The Shakespeare Code

I can decipher The Shakespeare Code in three letters. F, U and N. In that order . . .

Of course, I won't leave it at that - not when I can ramble on for paragraph after paragraph without anyone editing me . . . and, after all, words were at the heart of this episode.

The second story of Series 3 featured new companion (although she has yet to be afforded that moniker by The Doctor) Martha Jones' debut trip in the TARDIS. And what beginners' luck - back to 1599 and an audience with William Shakespeare.

Naturally, it wasn't as simple as that, with (yet another) ancient race, this one named as Carrionites (in the form of evil witches) lurking in the area, looking for a way to bring their sisters trapped in another dimension/void/whatever back to this universe. That "way" was using the newly-created Globe Theatre as an energy conductor, with the trigger (or spell) being the closing lines of Shakespeare's "lost" play, Love's Labours Won. The denouement involved Shakespeare breaking the spell with wise words of his own - prompted by The Doctor and Martha occasionally.

Not a bad little story - nothing terribly original in terms of script, and I don't think it would make a very long Target novel (decent Quick Read maybe) but this is the way with most of those 45-minute, self-contained adventures, and it is worth reiterating because it has to be taken into account when offering a critique. It's just not long enough. Especially for such a lavish production such as this one.

However, though The Shakespeare Code won't go down as one of the most-innovative storylines in DW history, although there was plenty of excellent dialogue, it'll certainly linger long in the memory as one of the easiest on the eye. It was a simply-glorious production - considering this show is created on a TV budget, to make it look like a film is no mean achievement. The DW team manage this regularly, but really excelled themselves here in all technical departments - direction, by the impressive Charles Palmer, following up a great start with Smith & Jones; costume, which is pretty much a given for a BBC production, although it's still worth a nod; prosthetics and CGI (more amazing work from The Mill here yet again); and music (love Murray Gold's work, and this was another fine example).

Although there was some strong support (which isn't always the case), the performances of the four main cast members was also terrific. David Tennant and Freema Agyeman built on the strong start to their partnership last week. Freema has settled in amazingly quickly. It's not a question of Billie Who? but I haven't missed Billie Piper as much as I thought I would, and that's a tribute to her replacement's excellence. Helps that Martha is a likeable character, too, although it's early days, and, even at this stage, the viewer might have found themselves empathising with her at some rather-thoughtless treatment from our eponymous hero.

As with Rose, showrunner Russell T Davies has decided the newbie's first two journeys should be to the past and to the far future (changing the order from The End Of The World and The Unquiet Dead with The Shakespeare Code and next week's Gridlock). However, whereas The Doctor had no doubts he wanted Rose as a travelling companion from the outset, he appears yet to be convinced about Martha staying around, reiterating several times that he saw this as a quick trip.

There is already clear evidence that the dynamic between Doctor and Martha is going to be very different to that of The Doctor and Rose, which was actually a love affair (although probably the only platonic one in TV history). Here, Martha is clearly drawn to this good-looking alien who has whisked her away in time and space. Whereas The Doctor does not see it at all - hence the "staring me in the face" line - even when looking into Martha's amazing big eyes as she lay in a bed beside him. Mentioning how he missed Rose at that moment, and how his lost love "would have said the right thing" was actually quite (deliberately on the writer's part) crass for this Doctor, and this was where the viewer must have sided with the obviously-crushed Martha.

It's likely the relationship will continue along those lines - interestingly, in one of RTD's previous TV successes, Queer As Folk, the relationship between the Doctor Who-loving Vince and the promiscuous Stuart was not dissimilar. Vince's unrequited love for best friend Stuart was a recurring theme throughout the series. And the theme of unrequited love is one which clearly interests RTD, as he feels this will strike a chord with a large section of the viewership who might not fancy the monsters and the time and space travelling. It's all about bums on seats. Shakespeare can have that one, too . . .

Talk of Shakespeare brings me to Dean Lennox Kelly, who was excellent in the role. I wasn't sure what to expect, but playing the character as a kind of 16th-century rock star, and a slightly-camp one in places (surely a bit of RTD mischief in there, with a couple of lines!) certainly worked. Also good was Christina Cole as the lead witch, Lilian. She was just edging towards taking the "bad witch" into pantomime mode, but her obvious relish at tackling such a role leans me towards giving her the benefit of any doubt. And I think the kids would have liked the witches - generic, for sure, but good masks, and not too hammy, so it all worked well enough.

Good to see the return of the pre-credits sequence after its absence last week, too. One of the things I miss from the proliferation of single episodes is the cliffhanger, but there is scope for one of sorts in those first few scenes before the theme tune, and this I welcome.

A decent TV Who writing debut from Gareth Roberts. Of course, we don't know exactly how much input Davies has to these scripts - the basic story is his idea, and he writes a final draft to most of them, as well as making changes throughout the process. Possibly enough to warrant a co-writer credit, I would suggest. I suspect Roberts, Helen Raynor and Chris Chibnall, although capable writers, were chosen for this series because are totally au fait with what RTD wants in terms of script - in the family, as it were, and there's nothing wrong with that. I would always find it amusing if anyone said they liked this episode because RTD hadn't written it, though . . . his influence, as always, is significant. It will be interesting to observe the writing differences in The Lazarus Experiment and Blink, the only two scripts RTD has said he didn't feel the need to "polish" this season.

However, regardless of who wrote each individual line, there were plenty of crackers in The Shakespeare Code, well delivered by Tennant, Agyeman, Kelly and Cole. The idea that The Doctor was responsible for some Shakesperean lines was good fun, and this worked much better than the rather-forced "We are not amused" gag from Tooth And Claw. Also amusing that Martha would reject Shakespeare's advances because of his bad breath!

All in all, a strong seven out of 10 for The Shakespeare Code, although I would have liked to have seen it at an hour's length to really justify the outlay if nothing else - must have blown a big hole in the budget. Might also have made a good Christmas special - bit of mysticism already there, apply some fake snow, and bingo. Would have to give the killer Santas a miss, though . . .