Well, this review is pretty biased as I can't stand historicals, though if you give me a complete copy of The Highlanders starring Patrick Troughton I'll definitely sit down and watch it.

The Doctor takes Martha to 1599 to watch Love's Labours Lost. They arrive to just miss out on being covered in a bucket of sewerage thrown out the window.

Martha asks some very important questions that just about everyone would be asking. Like "won't I get cut up or carted off as a slave? Or "is it safe? What if I step on a butterfly and change history?

I was also pretty impressed that Martha commented on the smell. Something not many companions bother to do.

They go to the globe theatre and here I'm struck by how many extras were hired for this scene. How much money did they spend for it? The globe was absolutely packed. Actually they only had 50 extras. Everything else was cgi. It looked very good and very convincing. Top marks.

We get to see William Shakespeare but we also get to see three witches.

The witches idea really panders to the Harry Potter Phenomenon but there is also a short musical score in this episode that will be recognised by some fans.

After the play, which shocks the Doctor by mentioning Love's Labours Won, they go to see Shakespeare to find out more about it.

The Doctor tries to use psychic paper on Shakespeare but he only sees a blank page.

Shakespeare is enamoured with Martha but his agent is not so happy with his plan to play Love's Labour's Won at such short notice. He cancels it but the witches have other ideas.

The witches use a voodoo doll to drown the agent and kill him with a needle through the heart..

There are several comments made by the Doctor that are lines from Shakespeare's future plays which Shakespeare then takes off him.

Martha is crazy about the Doctor and they end up in bed together. But he lies there thinking while she is trying to get him to notice her.

In a recent confidential Russell mentions that Martha is the epitomy of unrequited love and this was demonstrated when the Doctor says something like "I must be missing something. It's right under my nose and I can't see it" while staring into Martha's eyes on the bed. Martha is hoping that he'll make a move but, of course, he doesn't. So she blows out the candle in frustration.

In another room the main witch, Lilith, takes over Shakespeare's mind and gets him to write the last lines of Love's Labour's Won. Then she kills the owner of the hotel. When the owner screams the Doctor and Martha rush in. The Doctor looks at the woman's body while Martha sees a witch on a broom stick fly past a full moon.

They have a discussion with Shakespeare over these things happening near him and realise that the architect is the key. They race down to the Globe to find out why it is 14 sides. 14 lines in a sonnet. They realise that something influenced the architect.

Peter the architect is insane and in Bedlam. A place where crazy people go to be whipped. They go there to speak to the architect and find out more about what is happening.

Shakespeare continues flirting with Martha, and the Doctor comes back to interrupt them saying "You can flirt later" Shakespeare says "Is that a promise, Doctor?" The Doctor replies "57 academics just punched the air" a line that refers to scholars who believe Shakespeare was gay.

Shakespeare gives the final page to the actors as they leave. While practicing, the actors create some change in the world around them and an alien creature appears then disappears.
 
 

When they visit Peter he explains that he was visited by the witches. Suddenly one of the mother witches appears. She kills Peter. The Doctor remembers who they are and speaks their name, sending the witch back to her house.

The witches are actually aliens who were trapped by the eternals. When Shakespeare went mad after losing his son they found a way into this world using his genius. 

The Doctor explains that the witches are from the dawn of time and use words to change the world, much like mathematics can be used to split the atom. It's a different science. They're called Carrionites.

Martha asks why they need to stop this as she's here so the future exists. The Doctor refers to the movie Back to the Future to explain it. "Oh my God, will I fade away?"

They go to visit the witches house and Martha is struck down by one of the witches. Her powers weren't strong enough on her because she was out of time so she was only put to sleep.

The witch then takes a strand of DNA from the Doctor who refers to the voodoo doll as a DNA replication unit, just before the witch stops his heart with a pin.

She flies off and Martha helps start the Doctor's heart again.

Shakespeare tries to stop the play but the witch stops him with a doll. The play continues as the Doctor and Martha get to the Globe. Carrionite start to appear in their thousands, a swirling mass engulfing the Globe theatre. The witches laugh as the creatures continue to appear and begin the Millenium of Blood.

Only Shakespeare can save the world, with a little help from JK Rolling.

This was more enjoyable than I thought it would be and there are a number of great lines.Unfortunately, witch makeup can never be convincing. I personally believe it detracted from the story. But Gareth Roberts is one of my favourite authors and he definitely wrote something witty, intelligent and captivating so I'll definitely have to give this one a 8 out of 10. Don't show this to anyone if it's their first episode of Doctor Who though!

For Martha's first trip in the Tardis, the Doctor takes her back in time, to Elizabethan England, as the third series of Russell T Davies's Doctor Who continues. When they find William Shakespeare under the control of deadly witch-like creatures, they must battle forces from the dawn of the universe to stop history being changed for ever.

David Tennant plays the Doctor and Freema Agyeman plays his new companion, Martha Jones. Dean Lennox Kelly guest stars as William Shakespeare.