. Personally I found the scene where the Doctor and Martha were in bed together to be the kind of Rose reference which grates, as it seems at the expense of Martha, whereas the idea that the thought of Rose gives the Doctor a reason to do what he does is not at the expense of anyone and seems more in character. But then again maybe fandom would like to see Martha's Mum slap the Doctor as well? Let up a magenta flare at midnight on Wednesday if you agree. If anyone asks, just scream 'Gay agenda' at them til they go away.

Meanwhile, Martha does not get too much too do in this episode. She seems sidelined to an almost Jo Grant-esque role of saying the right thing at the right time and prodding the Doctor in the right direction. Freema does well with what she's given and reinforces the convictions most fans found in Smith and Jones but the episode really belongs to Tennant, who just barnstorms through everything with a mix of all the qualities people have enjoyed in the most recent Doctors.

Dean Lennox Kelly did alright. Just sort of...alright. He didn't really do anything for me as he seemed slightly too laid back for most of the episode. To be honest any hint at Shakespeare's genius was given through the script rather than his performance. He didn't do badly, he just didn't seem to raise his game as we'd like him to until the finale, which again only sort of worked. The idea may be good, but good ideas are notoriously hard to realise. Anyone who accuses the show of dumbing down and hiding behind flashy visuals (oh by the way, someone give Charles Palmer something nice out of the Argos catalogue. Anything he wants really, I'll chip in a fiver) should stop and consider the fact that the resolution, instead of simply being a fancy CG explosion, consisted of the man regarded as the greatest playwright that Britain has ever produced ?using his skills in that field to ward off an alien invasion. It's the most complex bit of an otherwise utterly simple plot.

Once you've got your head round the ideas you then might think that Roberts has either been extremely clever or extremely lucky in coming up with such a concept (who's betting on the former?). It's a resolution that's been used in Doctor Who before, notably in The Daemons when the Doctor wards off Bok. Speaking of weird looking superstitious creatures, weren't the witches a bit scary for the kids? Christina Cole, mad cackling aside, was a damn fine villain. In a longer story or a novel her character could've been fleshed out further, but she did well with a role that could've fallen into clich?, although that almost seemed the intention. The other two witches, while played well enough for the mad ol' crone role, did have slightly static faces that looked like half finished Muppet masks from The Muppet Christmas Carol. And the cackling got on people's tits, quite frankly.