William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (in-universe), as per T:DAB IU
Talk about it here.
- You may be looking for his real world counterpart.
William Shakespeare, (1564-1616 (PROSE: The Time Traveller's Almanac [+]Loading...["The Time Traveller's Almanac (reference book)"])) also known as William Shackspur, William Shaxsberd, William Shaxberd and, (PROSE: Apocrypha Bipedium [+]Loading...["Apocrypha Bipedium (short story)"]) in an alternate timeline, as Concuthasta, (PROSE: Warlords of Utopia [+]Loading...["Warlords of Utopia (novel)"]) was widely considered to be the greatest poet and playwright in the history of England and one of the greatest in human history. The Tenth Doctor considered him the most "human" human that ever lived. (TV: The Shakespeare Code [+]Loading...["The Shakespeare Code (TV story)"])
Many sources depicted Shakespeare as a real individual who shared interactions with the Doctor on multiple occasions, (AUDIO: The Time of the Daleks [+]Loading...["The Time of the Daleks (audio story)"], COMIC: A Groatsworth of Wit [+]Loading...["A Groatsworth of Wit (comic story)"]) as history recorded, (PROSE: The Whoniverse [+]Loading...["The Whoniverse (novel)"]) but others claimed that Shakespeare was "no more than a rumour" and that "no real empirical evidence of anyone of that name in courtly circles" existed, with one stating it was an alias of Christopher Marlowe. (PROSE: All Done with Mirrors [+]Loading...["All Done with Mirrors (short story)"]) Additionally, sources that agreed on Shakespeare's existence conflicted over the circumstances of his demise. One claimed that he died in April 1616 after being poisoned on the orders of Walter Raleigh (PROSE: The Empire of Glass [+]Loading...["The Empire of Glass (novel)"]) but another depicted him as taking the place of the doomed King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth, with the real Richard taking Shakespeare's place in history in 1597. (AUDIO: The Kingmaker [+]Loading...["The Kingmaker (audio story)"])
In a 20th century textbook owned by the Coal Hill library, it was acknowledged that for all his plays, "little" was known about the man himself. (PROSE: A History of Humankind [+]Loading...["A History of Humankind (novel)"]) By 1963, literary scholars had argued about whether Shakespeare had really written his own works for centuries. History teacher Barbara Wright considered Francis Bacon such a credible candidate for the true author that she attempted to use the Time-Space Visualiser to find out for certain. (PROSE: The Chase [+]Loading...["The Chase (novelisation)"]) Indeed, Iris Wildthyme once concurred with this theory, having been told by Will himself that he and Bacon had an "arrangement". (PROSE: Minions of the Moon [+]Loading...["Minions of the Moon (short story)"]) Of Shakespeare's contemporaries, Thomas Middleton was another possibility, with some evidence existing that Macbeth contained "interpolations" drawn from Middleton's work. (PROSE: The True Tragedie of Macbeth [+]Loading...["The True Tragedie of Macbeth (short story)"])
The true authorship of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets was still considered an "ancient mystery" in the space-faring age of the 25th century with the list of potential candidates having been expanded to include extra-terrestrials. According to one account, all of his work had in fact been written by the Dalek Emperor. (COMIC: City of the Daleks [+]Loading...["City of the Daleks (comic story)"]) Other accounts showed multiple incarnations of the Doctor helping with the authorship of his works, particularly with Hamlet, (PROSE: The Stranger, The Writer, His Wife and the Mixed Metaphor [+]Loading...["The Stranger, The Writer, His Wife and the Mixed Metaphor (short story)"], TV: City of Death [+]Loading...["City of Death (TV story)"], AUDIO: The Foe from the Future [+]Loading...["The Foe from the Future (audio story)"]) with yet more accounts indicating that Shakespeare was paradoxically given access to some or all of his works by the Doctor. (PROSE: All Done with Mirrors [+]Loading...["All Done with Mirrors (short story)"], Apocrypha Bipedium [+]Loading...["Apocrypha Bipedium (short story)"], The Tempest – A Work in Progress [+]Loading...["The Tempest – A Work in Progress (short story)"])
Biography[[edit] | [edit source]]
Childhood[[edit] | [edit source]]
Shakespeare was born on 23 April, (PROSE: Time Traveller's Diary [+]Loading...["Time Traveller's Diary (novel)"]) 1564 (PROSE: The Book of the War [+]Loading...["The Book of the War (novel)"]) in Stratford-upon-Avon. (PROSE: A History of Humankind [+]Loading...["A History of Humankind (novel)"]) According to a dissenting account, he was born in 1569. (PROSE: The Universal Databank [+]Loading...["The Universal Databank (reference book)"])
The Fourth Doctor claimed that Shakespeare as a boy was "very taciturn" and that he said to him, "There's no point in talking if you've got nothing to say". (TV: City of Death [+]Loading...["City of Death (TV story)"])
Taken out of time[[edit] | [edit source]]
In 21st century New Britain, the population began to forget Shakespeare and his works after the country's ruler General Mariah Learman started experimenting with time travel. A rebel group which included her niece Viola became concerned that Learman was responsible and so used the same technology to collect the eight-year-old Shakespeare from 1572 and bring him back to the 21st century. Although this action was intended to protect the young Shakespeare from harm, it actually contributed to a paradox and was the reason people were forgetting him in the first place.
