Holistic Review: The witchiest witches you'll ever see enliven a thoroughly entertaining historical that delivers both laughs and chills.

Gareth Roberts has written a real live Doctor Who episode!!! That's one more most-wanted that I can scratch off my list. I always enjoyed Gareth's New Adventures, but it was really his Missing Adventures that endeared me to him (starting in 1995 — hard to believe I've been a fan for over a decade), for two main reasons. First, he's got a great sense of humor, which makes his lighthearted books a thorough joy to read. Second, he has this amazing ability to perfectly channel the feel of an entire era, from the fourth Doctor and Romana II to the sixth Doctor and Mel. (Both traits, incidentally, that also-on-my-list Jonathan Morris shares with him, right down to the season-17 predilection.) Because of this, I was kind of expecting The Shakespeare Code to be an out-and-out comedy, which it really isn't. Happily, I wasn't nearly as disappointed with this as I would have thought, because Gareth firmly ticked the "great monsters" and "great atmosphere" boxes, and he certainly didn't leave the comedy out — it's just more subtle than I'm used to from him. Happily, there are a couple of very typical Roberts comical moments to be found (like the bizarrely un-Shakespearean dialogue that the witches add to his play — my favorite being "Co-radiating crystal, activate!"). And it's a bit funny that, as wonderful as Gareth is at recreating a specific Doctor-companion combo, here he has to write for one that's practically never been done before, and establish their relationship himself. (Actually he was in a similar situation with Zamper, that being only the third book to feature Chris and Roz, but it's not quite the same.)

The great thing is, my faith in Gareth Roberts was (unsurprisingly) well-placed; he turned in a script that is well-written, well-plotted, and delightfully funny (even bawdy at times, which feels very appropriate for the period), although in this case it's also balanced out with some impressively creepy moments, which I had forgotten that Gareth could do so well. As he has previously shown in the fantastic The Plotters, he does a great job with the bawdy comedy historicals, and the dialogue is wonderful — it feels both Shakespearean and naturalistic (no doubt thanks in large part to the talented actors delivering the lines).

Aside from Gareth, the first thing I have to praise to the high heavens is the Carrionites. (I wasn't at all sure how they should be spelled at first; when Tennant said their name, it sounded like Carrier Knights. Talk about dull, huh? Then I decided that they really must be Charyonites, which I still like much better than their actual name. What are these witches, buzzards? They're powerful enough to kill things without even touching them, but they have to scrape their dinner up off the road?) There's a scientific explanation for everything they can do, but we're never really given it, aside from a discussion about the power of words. Which, really, is kind of the basis of magic spells anyway, so they're as close to actual fantasy witches as we're ever likely to get in Doctor Who. And they evoke all the best witch tropes — they wear black robes, they cackle, they stir cauldrons and gaze into crystal balls, they whip up potions and cast spells, they manipulate and hurt people using poppets and bits of hair, and they even fly on broomsticks. I love that they're all female, as is traditional, and in a group of three, and we get both of the stereotypes — the old wrinkled crones and the young seductive spellcaster. I particularly enjoyed the witchcraft-y drowning-on-dry-land, which I feel sure we've seen in other shows (they must have done it on The X-Files... ah! There's definitely an example in the excellent Millennium episode "Borrowed Time".) but, rather than feeling trite or boring here, it just seems creepy, and like something we probably should have seen in Doctor Who long ago. They're absolutely awesome, and the makeup is soooooo good — check out the wrinkled skin and hooked noses on the two older witches!

All three actresses really sell it, particularly Christina Cole as Lilith. She does a great job with the role, being sexy and menacing at the same time, and her witch-face monologue to camera in the teaser is almost chill-inducing. But then maybe that's just because I was so thrilled to have such witchy witches about. She really vamps up the screen in a creepy way. I really like the moment when she carefully (and yet viscerally) twists the hair around the head of the Shakespeare poppet. The other Carrionites are great too, with Amanda Lawrence giving a particularly fun performance as nutty-evil Mother Doomfinger, who exhibits that slightly unhinged behaviour that makes for some of the best villains, and manages to be deliciously scary to boot. I do, however, find that Linda Clarke's voice as Mother Bloodtide threatens to crack me up (as in "Love's Labour's Won must be performed!") but I think this is a good thing.

It does seem a bit broken-record-y that the Carrionites are yet another immensely powerful race that disappeared when the universe was young, but who really cares, right? But now, what exactly is their natural form? I assume it's not the human-looking one, which leaves two options: scary veiny non-good fairy, or Cailleach-headed birdlike thing with a cloak. Are they meant to be vulture-like, hence the name? And how do they take human form? (Oh, magic, no doubt.) Slight flaws notwithstanding, the Carrionites are so cool that I really want to see them again... maybe they can somehow escape their crystal ball in the TARDIS...

