the application

I first heard about John Barrowman’s new TV show, Tonight’s the Night, when he appeared on The One Show back in March.  He was promoting the show and asking for people to write in with their nominations for members of the public who deserved to have their performance dreams come true.

As March rolled on, I didn’t hear much more about the show and began to look forward to Planet of the Dead.  It wasn’t until the end of March that I became aware of the Alien Talent Search for the first time.  I realised I only had two days to design an idea and fill out the application form.  That sounds easy, but trust me it wasn’t!  It was a case of what can you do that looks good in that short space of time.  Knowing that many people had probably been working on their entries for the last two weeks since the competition had been announced.

After submitting my application it wasn’t until the following week when I got my first phone call.  I can’t really remember what I said; it was all a bit of a blur.  I had a chat with one of the research team, we talked about my alien, about Doctor Who, the competition oh and John.  After it was over I was really excited and was sure that I’d done enough to get the second call back, but there was always a little bit of doubt.  That doubt was washed away when a week later I got the call I’d been waiting for.  I think that was an even better feeling, coming off that call knowing I was going to London, going to the BBC, going to be on TV and hang on a minute, I was going to meet John Barrowman!

the alien activity day

The audition took place all in one day and it was a very long day. We were asked to come in costume, so I travelled the tube with my false nails and walking cane.  As expected, no one looked twice at me!  Arriving at BBC Television centre at around 8:30am I was greeted by the sight of a host of other aliens massing in the main reception area, along with some confused looking BBC staff.  After signing in and waiting to be taken through to the changing room, I became aware that the standard of the competition was going to be high.  I think seeing the girl in the purple body paint told me; this was going to get interesting.

We were taken in groups to the changing rooms and given a run down of the morning and I got to see more of the guys I was up against.  There were some really impressive looking costumes and it was good to hear that everyone was just as nervous as me.  I put off putting the mask on until the last minute; mainly because once it was on I didn’t really want to take it off.

We were walked through into the main green room; this was the first time that we got to see everyone together.  It was quite a funny sight to see us all waiting around in costume, with the BBC runners all looking quite bemused.  Whilst waiting, they handed out to us sheets with the lyrics to I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor, all very cryptic but also very John!

Soon it was time to begin.  We were all led outside to the famous entrance to the BBC and they began to film some video link footage.  They went up and down the roaring line whilst many of the BBC office staff watched from the upper windows.  There was just enough time for a quick water break and a recap of our alien’s mission statement, then we were lead in a rather odd looking line to the studio.

Standing there, backstage I heard John talking and laughing and I realised this was it.  The studio was great, I didn’t know really what to expect, but when I walked into it I blown away.  We soon met John, Denise and Andy.  John told us what to expect, from the day, we did some warm ups, a little choreographed dance and then it was show time.

Standing in number order, I was 1008, we had to enter through the TARDIS, approach the panel and deliver our mission statement.  It was nerve wracking standing backstage watching the others go through.  We did get to see their performances on a monitor, which made it even worse.  I don’t know what it was like for the other twenty-two behind me, but just waiting for seven people was bad enough.

My turn came, and I stood in the smoke and lights waiting for John to call me through.  I was nervous, but the adrenalin was flowing now and I was ready for game time.  I heard the words “Next Alien please” and that was my cue.  Sao Til marched out and faced the panel.  The way they were sitting was a little imposing as they were quite high up, a bit like a group of gladiatorial onlookers.  I had my mission statement ready and reeled it off in full Sao Til mode.  The panel seemed impressed and John asked me about my arm weapon, I explained its use as a scanner and Denise asked for me to scan her.  I kind of guessed someone might ask this, so I was ready, and proceeded to answer in the best Sao Til way.  This was followed by a random question about Justin Timberlake and the panel decided they had seen enough.  The

y asked me to leave but not before asking my to dance away as if listening to Barry White.  I duly obliged and left the studio with a little boogie.

The rest of the morning was taking up by rounds of interviews both in character and out of character, so I never got to see anyone else’s performances, which was a shame.  Lunch broke, and we were all back together in the green room waiting our fate.  This actually took longer than expected, what we didn’t know was the judges were deliberating whilst we ate.

Soon it was time to march back into the studio to hear our fate.  Once assembled we were to be exterminated one by one as John read out our numbers (although the poor Dalek never made it onto TV).  Standing there watching John read out the names, it was a nerve wracking moment.  Each time he said a number I was convinced it was mine.  I tried to keep track of how many he had read out, knowing that only ten would make it to the next round.  One by one people were eliminated, until John said those words “Congratulations, you are the final ten and are one step closer to being on the TARDIS.”

THE FINAL TEN