Viola brought Shakespeare on as a member of the house staff and told him not to talk to anyone or speak of his identity. He primarily worked as a kitchen boy but sometimes assisted Professor Osric too. He also enjoyed visiting the library, (AUDIO: The Time of the Daleks [+]Loading...["The Time of the Daleks (audio story)"]) during which he read about half of his future plays (PROSE: Apocrypha Bipedium [+]Loading...["Apocrypha Bipedium (short story)"]) including Richard II.
Shakespeare encountered the Eighth Doctor and Charlotte Pollard when they arrived in New Britain to investigate the forgetting of his works. He showed the Doctor a folio of Shakespeare's collected plays but they found the pages to be blank, signifying that the Daleks succeeding in their plan to invade Earth's past had become more probable. Shakespeare was briefly held captive by the Daleks with the Doctor, Charley, Viola and Major Ferdinand. He was crucial to their escape by bringing back reflective silver foil which the Doctor needed when he was allowed to return to the kitchen under supervision to make sandwiches for the group. Shakespeare kept out of the action after this, with the Doctor and Charley telling him to find somewhere safe to stay in the library or kitchen while they dealt with the threat. After the affair was over, the Doctor promised to take Shakespeare back to Stratford. (AUDIO: The Time of the Daleks [+]Loading...["The Time of the Daleks (audio story)"])
Travels in the TARDIS[[edit] | [edit source]]
Shakespeare's return to his native time proved to be far from immediate, with Charley speaking in her diary of "sharing a home" with the boy. She reflected that as the three of them shared "so very little in common" beyond having read the plays Shakespeare had not yet written the small talk between them "had been small indeed" and that the atmosphere became "a little tense" after a few days of the Doctor trying and failing to get Will home. It also turned out Will had difficulty reading works written in more modern English than his own meaning there had been not much in the way of literature to distract him after he had read and re-read the Doctor's picture books about Frinchs, Sneetches, Ooblecks and Cats in Hams.[nb 1]
Towards the end of Shakespeare's stay aboard the TARDIS, the Doctor discovered a futuristic version of Lido[nb 2] called Peter Pan Pop-O-Matic Frustration which the trio enjoyed playing together in the music room on at least a few long afternoons, thus eliminating Shakespeare's need to relate the escapades of besocked foxes to the other two. The Doctor was "always" victorious in their games, usually coming from behind "implausibly late in the day, and nearly always using some devious subterfuge" to secure the win. However, Charley and Will "loved him enough" that they pretended not to notice this cheating.
On one occasion where the Doctor believed he had successfully landed the TARDIS in Stratford, it had actually materialised somewhere with a beach nearby. The trio left the ship and found out from a a goatherd, who invited them back to his camp for a feast, that they were in Hisarlik, Anatolia in 1183 BC. Once they arrived at the camp, the Doctor recognised his former companion Vicki who had adopted the name Cressida. The Doctor realised that Shakespeare was due to write Troilus and Cressida in a few years and that unless he was careful this meeting would be what inspired it, thus complicating Shakespeare's history even further. He resolved to prevent the boy from learning about Troilus and Cressida's background, ideally in such a way that he forgot as much of their present as possible too, and to this end he instructed Charley to get him so drunk during the feast that night he would not be able to remember his behaviour the next morning. However, during the feast Vicki attacked the Doctor believing him to be a robot double, leading him to decide that it was best to explain his peculiar actions. After this, Shakespeare laughed and explained in disbelief at the Doctor's ignorance that his efforts had been unnecessary on account of the story not originating with him, with Geoffrey Chaucer having told it years prior. This forced the Doctor to admit that he had never actually read Troilus and Cressida. Before the Doctor's group left, Shakespeare and Vicki had a "lovely" chat about Dido, Aeneas, Helen of Troy and their respective scrapes with the Daleks. Shakespeare suggested she and Troilus should settle in England as he had read a book detailing that relatives of Aeneas were the first Britons, a plan they ended up following. (PROSE: Apocrypha Bipedium [+]Loading...["Apocrypha Bipedium (short story)"])
