Hamlet

Hamlet was a play written by William Shakespeare. It was also the name of the titular character, a prince of Denmark.

Inspirations
The Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones visited Shakespeare in 1599. They inspired him to write about father-son relationships, a main theme of Hamlet. Shakespeare also mentioned the name of his deceased son, Hamnet. (TV: The Shakespeare Code)

The idea to focus on Hamlet specifically was first discussed at the court of Elizabeth I. The First Doctor, Ian Chesterton, Barbara Wright and Vicki Pallister used the Time-Space Visualiser to witness Shakespeare's initial rejection of Francis Bacon's thoughts on writing a play about Hamlet, who told Bacon the story was "not quite in [his] style". However, they then saw Shakespeare appear to warm to the idea after he'd left Bacon's presence. (TV: The Chase)

Drafts
In his first thoughts about the play, Shakespeare wrote that Hamlet would be the son of a dead King who discovered that his uncle murdered his father and married his mother to steal the throne. He also decided Elsinore would be the main setting, which was in Denmark, or possibly Finland.

Shakespeare considered several possibilities for how Hamlet would find out his uncle's crimes including hidden papers although that plot device was "never very satisfactory", a confession from his mother, a confession from his uncle and a guess before settling on a magician telling him. He drafted this scene in his notes, the character clearly being based upon the Eleventh Doctor. (PROSE: Notes on a Play)

The First Doctor collaborated with Shakespeare between drafts one and two (PROSE: Byzantium!) and the Fourth Doctor claimed to have helped him write down the final draft of Hamlet after he sprained his wrist writing sonnets. This manuscript was acquired by Scaroth in the 20th century. (TV: City of Death, PROSE: The Stranger, The Writer, His Wife and the Mixed Metaphor) By the time of the final draft, the magician had been written out of the play with his role now fulfilled by the ghost of Hamlet's father. (PROSE: Notes on a Play)

Behind the scenes

 * In The Chase, Bacon speaks of Hamlet as if he's common knowledge. Indeed, Shakespeare warms to the idea without ever having been told who Hamlet was. The direct implication is that Hamlet is a real person in the DWU. This marks a clear distinction between the DWU and our world. In the real world, Shakespeare never intended that Hamlet be taken as a biography. The character of Hamlet is an entire fiction. However, in the real world it is theorised Shakespeare wrote Hamlet in response to a less successful play about Hamlet. This would have been based on the story of Amleth, a legendary Danish Prince.
 * In The Mark of the Rani, the Sixth Doctor quotes a famous verse from the work ("There are more things in heaven and earth, than are dreamt of in your philosophy"), even if it is not explicitly attributed to it.

Doctor Who actors in Hamlet

 * In 1947, the first telecast version of the play also saw the television debut of actor Patrick Troughton in the role of Horatio.
 * A 1948 was the cinematic debut of Patrick Troughton in the role of the Player King. The film also had the first major film role for Peter Cushing who played Osric.
 * In 1980, Derek Jacobi played Hamlet, Lalla Ward played Ophelia, and Claire Bloom played Gertrude in a BBC TV production of the play, opposite Patrick Stewart as Claudius. The production also included one more Time Lord: Geoffrey Beevers was the murderer in the play within the play.
 * In 1996, Jacobi took the role of Claudius in a film that starred Kenneth Branagh as Hamlet. Brian Blessed, who had previously played Yrcanos in Mindwarp, played the ghost of King Hamlet. Richard Briers, who had played the Chief Caretaker in Paradise Towers, played Polonius. Nicholas Farrell, who would go on to play Brian Green in Children of Earth, played Horatio.
 * In 2002, Christopher Eccleston played the Hamlet at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.
 * In 2008, David Tennant took on the role of Hamlet in a Royal Shakespeare Company mounting of the play — opposite Stewart who once again played Claudius.