History Recap / DoctorWhoS29E2TheShakespeareCode

They don't succeed. Shakespeare bursts onto the stage and announces that the show must not go on, but is [=KOd=] by witch magic. Will Kemp improvises an excellent triple-meaning couplet: if "Will" refers to Shakespeare, it's him dismissing the warning as drunken ramblings. If "Will" refers to Kemp, it's a mock-apology for his own silliness (emphasised with a goofy caper). If "Will" is the Elizabethan-era slang for penis, it's a joke about alcohol-induced [[TheLoinsSleepTonight sexual impotence]]. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Martha find the youngest witch and try the naming again, but it turns out ItOnlyWorksOnce. The witch tries it on Martha, but Martha's anachronism saves her from permanent harm. The Doctor, of course, has no discernible name. So the witch vamps him instead, gets a lock of his hair and stops his heart; one of them, anyway. Martha wakes up, improvises some first aid to get the afflicted heart going, and they're off to back up Shakespeare.

This clue, along with the murder of the Master of the Revels, leads the Doctor and Martha to Bedlam, the insane asylum, [[note]]also known as Bethlehem Hospital [[/note]] with Shakespeare tagging along. They interview the architect who designed the Globe -- fourteen sides, like fourteen lines in a sonnet -- and realise the plan: the performance of ''Love's Labour's Won'' will be a spell to allow the witches to take over Earth. A witch shows up and kills off the architect... way too late, as the Doctor has worked out the witches' TrueName... Carrionite. The mere word banishes her, and the trio split up: Shakespeare to stop the performance of the play, and the Doctor and Martha to find Witch Headquarters.

This clue, along with the murder of the Master of the Revels, leads the Doctor and Martha to Bedlam, the insane asylum, with Shakespeare tagging along. They interview the architect who designed the Globe -- fourteen sides, like fourteen lines in a sonnet -- and realise the plan: the performance of ''Love's Labour's Won'' will be a spell to allow the witches to take over Earth. A witch shows up and kills off the architect... way too late, as the Doctor has worked out the witches' TrueName... Carrionite. The mere word banishes her, and the trio split up: Shakespeare to stop the performance of the play, and the Doctor and Martha to find Witch Headquarters.

'''The Doctor:''' Ooh, fifty-seven academics just punched the air.

** There is a doomsayer at the start of the episode speaking of the doom to come. At the end, when the void opens and the Carrionites are being released, he is seen screaming with almost glee-like tones, "I TOLD THEE SO! I TOLD THEE!"
** When handing out the scripts for ''Love's Labours Won'', Shakespeare tells the performers to give it their all, "Y'never know, the queen might show up", before muttering that she never does. Cue the end of the episode...

* CelebrityParadox: Apparently the Harry Potter books and films exist in the ''Doctor Who'' universe. Someone other than David Tennant probably plays Barty Crouch Jr., since otherwise Martha would probably tell the Doctor he bears resemblance to him.

** The Doctor mentions [[Recap/DoctorWho2005CSTheChristmasInvasion the Sycorax]]. Shakespeare uses the name for [[Theatre/TheTempest one of his characters]].
** The Doctor [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E1NewEarth once again]] is forced to tell a companion "No, don't do that" after they attempt to use an fake accent.

* MistakenForCheating: The landlady of Shakespeare's dwelling walks in on Lilith controlling Will, and assumes that they're up to something. She's annoyed, since it's all but outright stated she and Shakespeare are having an affair already.

* SanitySlippage: The man who designed the Globe theatre was driven mad by the Carrionites, after they were done using him.

* AndIMustScream: "I've got a nice attic in the TARDIS where this lot can scream for all eternity, and I've got to take Martha back."

* BadassBookworm: William Shakespeare, The Word-Smith. He didn't plan on fighting witches, but was quick to adapt to the changes brought forth by the Carrionites and the Doctor.

** "I TOLD THEE SO! I TOLD THEE!"

* GrandfatherParadox:

* ItOnlyWorksOnce: The power of a TrueName only works once. That's why Carrionites can only be banished once.

