10 Doctor Who “Mistakes” That Were Totally Intentional

3. Late-Night Performances (The Shakespeare Code)

Doctor Who The End of Time Verity Newman mistake
BBC Studios

Another bit of historical inaccuracy now, this time courtesy of everyone's favourite sexy playwright.

In Martha's first trip to the past with the Tenth Doctor, they travel back to the year 1599 and to the much-famed Globe Theatre in London. Here, they take in a performance of the play Love's Labour's Lost, before embarking on an adventure involving the creation of its sequel.

But here's the catch.

Martha and the Doctor go and see the play during the evening, the time of day that most of us associate with going to the theatre. However, back in the time of Shakespeare, the Globe mostly held performances during the day.

Why? Well, they didn't have electric lighting! That's the entire reason why the Globe has no roof - to let in as much sunlight as possible.

The episode was originally scripted with daytime performances in mind, but when the production was told they could only shoot in the new Globe Theatre at night, the script was changed to reflect this.

It was also felt that the nighttime setting would add more of an ominous atmosphere to the episode, which is a spooky tale about witches and dark magic. So less lighting made sense!

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Jacob Simmons has a great many passions, including rock music, giving acclaimed films three-and-a-half stars, watching random clips from The Simpsons on YouTube at 3am, and writing about himself in the third person.