The Doctor eventually managed to drop Shakespeare off in Warwickshire in his native time. (AUDIO: Foreshadowing [+]Loading...["Foreshadowing (audio story)"]) He gave the boy a list of things not to mention as a parting gift. A young Shakespeare ended up adapting his visit to ancient times into the play The Noble Troyan Woman of Troy. (PROSE: Apocrypha Bipedium [+]Loading...["Apocrypha Bipedium (short story)"]) According to Margosia, his involvement in the temporal event when he was eight caused his timeline to fracture. In one universe, he was Richard III of England and in another, he had an encounter with witches. However Margosia informed Jenny that she was able to correct his timeline onto its proper path. (AUDIO: Florence O'Connor and the Sandwich of Doom [+]Loading...["Florence O'Connor and the Sandwich of Doom (audio story)"])
Early career[[edit] | [edit source]]
Shakespeare was an uneducated rural actor, later turned playwright. (COMIC: A Groatsworth of Wit [+]Loading...["A Groatsworth of Wit (comic story)"]) Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway in 1582 and they went on to have three children; Susanna was born shortly after they married, with twins Judith and Hamnet born in 1585. Some time after 1585, he moved to London where he started his career as an actor, poet and playwright. (PROSE: A History of Humankind [+]Loading...["A History of Humankind (novel)"]) His family remained in Stratford. (PROSE: The Time Traveller's Almanac [+]Loading...["The Time Traveller's Almanac (reference book)"])
Most of his works dated from the period between 1589 and 1613. (PROSE: A History of Humankind [+]Loading...["A History of Humankind (novel)"])
In 1592, the Ninth Doctor and Rose Tyler encountered Shakespeare at the Rose theatre, where he was to perform the lead part on the premiere night of his play Richard III. At the Doctor's request, Rose agreed to distract Shakespeare from the stage "with a hey nonny nonny", telling him Queen Elizabeth I was ready to immediately give him a royal audience at his home, in an attempt to stop the Shadey-influenced Robert Greene from murdering him. When the two reached his house and found no Elizabeth, Shakespeare interpreted it as an attempt by Rose "to wrest [him] to [her] side". However, Greene soon appeared with the Shadeys and demonstrated his powers. Although Shakespeare dismissed the "magic" of the "clay-brained fool" as "an illusion", Rose pulled him away and they ran back to theatre, where the Doctor had taken up the role of Richard III at short notice. Shakespeare was initially more concerned with the Doctor's unscheduled intrusion onto his stage, calling him a "dog" and reclaiming Richard's hump from the Doctor's back. He also briefly put Earth in further peril by continuing to antagonise Greene. Nevertheless, the Doctor and Rose eventually defused the situation and convinced Greene to banish the Shadeys back to their own dimension. Shakespeare was unfazed by the whole experience and refused to let "such trick-shows" interfere with his future career. (COMIC: A Groatsworth of Wit [+]Loading...["A Groatsworth of Wit (comic story)"])
The "death" of Christopher Marlowe[[edit] | [edit source]]
One account stated that Shakespeare was another name for playwright Christopher Marlowe. He observed that his "true name denote[d] a celebration of savagery, of the music of power, the beauty of war and conflict, the lexicon of blood and death" whilst his other name also did this but with lighter expression and more enamoured establishment.
Although history recorded that Marlowe died on 30 May 1593 (PROSE: All Done with Mirrors [+]Loading...["All Done with Mirrors (short story)"]) in a tavern in Deptford, (PROSE: Master Faustus [+]Loading...["Master Faustus (short story)"], Raleigh Dreaming [+]Loading...["Raleigh Dreaming (short story)"]) this account stated that the Fourth Doctor posed as Marlowe to fake his death which allowed Marlowe to permanently become Shakespeare. The Doctor gave Marlowe his copy of the Complete Works of Shakespeare as a parting gift and told him to only use it "if he really [got] stuck". The Doctor told Sarah Jane Smith that as long as Marlowe kept a low profile nobody would find out and the secret would die with him in about twenty-three years. (PROSE: All Done with Mirrors [+]Loading...["All Done with Mirrors (short story)"])
The Shakespeare Notebooks, a collection of works supposedly written by Shakespeare which an academic publication invited the reader "to determine whether you believe the Shakespeare Notebooks are indeed genuine, or an elaborate hoax" for themselves, held a different account of Marlowe's death. This account held that it was the Tremas Master who tried to prevent Marlowe's death by taking him away from Deptford shortly before he was scheduled to die, with Marlowe travelling with the Master for some time before accepting fate and returning to Deptford to be stabbed to death by Dullberry and Dobbin. (PROSE: Master Faustus [+]Loading...["Master Faustus (short story)"]) Another account held that Marlowe was stabbed to death by the Time Agent John Hart after he had sex with him alongside Jack Harkness. (AUDIO: The Death of Captain Jack [+]Loading...["The Death of Captain Jack (audio story)"])