Martha comes off quite well in her second adventure — she seems to be getting used to time travel very quickly, and is just as enthusiastic about getting to travel in time as Rose was, which I like a lot. Maybe it's because the Doctor has only promised her one trip, but she's not going through the "oh-no-what-have-I-done" phase that hit Rose (which was very cool, but would have felt repetitive here). I like that... this way she gets a quick taste of it (well, relatively quick, since it appears she won't get back home for another few episodes) and then gets to make an informed decision about whether or not she wants to continue. She's already getting more use out of her backstory than poor Peri or Mel ever did — she attempts to help Lynley as he's coughing up water, she gets to examine and, um, thump the Doctor, and the raw sewage being dumped out of windows onto the street doesn't even faze her because she's seen far worse at the hospital. Lovely! I'm also glad that the skin-color question gets raised straightaway, because this is an issue that no companion previously has had to face. I'm sure it'll come up a lot more often (and with more narrative payoff), but it's nice that for her first foray into history, she gets to visit a relatively enlightened time, with a pair of black women walking down the street just in front of her. And the Doctor's response is great — "I'm not even human. Just walk about like you own the place, it works for me." I like that she gets all excited about trying to banish Lilith; sadly, it completely fails, and even sadder, Lilith's able to put the whammy on Martha instead. Oh well. At least she wakes up before the action is all over.

However, I'm getting a little worried that this hint-of-attraction we saw in Smith and Jones is, in fact, actual attraction, despite Martha's protests to the contrary. Please, writers, don't make me go through this again... I'm so sick of it. Here we have Martha's line "Us two here, same bed, tongues will wag" followed by the Doctor staring her straight in the eyes and saying "There's something I'm missing, Martha. Something really close. It's staring me right in the face and I can't see it.", and it looks like Martha's about to summon up her courage to say something when... the Doctor mentions Rose, and Martha gives him a hurt look, and then irritatedly blows out the candle when he mentions taking her home (or should that be "dumping" her off?). I don't think she's as un-smitten as she claims. Then again... he is David Tennant, so I suppose I should cut her some slack. But, grrr. Not every woman in the world makes goo-goo eyes at him. Why can't some of them travel with him? Bring back Anne Reid! Not, I hasten to add, that I mean this as an anti-Martha comment. I love her to bits and don't want her to go anywhere anytime soon. I just wish they wouldn't make her lust after the Doctor, which seems to have been the popular thing to do ever since the TV movie. Thanks a lot, Grace, nice legacy ya got there. Please, RTD, either quit doing this or wrap up this little plotline really soon.

Nevertheless, Freema's beaming enthusiasm is still a major strong point, and overwhelms any objection I might take to how Martha is being written. I like that Martha's not just wide-eyed and wondrous, she's also taking everything in and, so far, cautious to try to observe local customs. Love her giggly-"kidding!" delivery of "That would be bad." and many others which I shall mention below.

This is a great story for the tenth Doctor, whose love of wordplay threatens to rival the sixth Doctor's love of vocabulary. Tennant gives particularly great readings on the lines "What have butterflies ever done to you?" (ha!) and "Nighty-night, Shakespeare" (double ha! and — he calls him "Shakespeare" to his face?). Very cool that the Doctor is able to pinpoint the exact year just by glancing around for a moment — that seems to hearken back to the old days, somehow. Interesting, too, that he can restart his heart even after it's been virtually stabbed. I love the way he dodges out of the way of Doomfinger's digit-of-death. And it's a relief that, after his obliviousness to Martha's very subtle flirting, he reinforces the fact by telling Lilith that her sexual "magic" won't work on him.

