In my opinion, Martha Jones had the best character introduction in the first RTD era. Rose’s introduction was definitely great, but that episode had to establish the entire premise of the show as well as just Rose. Plus the actual plot in ‘Rose’ was pretty unmemorable. The plot in ‘Runaway Bride’ was about as fun and exciting as the plot in ‘Smith and Jones’. But, I found Donna to be a little too much in her introductory episode. But Martha gets to be likeable, well established and in a fast moving, enjoyable plot for her first story.

The reason I bring this up is because for me, Martha starts very high on my companion meter. So it’s incredibly frustrating to see how fast this series starts to make her look worse.

To be fair to this episode, it does give Martha some good moments. She’s still the intelligent and capable woman we met in ‘Smith and Jones’. That sharp, enquiring mind is more than enough to keep me invested in the character. However, the unrequited love that she seems to be experiencing with the Doctor was a big mistake. This is made worse by the fact that the Doctor doesn’t notice and doesn’t care about it. Add in the fact that the Doctor repeatedly invokes Rose, even doing so (unintentionally) as an unflattering point of comparison for Martha (Rose would know what to say, implying that Martha isn’t up to scratch).

I may not have been a big fan of the 10/Rose love story, but it definitely helped to increase the popularity of the show, and was a beloved dynamic in some areas of the fandom. So following up the “great love story” of 10/Rose with another love story, a new love story that is entirely one sided, where the Doctor shows no awareness or interest in reciprocating Martha’s affections. This is clearly a mistake. The Doctor is far too interested in pining over Rose than paying Martha any mind at all at some points in this story. It all just makes Martha feel inferior. Our new companion wants a romance that neither the audience, nor the Doctor want. So a big part of Martha’s character is something that our hero and the viewers can’t get on board with. Her characterisation can’t help but put her in direct comparison (even competition) with Rose, and it feels designed to make her feel less than Rose. This isn’t helped by the Doctor all but saying this out loud in this episode.

It’s a shame really, because the rest of this episode I enjoyed more on this rewatch. Yes the Carrionites aren’t the most interesting villains, but nor are they the worst villains we’ve seen. In fact I like the fact that they visually resemble witches, specifically bringing to mind the weird sisters from MacBeth. So they tie in nicely with our historical celebrity, especially because their power lies in words (spells). Fortunately the Doctor has one of the finest wordsmith’s to ever live as an ally this episode.

That wordsmith is William Shakespeare, here played by Dean Lennox Kelly. I’m somewhat ambivalent to this interpretation of Shakespeare. He’s not the stuffy, pompous writer that many a schoolkid imagines whilst being forced to study his work. This is good, but I’m not the 16th Century rockstar persona they give him here entirely works. Also there might be a few too many Shakespeare references in the episode. Some of them I found amusing, but some felt a little sweaty and they go back to that well a lot.

In general though, this episode chugs along nicely. It’s a very pleasant and easy watch with some good ideas. The setting and tone work for me as well. But I still find it disappointing that Martha is immediately relegated to being the companion equivalent of a meaningless fling. She’s fun to be with whilst it lasts, but will never be anything more and her purpose all about getting the Doctor over Rose, his great love. There’s too much time focusing on who she isn’t, for us to get too invested in who she is.