The Shakespeare Code

180 – "The Shakespeare Code"
Doctor Who episode
The Carrionite witches look on as William Shakespeare, Martha, and the Doctor stand on stage at the Globe Theatre.
Cast
Doctor David Tennant (Tenth Doctor)
Companion Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones)
Others Dean Lennox Kelly – William Shakespeare Christina Cole – Lilith Sam Marks – Wiggins Amanda Lawrence – Doomfinger Linda Clarke – Bloodtide Jalaal Hartley – Dick David Westhead – Kempe Andree Bernard – Dolly Bailey Chris Larkin – Lynley Stephen Marcus – Gaoler Matt King – Peter Streete Robert Demeger – Preacher Angela Pleasence – Queen Elizabeth I
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
Incidental music composer	Murray Gold
Production code	3.2
Series	Series 3
Length	45 minutes
Originally broadcast	7 April 2007
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → "Smith and Jones" "Gridlock"
List of Doctor Who serials

"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. 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", the episode was re-titled as a reference to The Da Vinci Code.

The Tenth Doctor takes Martha Jones on her first trip in the TARDIS. Arriving in Elizabethan England, they meet William Shakespeare, who is writing his play Love's Labour's Won. However, evil, witch-like Carrionites plot to end the world by placing a code in the new play's closing dialogue. Shakespeare will have to give the performance of his life in order to save the Earth.

The episode begins with a young man romantically serenading a young woman named Lilith. Invited inside, the young man discovers that she is in fact a wrinkled hag. She introduces her two mothers, Doomfinger and Bloodtide, who rush at the screaming youth and apparently rip him to shreds.

Meanwhile, the TARDIS lands in Elizabethan London in 1599. The Doctor, who promised to take Martha on one trip, takes her to a performance of Love's Labour's Lost at the Globe Theatre. At the end of the play, William Shakespeare announces a forthcoming sequel entitled Love's Labour's Won. Lilith uses a voodoo doll to influence Shakespeare to declare that the new play will premiere the following evening.