The Oxford Shakespeare was first printed. This resulted in many controversial choices: for example, presenting "Hamlet" with several famous speeches relegated to appendices on the grounds that Shakespeare added them after the original performances; presenting two separate texts of "King Lear" due to the drastic differences between the two extant texts; and changing the name of Falstaff in "Henry IV Part One" to 'Oldcastle' due to historical evidence that this name was used in the first performances even though it never survived to print. The Oxford "Complete Works" was the first to emphasize Shakespeare's collaborative work, describing "Macbeth", "Measure for Measure" and "Timon
The Shakespeare Code makes reference to the many debates about Shakespeare's sexuality. Shakespeare flirts with Martha multiple times during the episode, and ultimately composes Sonnet 18 for her, calling her his "Dark Lady". This is a reference to the enigmatic female character in Shakespeare's Sonnets, although Sonnet 18 is in fact one of those addressed to a male character, the Fair Youth. Shakespeare subsequently flirts with the Doctor as well, at which the Doctor observes, "Fifty-seven academics just punched the air," a reference to the debates on this subject. There is a running joke throughout the episode in which the Doctor creates an