According to a second account which explicitly separated Marlowe and Shakespeare, Marlowe had actually travelled to the colony of Roanoke in the future United States to spy on Sir Walter Raleigh. He actually died in 1609 as a result of a duel. (PROSE: The Empire of Glass [+]Loading...["The Empire of Glass (novel)"]) Other accounts depicted both Shakespeare and Marlowe as having been resurrected in the City of the Saved. (PROSE: The Book of the War [+]Loading...["The Book of the War (novel)"], Unification Theory [+]Loading...["Unification Theory (short story)"])
Shakespeare was in London in 1596 when his son, Hamnet, died at the age of 11. His guilt drove him mad and only his fear of Bedlam restored his sanity. (PROSE: The Time Traveller's Almanac [+]Loading...["The Time Traveller's Almanac (reference book)"])
Influencing the past[[edit] | [edit source]]
Advising Richard III[[edit] | [edit source]]
In 1597, the Fifth Doctor shared a few drinks with Shakespeare, during which he condemned the playright for failing to do any historical research for his play Richard III. The Doctor called him a "fiction peddling puppet to the House of Tudor and a lapdog to the court of Queen Elizabeth", telling him people were already questioning Richard's motives for killing the Princes in the Tower with suspicion falling upon his beloved Queen's grandfather Henry Tudor while by the 20th century his play would be seen for what it was, "nothing but tawdry propaganda". The defamation of Elizabeth's lineage was unacceptable to Shakespeare so he stowed away in the TARDIS, as the Doctor had said he going to investigate the Princes' disappearance, with the hope of persuading Richard to kill the Princes in such a way unmistakable to history. The Doctor left in 1485 but Shakespeare was stranded when the TARDIS accidentally went to 1483.
Richard and Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, saw Shakespeare emerge from the TARDIS and questioned him on his identity. Adopting the alias Mr Seyton, he claimed to be a wise traveller from the future come to give counsel to Richard. He told him that if he allowed Edward V to ascend to the throne then the Woodvilles would influence Edward into putting Richard to death, eventually leading to his deposing by the French and the end of the monarchy. Richard knew from the start that Seyton was untrustworthy but allowed him to return to London with him to act as his advisor anyway. Richard did end up taking the throne as Richard III, albeit only to prevent scandal when he discovered "Edward" was Susan, but consistently rejected Shakespeare's arguments that the "Princes" should die and instead held them in the Tower of London.
Around six months into Richard's reign, Shakespeare stopped Stafford when he recruited Peri Brown and Erimem to poison the Princes by firing a Cyber-rifle (which he had found in the TARDIS) in their direction. Shakespeare revealed to Stafford that he also wanted the Princes dead but that he wanted Richard's own hands bloodied, at which point Stafford would get the uprising he desired. They conspired with each other to get Peri and Erimem killed for helping the Princes escape but the two women fled when they overheard this plan. Once Shakespeare realised he had lost Peri and Erimem, he instead decided to betray Stafford and inform Richard of his treachery. He expected Richard to reward him for his loyalty but he actually ordered James Tyrell to his escort him to the dungeons.
Shakespeare later spoke to Richard about what a "straight arrow" the Doctor was and how he was sure to stop his plan. Richard asked in response if that meant he would stop Shakespeare's plan to kill the Princes. Seyton became "cagey" by this which puzzled Richard, so he tortured Seyton until he revealed everything. (AUDIO: The Kingmaker [+]Loading...["The Kingmaker (audio story)"])
Becoming Richard III[[edit] | [edit source]]
After Richard captured the Doctor as a prisoner in 1485, he told Seyton's jailer he had "no further use" for him and asked the jailer to "get rid of him" but instead of executing Seyton as Richard had intended, he let him go.
Shakespeare plotted to threaten Peri and Erimem with his Cyber-rifle and take them to the Doctor. He found him in his cell along with Richard, Clarrie, Susan and Judith. The latter trio had been staging a rescue attempt, but Shakespeare allowed them to leave when they claimed to be serving wenches delivering food to prisoners. His plan to have Richard kill the princes himself obviously having failed by this point, Shakespeare decided to instead take Richard to his native time and have him stand trial for his crimes in the court of Queen Elizabeth. Shakespeare, still armed, escorted Richard, the Doctor and his companions back to the TARDIS where they set a course for 1597.
