Doctor Who: The Shakespeare Code

The Doctor takes Martha back to 1599 to meet William Shakespeare and witness a performance of one of his "lost plays", only to stumble on a plot by witch-monsters from the dawn of time to take over the planet for their trapped brethren. A typical day out for the Doctor - but an eye-opener for Martha Jones!

Like the best of Shakespeare's work, tonight's episode of Doctor Who - The Shakespeare Code - is exciting, frightening and, most of all, uproariously funny. The banter between the two intellectual giants - the Bard and the Doctor - is brilliant. This is tears rolling down the cheek stuff and Dean Lennox Kelly's turn as Will The Quill seals the deal. His timing is perfect, his flirting with Martha totally laddish and his whole rock star persona just ticks the right boxes. While it wouldn't be the same show without the main duo, this is Shakespeare's episode without a doubt.

It's also, probably, the best episode of the new Who to date and certainly the most epic single episode story.

The production crew really pushed the boat out in recreating Elizabethan England - using the Globe Theatre itself and genuine 'olde worlde' buildings in Warwick, instead of their usual location of choice: Cardiff. But it is Gareth Roberts script that is the heart that keeps this story pumping - clever, witty and a very Lovecraftian/scientific take on how 'magic' works.