Dear Johnny Fanboy,

Enjoying the new series of Doctor Who and the new companion, Martha, but...

Why didn't she notice that the Globe Theatre had moved in The Shakespeare Code? Since her hospital is only about a mile away, you'd think she'd know the area. You can't argue that the layout of the streets was so different that she wouldn't notice the move. Since the new Globe is on the river, it's fairly distinctive - the old one was about 200 yards inland, as it were.

Also, it's a shame the Doctor didn't point out that he already knew how Shakespeare got the idea for Hamlet. Francis Bacon gave him the idea in The Chase, as shown on the Time/Space Visualiser thingy.

Nicky Smith

Johnny Fanboy replies:

Maybe Martha already knew that the Globe would be in a different location. She does seem better educated in general than Rose, and definitely a lot more clued up about Shakespeare than Rose was about Dickens in The Unquiet Dead.

Regarding the inspiration behind Hamlet, the episode's writer, Gareth Roberts, has been very careful to neither confirm nor deny any of the many previous Who stories (in all media) in which the Bard has either appeared or been referred to. Maybe both events conspired to inspire Shakespeare to write his most famous play. Alternatively, the Time/Space Visualiser could have been tuned into a fictional drama series - Beth, Bacon and Bard: The Untold Story perhaps?

And just in case anyone was wondering (as I did for a nanosecond), why the Doctor was surprised when Shaky works out that he's a time traveller, despite the fact that they've already met at earlier points in history (including the Tenth Doctor comic strip A Groatsworth of Wit and the Fifth Doctor audio drama The Kingmaker), it's presumably because the Time Lord didn't think the Bard would recognise him in his latest incarnation.

So, all's well that ends well, eh?

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