During the journey, Richard revealed that there had been no princes in the Tower at all and that Edward IV had not had sons but daughters, Susan and Judith. Shakespeare branded this a fraud on a scale never before seen and demanded to return to 1485 to collect the girls but at that moment they arrived in 1597, on stage during a performance of Richard III. Although this landing location quickly convinced Shakespeare to leave the TARDIS as he tried to salvage what was left of the interrupted performance, Richard soon followed suit when he saw the playwright speaking with Richard Burbage, who was playing Richard himself. Enraged by his unflattering and stereotypical portrayal, he confronted Shakespeare about the matter before finally taking Burbage's sword and chasing Shakespeare out of the theatre and throughout London's streets.
However, Shakespeare doubled back to the TARDIS, and threatened to detonate what he believed to be a Sontaran grenade (though was really the Doctor's toothbrush) unless the Doctor returned immediately to 1485. Declaring he owed Queen Elizabeth for everything and that he no longer cared what happened to him, he took Erimem hostage and threatened to detonate the grenade but Erimem broke his arm after Peri pointed out he had his hand on her Royal behind. At that moment, a publisher's robot materialised and told Shakespeare his second draft of The Tempest was 7103 years overdue for delivery. It chased him out of the TARDIS and into the midst of the raging Battle of Bosworth; the Doctor asked Richard to when he wanted to be returned and he was intent on "fulfilling his destiny" so the Doctor had set the coordinates for his final battle. As Shakespeare continued to be pursued by what onlooking soldiers thought to be a "huge knight", his injured arm and limp matched the sterotypical description of King Richard. He was soon cornered by Henry Tudor's troops and forced to climb a tree to save himself from being cut to pieces. One of the King's supporters who witnessed this vowed to let it be recorded that "Richard died fighting like a lion and not blubbing like a big baby hiding up a tree". (AUDIO: The Kingmaker [+]Loading...["The Kingmaker (audio story)"])
According to another account, the King at Bosworth begun quoting Shakespeare's Richard III towards the end of the battle and was crying out "My horse! My horse! My kingdom for a" until a unicorn materialised in front of him, saving his life. This event was caused by the meddling of Rose, the Tenth Doctor's cat. (COMIC: A Rose by Any Other Name [+]Loading...["A Rose by Any Other Name (comic story)"])
With Shakespeare now assuredly dead, the real Richard remained in 1597 to take his allotted place in history; he had never really wanted power and saw taking up Shakespeare's writing career as his second chance at earning a place in history. Richard asked the Doctor how much material he had to write, having experienced trouble early on with spelling his name correctly, and the Doctor told him he "just had to knock up a few plays, a couple of historicals, a handful of tragedies, [and] a few comedies", though recommended asking Francis Bacon for writing tips should he ever struggle with the language. He also told him he was supposed to be writing Henry IV, Part 1 around this time and suggested putting his brother George into his first Shakespearan play to give him the immortality history couldn't, an idea Richard found appealing. Settling into his new life as Shakespeare, Richard was soon joined by Susan and Judith, whom the Doctor had brought forward in time to join him; history recorded that not only had Shakespeare had a son who perished, as he had previously stated, but two daughters named Susanna and Judith, so the Doctor knew their true destiny lay with their uncle as he pursued his own. (AUDIO: The Kingmaker [+]Loading...["The Kingmaker (audio story)"])
Later life[[edit] | [edit source]]
By 1599, Shakespeare was a member of Lord Chamberlain's Men - London's playing company who built the Globe Theatre in Southwark. (PROSE: The Time Traveller's Almanac [+]Loading...["The Time Traveller's Almanac (reference book)"]) The Tenth Doctor encountered Shakespeare here when the witch-like Carrionites wanted the wordsmith to complete the lost play Love's Labour's Won to free the rest of their kind. With the help of the Doctor and Martha Jones, the three Carrionites and their sisters were banished back into the Deep Darkness. However, the play was banished along with the Carrionites. During this encounter, Shakespeare developed an attraction to the Doctor and Martha, whom he addressed as his "Dark Lady". (TV: The Shakespeare Code [+]Loading...["The Shakespeare Code (TV story)"])
Via the Time-Space Visualiser, the First Doctor and his companions watched William Shakespeare in conversation with Queen Elizabeth I about Hamlet. (TV: "The Executioners" [+]Part of The Chase, Loading...{"namedep":"The Executioners (1)","1":"The Chase (TV story)"}) According to one account which claimed that the Visualiser was a hoax, the people seen on the Visualiser were not the genuine historical figures but human slaves of the Pursuer-Daleks who were made to re-enact the event as a deception for the Doctor and his companions. (PROSE: Dalek Survival Guide [+]Loading...["Dalek Survival Guide (novel)"])