** Subverted with [[Literature/DoNotGoGentleIntoThatGoodNight "Rage, rage against the dying of the light"]], which the Doctor says Shakespeare can't use because it's someone else's -- or will be in a few hundred years.

* [[ShoutOut/ToShakespeare Shout-Out: To Shakespeare]]: The episode contained a veiled reference to Sonnet 57 (among many, many less subtle references, natch).
-->'''The Doctor:''' [[ItMakesSenseInContext Come on! We can have a good flirt later.]]\\

** The Doctor says that Martha is from [[Film/DuckSoup Freedonia.]]

* BolivianFireDrill: When the Master of The Revels is killed, the Doctor quickly informs everyone that it's the result of "an imbalance of the humours", and asks for someone to remove the body. This is because he knows the actual answer would start a riot.
* BrickJoke: "I TOLD THEE SO! I TOLD THEE!"

* DoingInTheWizard: Once again, the Doctor versus magic. He tries to rationalise Lilith's voodoo doll. She just brushes him off.

* TheExitIsThatWay: When the Doctor and Martha stumble out of All Hallow's Way to get to the theatre, Martha asks the Doctor if he's going the right way. He claims he is... cue a quick shot of him running in the opposite direction, muttering "wrong way".

* MistakenForCheating: The landlady of Shakespeare's dwelling walks in on Lilith controlling Will, and assumes that they're up to something. She's annoyed, since it's all but outright stated she and Shakespeare are having an affair.

ThereIsOnlyOneBed. They both crawl in, their faces very close... and the Doctor tells her that there's something he's... missing. Something... staring right into his eyes. Something... close, but just out of reach. "Rose would know what to do", he sighs moodily, oblivious to the sexual tension. Martha looks extremely annoyed. Meanwhile, the witch has crept in at night in order to plant some words in Shakespeare's script. Martha sees the witch flying off on her broomstick, and bemusedly [=IDs=] her.

This episode contains a lot of very silly Shakespeare jokes, almost all of which are ''also'' actually very clever, very obscure Shakespeare jokes in disguise. We open in extremely Elizabethan London, where a young man courts a damsel via period song. The damsel (unlike [[Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet Juliet]]) rejects the idea of waiting until marriage, and invites the man up. She then pulls a [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Darla]] and toys with him a bit before putting on her witchy gameface, inviting in her equally witchy mothers, and devouring her ardent swain. [[AccidentalAesop This is not about premarital sex or gay marriage being evil, though.]] It's just campy.

They don't exactly succeed. Shakespeare bursts onto the stage and announces that the show must not go on, but is [=KOd=] by witch magic. Will Kemp improvises an excellent triple-meaning couplet: if "Will" refers to Shakespeare, it's him dismissing the warning as drunken ramblings. If "Will" refers to Kemp, it's a mock-apology for his own silliness (emphasised with a goofy caper). If "Will" is the Elizabethan-era slang for penis, it's a joke about alcohol-induced [[TheLoinsSleepTonight sexual impotence]]. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Martha find the youngest witch and try the naming again, but it turns out ItOnlyWorksOnce. The witch tries it on Martha, but Martha's anachronism saves her from permanent harm. The Doctor, of course, has no discernible name. So the witch vamps him instead, gets a lock of his hair and stops his heart. One of them, anyway. Martha wakes up, improvises some first aid to get the afflicted heart going, and they're off to back up Shakespeare.

But they're too late! At the play's end, two noblemen recite an odd invocation that allows the whole Carrionite race, [[SealedEvilInACan sealed off long ago]], to show up in the Globe. Shakespeare, the Doctor and Martha form an impromptu PowerTrio: Shakespeare improvises a counter-spell, flanked by the Doctor providing the right numbers and Martha providing "[[Literature/HarryPotter Expelliarmus!]]" The spell imprisons the witches in their own crystal ball, and conveniently destroys all copies of the play.

