Genesis Of The Doctor - A Doctor Who Story

Interlude

Clive Archer didn't set out to create the 'Fallen Angel' meme, he had set out to prove a point to himself.

A shout from a 'Star Songs' theatre runner shocked him out of his reverie, "Five minutes until curtain-up Clive!" He jumped to his feet and spilled his coffee over the lap of his elaborate angel costume in the process.

"Oh My God!!" shouted Clive, both in shock and disbelief. "It's all over me.  Ow!  I'm so sorry, I can't go on now, not looking like this."

"Sorry Clive," said the runner, looking at him doubtfully.  "There's no time to find a replacement, this is a live show.  You've signed an agreement; you must go on."

Clive came from a family of successful entertainers; his mother had been a popular singer, his father a well-known comedian and his siblings were both in the process of graduating from the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts.  He was not a successful entertainer; He was not a successful anything - for want of trying.  His performance in 'Star Songs' was his attempt to prove once and for all that he was not "tone deaf" and that he had just as much a right to be on stage as the rest of his talented family.

Making the decision to sing live in front of a television audience of several million was Clive's first mistake.  His second mistake was not spilling a mug of hot coffee over his costume, his second mistake had been stealing his mother's tranquilisers from her bedside cabinet, smuggling them into the television centre and then necking them in an attempt to steady his nerves. 

Clive had never taken tranquilisers before - the most potent drug that he had ever taken was ibuprofen, and that had given him the spins.  He rose to his feet and steadied himself against the dressing room table.  He looked at his worried face in the brightly-lit mirror and tried to decide if he could pull this off.  In the corner of the mirror was a small note with a heart drawn on it in red pen and a message:

YOU CAN DO THIS SON!

Clive smiled lopsidedly at the note and muttered to himself, "Yes I can!".

"I certainly hope so Clive," replied the theatre runner, opening the door for him to exit.

Seconds later Clive was being ushered out onto the Star Songs stage.  Blinking under the glare of the theatre lights, he looked out across the stage to see many rows of packed seats stretching back into the theatre, hundreds of expectant faces, the stern faces of the judging panel in front of them and the gaping lenses of the television cameras all pointing directly at him.

"Clive Archer everyone!" came an extremely loud voice behind him, presumably from a speaker behind him.  Clive jumped in shock for the second time that day, producing a flurry of chuckles from the audience.  'Weren't tranquilisers supposed to make you calmer?' he wondered to himself.

Looking down at his costume Clive stared at the brown coffee stain covering his crotch and started rubbing nervously at it in a vain attempt to brush it way.  He felt a strong need to escape the scene – this was too much – this was a mistake – what had he been thinking?  He also felt an even stronger need to sit down on the stage and have a nice rest.  He resisted both of these urges and decided that he had to pull himself together.  This was important.  You can do this son!

An urgent beep sounded in Clive's ear, his cue that he really had to start singing now.  Straight away.  Now.

Clive wasn't sure later why he started walking slowly forward, towards the audience, towards the judges and towards the cameras, but that's what he did.  He walked unsteadily and not in a straight line but at least he managed to put one foot in front of the other as he launched into the opening lines of Robbie William's "Angels", a beautiful song that he was simultaneously murdering.

A roar went up from the audience and Clive began to smile as he sang.  Heartened by the strong response he increased his speed, not realising that the crowd were shouting, "Stop!!"

Clive fell head-first into the orchestra pit separating the judges from the stage and his singing career was over.