The First Doctor collaborated with Shakespeare between drafts one and two of Hamlet. (PROSE: Byzantium! [+]Loading...["Byzantium! (novel)"]) The Fourth Doctor claimed that he helped Shakespeare transcribe Hamlet as Shakespeare had sprained his wrist writing sonnets. The Doctor claimed that he had warned Shakespeare that Hamlet's line "to take arms against a sea of troubles" was a mixed metaphor, but Shakespeare would not listen. (TV: City of Death [+]Loading...["City of Death (TV story)"], PROSE: The Stranger, The Writer, His Wife and the Mixed Metaphor [+]Loading...["The Stranger, The Writer, His Wife and the Mixed Metaphor (short story)"])
In 1601, he met the First Doctor and his friends. He tried to get the TARDIS back from the Queen but was waylaid due to a plan of his daughter Judith Shakespeare and Lady Penelope Rich to put on an uncut version of Richard III. This caused him to be arrested by Robert Cecil for treason. He and the Doctor tried to work out how to escape the Tower. He explained the circumstances around the recent play performance. (AUDIO: The Hollow Crown [+]Loading...["The Hollow Crown (audio story)"])
On 12 January 1605, Shakespeare met Amy Pond when she and Rory Williams went to see Romeo and Juliet at the Globe during their honeymoon. In a postcard, Amy told the Eleventh Doctor Shakespeare said "Hi", or actually "more like 'Hey nonny no'", then tried to touch her bum. They were interrupted when James I turned up and tried to have her and Rory arrested upon learning of their association with the Doctor. (PROSE: Honeymoon Horrors [+]Loading...["Honeymoon Horrors (short story)"])
In 1609, according to one account, Shakespeare, acting as an agent of the Crown, encountered the First Doctor, Irving Braxiatel, and Galileo Galilei in Venice, and was reunited with Christopher Marlowe, whom he thought was dead. The Doctor forcibly made Shakespeare take a retcon-like drug to erase his memory of the events that he had witnessed. Shakespeare died in Stratford-upon-Avon in April 1616, having been poisoned on the orders of Sir Walter Raleigh who had been released from the Tower of London only five weeks earlier. Braxiatel visited the playwright on his deathbed and restored the Englishman's memories of his time in Venice. (PROSE: The Empire of Glass [+]Loading...["The Empire of Glass (novel)"])
The Golden Emperor[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Main article: Dalek Prime
According to one account, the Golden Emperor, the first Dalek ever created, (COMIC: Genesis of Evil [+]Loading...["Genesis of Evil (comic story)"], TV: Genesis of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Genesis of the Daleks (TV story)"]) was responsible for all of the Shakespeare plays and sonnets. (COMIC: City of the Daleks [+]Loading...["City of the Daleks (comic story)"])
During a war against the Daleks in the early 25th century, (COMIC: Invasion of the Daleks [+]Loading...["Invasion of the Daleks (comic story)"], PROSE: Break-through! [+]Loading...["Break-through! (short story)"]) Jeff Stone was sent to Skaro on a scout mission. He infiltrated the Dalek City where he observed, amongst other things, a report from the Ministry of Re-Education in the Hall of Fame. The notice ordered the Daleks in the area to commit the fact to memory. The Daleks also took credit for a number of other human achievements. Although he was discovered, Jeff ultimately escaped Skaro in his ship and returned to Earth with a report on what he had seen in the City. (COMIC: City of the Daleks [+]Loading...["City of the Daleks (comic story)"])
The City of the Saved[[edit] | [edit source]]
After his original death in 1616, Shakespeare continued being a successful writer in his second life in the City of the Saved. He wrote the hit soap opera The Prosperos, which lasted about fifty years. (PROSE: The Book of the War [+]Loading...["The Book of the War (novel)"])
In the City, Francis Bacon claimed to have written some of Romeo and Juliet, such as Mercutio's bawdy best man's speech. (PROSE: The Smallest Spark [+]Loading...["The Smallest Spark (short story)"])
After the City of the Saved Civil War and the attack of the Anonymity, Shakespeare was resurrected in the second City of the Saved. (PROSE: God Encompasses [+]Loading...["God Encompasses (short story)"])
Undated events[[edit] | [edit source]]
At one point, he played croquet with an individual, and mused that his patron seemed to like his new work. (PROSE: City of Death [+]Loading...["City of Death (novelisation)"])
After Tia Kofi entered the Time Fracture as a part of Operation Time Fracture, she ended up in Elizabethan England wherein she met Shakespeare. However when she referred to him by his name, he revealed that he has renounced it due to a play of his going wrong. He instead changed his to Tia Kofi II, offering to be her apprentice.
