Mark Carville
Mark Carville, born Myamus on the planet Byulna, was one of the original three members of the Common Men. He and the other two in the band — also from Byulna — were brought to Earth as part of the selfish schemes of Lenny Kruger, who planned to use their popularity to render himself the most powerful man in Mutter's Spiral.
Biography[[edit] | [edit source]]
Myamus was from the Court of Caldee on Byulna, in which his mother was the Queen, and his father was one of miners under the castle. Myamus was kidnapped at a very young age by Lenny Kruger, who brought him to 20th century Earth, where he grew up in Liverpool as Mark Carville inside a flesh suit, thinking himself human.
In 1957, he got together with two other locals, James O'Meara and Korky Goldsmith, and formed the Common Men. The band was not particularly popular, and — by the suggestion of the Fifth Doctor — became the backing group for Aubrey Waites in 1963. This new alliance, adopting the name John Smith and the Common Men, became hugely popular within weeks, and quickly rose up to #2 on the British charts, just below the Beatles. Mark never found out he was an alien.
Alternate timeline[[edit] | [edit source]]
In an alternate timeline created by Lenny Kruger, the Common Men became the most popular band in the world in the Beatles' place. They met Nyssa in 1950s Hamburg, and let her stay in their hotel for a few nights. He and James met the Fifth Doctor close afterwards, who explained their origins to them in the Pfannkuchen. They soon, though, had their memories wiped of the encounter by Lenny.
They then unknowingly re-encountered the Doctor on 31 October 1963, when they arrived in London after a plane ride, only to find hundreds of fans screaming for them outside. The Doctor warned them of Lenny walking through the crowd with an impulse laser, and James invited him for a drink.
The group met the Time Lord once more in 1967. They were at the time in a small Welsh town, promised a free private seminar with the guru Paravatar. Paravatar, secretly a retired time traveller hypnotised the musicians into revealing their true identities. After waking up, the Common Men were finally approached by Lenny, who quickly became their new manager.
According to James, when Korky once wrote a song, Mark never even came in to work on it with them.
Mark was, around 1970, years after the Common Men split up, was interviewed for six days by Rita in his house in New York. By this point, Lenny had controlled him to no longer trust the Doctor. When the Doctor did arrive at the end of those six days, the two began to get along again. While sharing pictures with the man, though, Mark was transformed into his true form without the others. He soon killed fellow band member James out of anger.
Lenny, upset that all did not work to plan, further manipulated in time. In yet another timeline, the Common Men got back together. After the Doctor explained the situation to them, they agreed to help pretend that Lenny killed James, thus spreading bad word about him throughout the world. Lenny, soon to die because of this, finally let the Doctor restore the original timeline, and Mark returned to normal. (AUDIO: 1963: Fanfare for the Common Men)