As usual with the celebrity historicals, I learned a lot about Shakespeare from watching this episode. There were a bunch of times when I thought "hmm, I'm gonna have to check out Wikipedia and read up on that". To take but one prominent example, I never even knew Love's Labour's Won ever (possibly) existed. (It also succeeds in the "historical" aspect, illustrating contemporary social mores and teaching us the meaning of "bedlam", among other things.) Dean Lennox Kelly gives a great performance as a younger Shakespeare, with a flair for words and a sort of rogueish sex appeal, despite the 1599 halitosis. (I was amazed that Martha would pass up a chance to snog William Shakespeare, but under the circumstances, I think it's definitely forgiveable.) I really liked his deadpan delivery of "What's wrong with that?" I'm a bit suspicious of all the times the Doctor declared Shakespeare to be a genius — I mean, I know he was a brilliant writer who single-handedly changed the face of English literature and the language itself, but... a genius? Is that true, or was the Doctor overstating his case a little? But, it is an important detail for the episode to really work, so I'll go with it. I do find it interesting that, like Reinette before him, Shakespeare is portrayed as being unusually observant and shrewd. It's quite amusing that he realizes the psychic paper is blank, even when it manages to fool our Martha, who's supposed to be in on the trick! One thing I was really curious about was to see if the Doctor treated this as his first meeting with Shakespeare. It certainly was for Shakespeare, and while the Doctor didn't explictly mention having met Shakespeare before (I was really hoping for a City of Death reference, which I'm very sad they cut out), he didn't deny it either. (I would enjoy having a timeline for reference, and apparently Martha needed one too, not realizing that Shakespeare hadn't actually written Macbeth at this point.) And, happily, by the end of the episode, Shakespeare had figured out that the Doctor and Martha were time-travellers, which opens the door nicely to future meetings with past Doctors.

I can't say that I feel a great need to single out most of the other actors by name, but David Westhead is worthy of special note for the little dance that Kempe does to amuse the audience after his joke about Shakespeare being drunk!

The special effects team did a wonderful job on this episode, with the establishing shots of 1599 England being especially impressive. It looks very realistic and quite gorgeous. Also a great shot of the Carrionites and all the copies of the script vanishing in a blast of pink and purple light. (but would a 1599 audience really have ever thought it was anything remotely resembling a special effect?) There's a slightly odd effect when Lilith starts floating outside the inn window, though — her face looks distorted, as though we're seeing it through a pane of that 1599 glass, but then maybe it was just a fault on my end.

I've gotta say, too, Murray Gold has again turned in a rather fine score! It feels very period-appropriate, and not a bum note among them. Charles Palmer again does a nice job directing; not a ton of shots that really stand out, but definitely some that I like. The sudden cuts from cute-young Lilith to evil-witchy Lilith (when she pulls away from the kiss with Wiggins, and when she surprises Dolly) are very reminiscent of the "Wish granted!" Anyanka moments in Buffy... so much so that they gave me little shivers of delight. And there's a superb thematic cut from Lynley coughing up water to Martha taking a swig of some beverage.

Minor points:

• What do the witches do to poor Wiggins at the beginning? Did they want to eat him? Or use bits of him in their spells? Inquiring minds want to know! ...as long as it isn't too gruesome.

• Ha! Nice quote:

  Martha: (re: TARDIS) "Blimey! Do you have to pass a test to fly this thing?"
  Doctor: "Yes! And I failed."

• Cute exchange at the beginning, and Freema cracks me up on her last line delivery, even before I was sure I knew what "sectioned" meant:

  Doctor: (offering his arm) "Miss Jones, will you accompany me to the theatre?"
  Martha: (taking it) "Mister Smith, I will!"
  Doctor: "When you get home, you can tell everyone you've seen Shakespeare."
  Martha: (mock-excited) "Then, I could get sectioned!"

• Another great delivery from Freema:

  Martha: "Author! Author!" (notices no-one else is cheering along) "...do people shout that? Do they shout 'Author'?"

  And then of course everyone follows her lead. But don't tell me this custom only originated as late as 1599?

• A nice bit of Garethiness:

  Lilith: "Mind you don't hurt that handsome head of yours."
  Lynley: "Hold hard, wanton woman! ... I shall return later."

• Immediately after Lilith stabs the Lynley-poppet in the heart, and before he dies, he coughs up another gout of water... but, despite just having been remotely stabbed through the heart, it's completely clear. I suppose that's probably biologically sound, assuming the stab wound didn't penetrate into the pulmonary or digestive systems, but I still think it would've been cool (i.e., gross?) to see him cough up some blood with the water. This is twice in two episodes that I've had issues with blood not being where I feel it ought to be. Harrumph!

• Ha! You can see it coming a mile away, but it's great:

  Doctor: "If I tell them the truth, they'll panic and think it was witchcraft."
  Martha: "Okay, what was it then?"
  Doctor: "Witchcraft."

• Well, how do you like that! All that fussing over not having a toothbrush, and what does Martha do? Set it straight down on the nightstand and pretend he never gave it to her. I bet she remembered about it when she woke up in the morning with a fuzzy tongue.

• Ahh! Harry Potter references, too funny. "Wait 'til you read book seven," says the Doctor, forecasting what I will be doing three months from now. "Ohh, I cried!" Between this and the awesome "Expelliarmus!" at the end, which utterly cracked me up, part of me wonders if this is their little way to seduce JK Rowling into finally agreeing to write for Doctor Who next year. That would be awesome. Although I wish they hadn't gone the extra mile and spelled out the joke by having the Doctor namecheck her; but if a little name-dropping means she'll write an episode, then hurrah! I'd love to see what she would do with this show. Maybe she could even bring back the Carrionites.