He invited her into his office and discussed a commission made by Elizabeth I to write a tale and asks her to assist him in writing and performing it. Revealing that it is Romeo and Juliet, Tia decides to play the part of Juliet. Before they could celebrate with drinks, Tia was whisked away elsewhere by the Fracture. (WC: Tia Kofi Enters the Time Fracture! [+]Loading...["Tia Kofi Enters the Time Fracture! (webcast)"])
Other realities[[edit] | [edit source]]
In a timeline where River Song caused time to collapse when she refused to kill the Eleventh Doctor, (TV: The Wedding of River Song [+]Loading...["The Wedding of River Song (TV story)"]) Shakespeare became the boss of EastEnders. (PROSE: Just a Minute... [+]Loading...["Just a Minute... (short story)"])
In Roma I, the author of Julius Caesar and Anthony and Cleopatra was known as Concuthasta; he had a counterpart in the history of every Britannia throughout the Known Worlds. (PROSE: Warlords of Utopia [+]Loading...["Warlords of Utopia (novel)"])
Legacy[[edit] | [edit source]]
In 2006, in an essay he wrote for Who is Doctor Who?, Adam Mitchell wrote that humanity could trade "stuff" like the works of Shakespeare for knowledge. (PROSE: Essay Competition [+]Loading...["Essay Competition (short story)"])
Works[[edit] | [edit source]]
William Shakespeare wrote a number of plays, including A Midsummer Night's Dream, (PROSE: Slow Decay [+]Loading...["Slow Decay (novel)"]) Hamlet, (TV: "The Executioners" [+]Part of The Chase, Loading...{"namedep":"The Executioners (1)","1":"The Chase (TV story)"}) Macbeth, (PROSE: The True Tragedie of Macbeth [+]Loading...["The True Tragedie of Macbeth (short story)"]) Love's Labour's Lost and Love's Labour's Won. (TV: The Shakespeare Code [+]Loading...["The Shakespeare Code (TV story)"])
Shakespeare was credited with the invention of over 1700 words, although later scholars believed that some of them originated on alien planets. (PROSE: Time Traveller's Diary [+]Loading...["Time Traveller's Diary (novel)"])
By the 21st century, his plays were translated into every major language. (PROSE: A History of Humankind [+]Loading...["A History of Humankind (novel)"])
References[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Monk believed that his meddling would enable Shakespeare to have Hamlet premiere on television. (TV: "Checkmate" [+]Part of The Time Meddler, Loading...{"namedep":"Checkmate (4)","1":"The Time Meddler (TV story)"})
When the Second Doctor landed in Australia in 2018, he was actually trying to get to either William Shakespeare's house in Stratford or the Pan-Galactic Games on Alpha Centauri, as Victoria Waterfield had wanted to see how her ancestors had lived in the late 16th century. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Apocalypse [+]Loading...["Timewyrm: Apocalypse (novel)"])
After 1938, Orson Welles made several Shakespearean films but the Eighth Doctor did not believe that they were terribly subtle adaptations. (AUDIO: The Time of the Daleks [+]Loading...["The Time of the Daleks (audio story)"])
In October 1987, Alek Zenos cited Shakespeare among others as an example of Britain's rich culture of artists. (AUDIO: We Are The Daleks [+]Loading...["We Are The Daleks (audio story)"])
The Dalek Survival Guide presented an image of a Dalek using its sucker arm to take a copy of The Complete Works of Shakespeare. (PROSE: Dalek Survival Guide [+]Loading...["Dalek Survival Guide (novel)"])
During his tenure as lecturer at St Luke's University in Bristol, the Twelfth Doctor kept a bust of William Shakespeare in his office. (TV: The Pilot [+]Loading...["The Pilot (TV story)"])
In the 25th century, the work of Lynda La Plante was more highly regarded than that of Shakespeare. (PROSE: The Plotters [+]Loading...["The Plotters (novel)"])
The Fourth Doctor told Leela that Shakespeare was the greatest poet in the English language "with [his] assistance." (AUDIO: The Foe from the Future [+]Loading...["The Foe from the Future (audio story)"]) He considered Shakespeare a "charming fellow," but a "dreadful actor." (TV: Planet of Evil [+]Loading...["Planet of Evil (TV story)"]) Conversely, the Fifth Doctor later described him as a "hack" to his companions Peri Brown and Erimem. (AUDIO: The Kingmaker [+]Loading...["The Kingmaker (audio story)"]) The Sixth Doctor quoted Hamlet to the Tremas Master and the the Rani. He called him "the Bard" and intended to meet him again. (TV: The Mark of the Rani [+]Loading...["The Mark of the Rani (TV story)"]) By the time of his tenth incarnation, his opinion of Shakespeare's work had considerably improved as he spoke of it in glowing terms to Martha. (TV: The Shakespeare Code [+]Loading...["The Shakespeare Code (TV story)"])
The Fifth Doctor's companion Turlough studied Shakespeare's works while at Brendon Public School in 1983 but hated them. (AUDIO: The Emerald Tiger [+]Loading...["The Emerald Tiger (audio story)"])
