This review contains spoilers!
William Shakespeare is probably one of this country’s most famous historical figures. Being that he is associated with the performing arts, it’s only natural that a show as steeped in literature as Doctor Who would want to visit the great man himself. Until the new series however, the Doctor’s relationship with the Bard was restricted to fuzzy images on the Time-Space Visualiser and witty Douglas Adams one liners (or 'surprise' appearances in a couple of audios).
The new series’ penchant for ‘celebrity historicals’ seems heavily biased towards writers probably, as I say, because of how Doctor Who is tied into literature – borrowing ideas left, right and centre from a wealth of classic plays, novels, films and even, in the more modern era, television itself. Shakespeare is even more appropriate due to his own habit of borrowing heavily from already existing myths, stories and other plays.
Each of the encounters has revolved, at least partly, around a mystery involving the writer; Agatha Christie’s disappearance; the ending of Dicken’s unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood and with Shakespeare, the lost play – Love Labour’s Won.
Taking this as the core of the plot, The Shakespeare Code is packed with educational content. We find out about Shakespeare’s life, his plays and Tudor life in general. The script is littered with references to his work, some factually and some through in-jokes.
Historically we are told about the Globe theatre and even meet it’s real life architect, Peter Streete (although his death by Carrionite is, unsurprisingly, a fictional addition). The shape of the Globe – a tetradecagon – is central to the plot.
We are also presented with a fairly accurate representation of how Shakespeare’s plays were considered in their time – as populist entertainment. People nowadays forget that Shakespeare’s plays were the equivalent of our television and film. He wrote dirty jokes, he wrote sequels, everyone from the poor to the rich experienced what the Bard had to offer. The only misstep is the idea that people visited the theatre at night. Plays were always performed during daylight hours being as artificial light was a little way off invention.
Included in this wealth of historical fact are two real contemporaries of Shakespeare, William Kempe and Richard Burbage, and mention of the fact that Tudor plays were all-male affairs with men dragging up to play the female roles.
We also have the presence of the Master of the Revels, basically the Tudor censor board for plays. Although the character himself, Lynley, is a fictional person (presumably because he dies at the hands of Lilith), the role and attitude are very much historical fact.
References to Shakespeare’s plays litter the dialogue and visuals: the three witches from Macbeth are reflected in the three Carrionites; the Doctor quotes from As You Like It and Hamlet, among other plays, as well as mentioning the Sycorax (a name which Shakespeare uses for an unseen character in The Tempest); The Elephant Inn is a reference to Twelfth Night and there is implication that the ‘Dark Lady’ referred to in Shakespeare’s sonnets could be Martha.
Shakespeare’s life is commented on including his wife, Anne and his son Hamnet who had died from the Black Death. The subject of Shakespeare’s sexuality is considered briefly (with another great line of dialogue from the Doctor) and comments about Dean Lennox Kelly looking nothing like the usual images of Shakespeare – all bald head and collar ruff are played with, alongside the deliberate inclusion of a Midlands accent for the Stratford-upon-Avon born playwright.
Tudor life is superbly presented in costume, location work and set design. The opening scenes showing London Bridge are like the artwork from A Groatsworth of Wit brought to life. The timber framed buildings (filmed, I believe, in Warwick) are incredibly atmospheric and the interior sets are full of detail. The whole production has feels cohesive with no one aspect feeling artificial or out of place. A problem I had with The Vampires of Venice was that, at times, I didn’t feel like I was witnessing the period but a modern representation of it. I didn’t think the supporting artists felt convincing enough and there was something about Trogir which, whilst impressive, didn’t ‘quite’ feel like Venice.
I have no such complaint about Tudor London. Maybe its because it’s a period that is easier to evoke in our own country what with the number of period buildings still standing and maybe it’s because I’ve been wallowing in Tudor atmosphere already through Point of Entry and A Groatsworth of Wit. Certainly the supporting artists convince far more of being from the requisite period. Admittedly the night time setting of the story helps enormously with the atmosphere.
The Shakespeare Code feels like a story written by a long time fan of the series (as indeed Gareth Roberts is). It is one of those tales which ‘explains’ magical happenings with scientific reasoning as in stories like The Daemons. This, I’ve always felt, is something that Doctor Who has always enjoyed doing. As a series, it is really science fantasy and leans towards ‘magic’ far more than other ‘science fiction’ series such as Star Trek or Battlestar Galactica. But, within it’s own rules, there cannot actually be magic and therefore there needs to be an explanation for the devil or magic spells or witches or dragons. To be honest, these explanations are usually fairly pat. ‘The Power of Words’ doesn’t really explain why the Carrionites magic spells work and often, as in this case, a reference to psychic energy is thrown in – which is basically saying ‘it’s magic’. I don’t have a problem with this, though, as it’s the sandpit that Doctor Who has always played in and it allows for fun stories involving witches, vampires and werewolves.
The performances in the story are excellent, particulaly main guest stars Dean Lennox Kelly as Shakespeare and Christina Cole as Lilith. Even small roles such as Dolly Bailey and Shakespeare’s fellow actors convince throughout (in fact I only really noticed how good Kempe and ‘Dick’ were this time round, in their brief scenes together – they’re actually very funny). The two mothers are a little ‘over the top’ but I think when playing ugly witches, you can allow a bit of scenery chewing.
The obvious influence on this story is Shakespeare in Love. The whole ‘sexy’ Shakespeare aspect and slightly comedic slant spins off from that film and it even includes a cameo from Queen Elizabeth I at the end. There is also a little nod to Silver Nemesis when the arrow embeds itself in the TARDIS door (and that’s another story with a cameo from a Queen Elizabeth). There are lots of more obvious references throughout the script and my absolute favourite is the Doctor’s use of Back to the Future to explain to Martha something which it took the Fourth Doctor a whole TARDIS trip to explain to Sarah Jane in Pyramids of Mars (I particularly like his sarcastic retort to Martha’s query of ‘the film?’; ‘No, the novelisation! Yes, the film!’. It’s all very metatextual which is fitting for a story about a lost Shakespeare play.
When I originally watched this story on broadcast I remember being a little underwhelmed. This time I enjoyed it a lot more, probably, as I have said, because I’m revelling in the Tudor period at the moment. That said, however, I did find the ending a little ‘easy’. The Carrionites, in their ‘normal’ form are a little difficult to get a handle on visually as they flit around the screen very quickly. The ending does seem a little glib and the use of ‘expelliarmus’ is maybe the one time the ‘metatextual’ nature of the story goes one step too far.
All’s well that ends well, though (sorry….) and overall I think this story is an excellent example of new series Who. It’s funny, but received fan wisdom seems to have it that Series 3 isn’t very good – Martha is no Rose or Donna, the finale with the Master is rubbish and the season includes fairly ‘bad’ stories such as Daleks in Manhattan, The Lazarus Experiment and 42. Oddly, at the time of broadcast I remember my wife and I commenting that we felt Series 3 was the best yet and we really enjoyed the variety of stories. Series 3 gave us Blink and Human Nature and I also adore Gridlock and actually think 42 is alright, loved The Sound of Drums (although I’ll concede that Last of the Time Lords is a bit of a let down). The Shakespeare Code has improved on repeated viewings for me and consequently I do feel that Series 3 is a unfairly maligned.
deltaandthebannermen
View profile
