| 180 – "The Shakespeare Code" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Doctor Who episode | |||
| Cast | |||
Others
| |||
| Production | |||
| Directed by | Charles Palmer | ||
| Written by | Gareth Roberts | ||
| Script editor | Simon Winstone | ||
| Produced by | Phil Collinson | ||
| Executive producer(s) | Russell T Davies Julie Gardner | ||
| Music by | Murray Gold | ||
| Production code | 3.2 | ||
| Series | Series 3 | ||
| Running time | 45 minutes | ||
| First broadcast | 7 April 2007 | ||
| Chronology | |||
| |||
"The Shakespeare Code" is the second episode of the third series of the revived British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was broadcast on BBC One on 7 April 2007.[1] According to the BARB figures this episode was seen by 7.23 million viewers and was the fifth most popular broadcast on British television in that week. Originally titled "Love's Labour's Won",[2] was also titled by David Tennant as "Theatre of Doom" during the "David's Video Diaries 2", part of the Series 3 DVD, the episode was re-titled as a reference to The Da Vinci Code.
In the episode, the alien time traveller the Doctor (David Tennant) takes his new travelling companion Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) in her first trip in time and space. They arrive in 1599 near the Globe Theatre in Southwark, where they meet the playwright William Shakespeare. Shakespeare is being bewitched by three witch-like Carrionites to rewrite the ending to his play Love's Labour's Won so that the performance will create the right words to free the rest of the Carrionite race from imprisonment.