While travelling with the Sixth Doctor, Peri Brown found the original draft of an unknown play by Shakespeare, Mischief Night, in the box-room of the TARDIS. (COMIC: Changes [+]Loading...["Changes (comic story)"])
The Seventh Doctor quoted Shakespeare's line "a rose by any other name" to Rhys, who did not get the reference. (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Witch Mark [+]Loading...["Cat's Cradle: Witch Mark (novel)"])
Martha Jones told Tallulah that she had done a bit of Shakespeare when asked if she had ever been on stage before. (TV: Daleks in Manhattan [+]Loading...["Daleks in Manhattan (TV story)"])
The Tenth Doctor told Mohandas Gandhi that he ranked him with Shakespeare as one of the most amazing human beings who ever lived. (PROSE: Ghosts of India [+]Loading...["Ghosts of India (novel)"])
Personality[[edit] | [edit source]]
Shakespeare was notable for being one of the few humans who, without receiving any known sort of psychic training, was not fooled by the Doctor's psychic paper. The Doctor was very impressed by this fact and applauded him, stating it was proof that he was a genius. (TV: The Shakespeare Code [+]Loading...["The Shakespeare Code (TV story)"])
The Ninth Doctor told Rose Tyler that, despite rumours, Shakespeare was very much heterosexual. (COMIC: A Groatsworth of Wit [+]Loading...["A Groatsworth of Wit (comic story)"]) In spite of this, he still flirted with the Tenth Doctor, to which the Doctor commented, "57 academics just punched the air." (TV: The Shakespeare Code [+]Loading...["The Shakespeare Code (TV story)"])
He was apt to cheat at croquet. (PROSE: City of Death [+]Loading...["City of Death (novelisation)"])
Behind the scenes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- The conflicting revelations in City of the Daleks, All Done with Mirrors and The Kingmaker regarding Shakespeare's true identity have largely been ignored by other sources. The Shakespeare Code, for example, is set after the events of both All Done with Mirrors and The Kingmaker but presents Shakespeare as nothing but the definite article. Additionally, it is not elaborated upon in City of the Daleks whether there was ever a real Shakespeare or not and the story is somewhat ambiguous as to whether its claim could simply be interpreted as Dalek propaganda, with just a single panel being devoted to it.
- In The Shakespeare Code, the Tenth Doctor acts as though he's never met Shakespeare before, despite the Fourth Doctor indicating in City of Death that he knew Shakespeare well enough to help him write Hamlet, and Shakespeare meeting the Fourth Doctor in the novelisation. Reportedly a line of dialogue was written for the later episode to explain this, but the line was cut. The Ninth Doctor also claims in A Groatsworth of Wit that he's known Shakespeare "for ages."
- During The Shakespeare Code there is a moment when the Doctor notices Shakespeare is flirting with him after just having done so with Martha. The Doctor says, "Come on, we can all have a good flirt later!" [in reference to them needing to stop the Carrionites]. Shakespeare responds, "Is that a promise, Doctor?" The Doctor muses, mostly to himself, "Fifty-seven academics just punched the air." This is a reference to the idea that most of Shakespeare's sonnets, including Sonnet 18, are believed by some Shakespearean academics to be addressed to a man, and there is a sizeable body of scholarship on Shakespeare's sexuality.
- In reality, Shakespeare died in April 1616 only according to the Julian calendar — not the Gregorian calendar which is in present use in most western societies.
- William Shakespeare is one of three historical figures who are available as playable characters in the online game TARDIS Tennis.
- In the story of Doctor Who: Legacy, the Seventh Doctor, stressing the importance of preventing the Sontarans' interference in the timeline, cites William Shakespeare as an example of an important person in human history whose existence is endangered.
- In 2016, BBC One aired a televised version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream adapted by Doctor Who head writer and executive producer Russell T Davies, with music by Murray Gold, starring Matt Lucas, Bernard Cribbins, Colin MacFarlane, Richard Wilson, Nonso Anozie and Eleanor Matsuura, and had many of BBC Wales' Doctor Who crew working on it.
External links[[edit] | [edit source]]
Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- ↑ Portions of Apocrypha Bipedium [+]Loading...["Apocrypha Bipedium (short story)"] are taken from a version of Charley's diary which was affected by the Great 2107 AD Cock Up and subsequently restored to a good but imperfect standard by the Elgin decorruption. Charley would have said Shakespeare read about Grinchs and Cats in Hats in the original text, not "Frinchs" and "Cats in Hams".
- ↑ Another mistake of the Elgin decorruption. The proper spelling is Ludo.
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