The Shakespeare Code it is one of his own from "Henry V", which was probably written in early 1599. When questioning Shakespeare about witches, Martha remarks that he has written about witches; a reference to "Macbeth", which Shakespeare denies. At the time in which the episode is set, Shakespeare had yet to write "Macbeth" or "Hamlet", which prominently feature the paranormal, such as witches and ghosts. There are numerous other allusions to Shakespeare's plays. Just before the Doctor steps out of the TARDIS, he exclaims "Brave new world", from Act V Scene I of "The Tempest". In an early scene a sign is
The Shakespeare Code "Sycorax" to Shakespeare, Shakespeare says that he will use the name (the joke is that the name in fact derives from Caliban's mother in Shakespeare's play "The Tempest".) Other sequences include subtle references to much earlier episodes. One of the putative lines of "Love's Labour's Won", "the eye should have contentment where it rests", is taken from episode three of the 1965 serial "The Crusade" — a story consciously written in Shakespearean style. The episode concerns the "lost" Shakespeare play "Love's Labour's Won", which is referred to in more than one historical document, but which may be just an alternative