• When Lilith puts Shakespeare into a potion-sleep (and again when she releases him), his head flops down onto his desk... but surely his forehead would smudge all that fresh ink?

• Hee. As Lilith snatches the broom away from Dolly ("I'll take that to aid my flight"), I could've sworn she said "to aid my flat." 'Cause everyone knows witches always forget to do the sweeping. (They're too busy turning people into... heeeeeey! We never saw them turn anyone into a toad! Now I'm mad.)

• Heh! I never even knew this subject was up for debate... That Roberts sure does his homework.

  Doctor: "Come on! We can have a good flirt later!"
  Shakespeare: "Is that a promise, Doctor?"
  Doctor: "Oh. Fifty-seven academics just punched the air."

• I think it's cool that the Doctor relates the Carrionite lexical science to human mathematical science. Nice analogy.

• I must admit, I really like the idea that the Doctor would explain the "mechanics of the infinite temporal flux" to Martha by using... Back to the Future. Ha! And that leads us to this excellent exchange:

  Doctor: "It's like Back to the Future."
  Martha: (disbelieving) "The film?"
  Doctor: "No, the novelization. Yes, the film!"

• Oh, nicely delivered. Great pun!

  Doctor: "Which house?"
  In front of them, a door creaks slowly open.
  Doctor: "Make that witch house."

• Cool line which I didn't even notice until my third viewing:

  Doctor: "I take it we're expected?"
  Lilith: "Oh, I think death has been waiting for you a very long time."

• Wow, the Eternals get yet another namecheck. Who did they pay off? But I like it!

• I wish the Carrionites' background had been fleshed out just a bit further. I know that they claim Shakespeare is a genius and all, but why was it specifically his grief that enabled the Carrionites to cross back into our universe? Was it some unique combination of crushing grief + genius + precise wordsmithing? Otherwise, why wouldn't any grieving person have worked? Or any genius having a particularly bad day?

• Couldn't you just see this line in one of Gareth's season 17 MAs?

  Martha: "We're going the wrong way!"
  Doctor: "No, we're not!"
  They run off camera, only to return moments later, running the opposite direction.
  Doctor: "We're going the wrong way!"

• I love love love that the aliens actually (start to) succeed in their plan this time. I get kind of tired of seeing these grand alien schemes get halted just at the precise moment when we're about to get to see what they can do. In this case, I'm quite content with seeing the Carrionite swarm, and then watching the Doctor (...well, Shakespeare) summarily dispatch them. What matters is that it started to work, and I like that a lot.

• However, like my skepticism with the Carrionites' method of entry into our world, I'm also not quite sure I buy the fact that Shakespeare is able to summon up the exact words (or, at least, some set of exact words) that can banish the Carrionites back to where they came. Now, I do appreciate the fact that this was set up early on, with the Doctor exclaiming "Always he chooses the best words... new, beautiful, brilliant words." So I can juuuuust about accept it. But it still seems awfully convenient.

• Cute scene of Shakespeare and Martha telling one another odd jokes that the other one just doesn't get — particularly since Martha's is about Shakespeare himself!

• Oh, very nicely done, and it caps off the running "you can quote me on that" gag, which I wasn't otherwise terribly fond of, in great style.

  Doctor: (musing over a skull) "Reminds me of a Sycorax."
  Shakespeare: "Sycorax. Nice word. I'll have that off you as well."

• And then, possibly the crowning glory of this episode: oh my goodness, Queen Elizabeth hates the Doctor too!!! I must say that the way Angela Pleasance delivers her first line (a "Doctor!" dripping with vitriol) had me absolutely rolling with laughter. So unexpected, and hilarious! What is it about the tenth Doctor and monarchs, though?! Good thing he didn't actually take Rose to the coronation of Elizabeth II, or the Queen probably would've ended up getting her face sucked off by the Wire. (and then I bet she wouldn't have been such a fan of the new series, don'tcha know!) I love the fact that we have hints of an adventure to come, which as far as I'm aware has never happened before in the history of the show, even though you'd think, with all the timestream-crossing, it would be inevitable! Although I'm sorry it's going to end so badly — perhaps we'll end up with a trilogy in which Elizabeth comes to appreciate him after all. Aww. At any rate, I think that any story that can end on such a high note, with me grinning broadly as the credits roll, must rank pretty highly.

Strongly recommended, whether you favor historical drama, comedy or horror. The monsters alone make it worth watching, and Gareth Roberts' writing is the icing on the cake.