* BadassBoast: Shakespeare's final lines against the Carrionites.
-->''Close up this din of hateful dire decay.\\
Decomposition of your witches' plot.\\
You thieve my brains, consider me your toy\\
My doted Doctor tells me I am not!\\
Foul Carrionites fester, cease your show.\\
Between the points -- Seven six one three nine 0.\\
Banished like a tinker's cuss,\\
I sing to thee EXPELLIARMUS!
* BadassBookworm / BadassBystander: William Shakespeare, The Word-Smith. He didn't plan on fighting witches, but was quick to adapt to the changes brought forth by the Carrionites and the Doctor.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Martha's concern [[NoEqualOpportunityTimeTravel old-timey racism]] was rightly founded in a following episode.

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Creator/WilliamShakespeare.
* HistoricalInJoke[=/=]FridgeBrilliance:

* ItOnlyWorksOnce: The power of a TrueName.

* MrFanservice: Will Shakespeare himself. It helps that this story happens before he lost his hair. Lampshaded almost immediately when Martha notes how different he looks from the portraits, and the Doctor telling him not to rub his hair too much, or he'll go bald.

* NoSell: Shakespeare is too good for the Doctor's psychic paper.

* ThePowerOfActing: The right word in the right time in the right place stirring the proper emotion can draw on a power as old as the Eternals themselves. Not that this will come up later, or anything...
* RhymesOnADime: The witches, whether they're incanting or not.

* SealedEvilInACan: The Carrionites.
* ShakespeareInFiction: Of course.

* TrueName: The bane of the Carrionites.
* WordsCanBreakMyBones: A Carrionite's weakness.

But they're too late! At the play's end, two noblemen recite an odd invocation that allows the whole Carrionite race, [[SealedEvilInACan sealed off long ago]], to show up in the Globe. Shakespeare, the Doctor and Martha form an impromptu PowerTrio: Shakespeare improvises a counter-spell, flanked by the Doctor providing the right numbers and Martha providing "[[Literature/HarryPotter Expelliarmus!]]". The spell imprisons the witches in their own crystal ball, and conveniently destroys all copies of the play.

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Creator/WilliamShakespeare
* HistoricalInJoke/FridgeBrilliance:

'''The Doctor:''' [[SarcasmMode No, the]] [[{{Novelization}} novelisation]]. Yes, the film!

* ShoutOutToShakespeare: The episode contained a veiled reference to Sonnet 57 (among many, many less subtle references, natch).

* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre. Faced with the burden of crafting words powerful enough to bind the Carrionites back into their prison, Shakespeare has a brief moment of crisis when the Doctor boosts him back up by telling him he is the one true genius capable of stopping them.

* HistoricalInJoke:

*** Queen Elizabeth shows up at the theater after all the chaos. As one might expect, she does not consider The Doctor a welcome sight.

In the end, Martha is revealed to be the Dark Lady, the unknown (and speculated to be imaginary) African woman to whom Shakespeare wrote several sonnets (not including, however, the ''Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?'' one, which he starts to recite to her). Oh, and he casually figures out that the Doctor is otherworldly and Martha is from the future. They are interrupted, though, by Queen Elizabeth I, who showed up to congratulate Shakespeare on his [[AllPartOfTheShow excellent special effects]]. A Whole Lot of Running ensues when it turns out that Elizabeth considers the Doctor her "sworn enemy" for something he hasn't done yet.

*** The Doctor tells Martha, "Wait until you read book 7. Oh, I cried." It's called book 7 simply because the book's title of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'' hadn't been announced. The fact the book ended up being an emotional read in real life was a mixture of GenreSavvy and lucky guess on the part of the writer.

** The 50th anniversary special revealed why: [[spoiler: he ''married'' her!]]

* ThePowerOfActing: The right word in the right time in the right place stirring the proper emotion can draw on a power as old as the Eternals themselves.

--->'''Martha:''' The film?
--->'''The Doctor:''' [[SarcasmMode No, the]] [[{{Novelization}} novelisation]]. Yes, the film!

'''WARNING! THERE MAY BE UNMARKED SPOILERS!'''

* ActorAllusion: Of ''course'' the Doctor would be a fan of [[Literature/HarryPotter good ol' J.K.]], given [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire he's served for Voldemort in the past]].

** The Doctor [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS2E1NewEarth once again]] is forced to tell a companion "No, don't do that" after they attempt to use an fake accent.