Adopt a Tiger (7)

Terrence Oblong the tiger was going to be a TV star.

The programme he auditioned for was a drama about a young woman, Jilly, who inherited a tiger from a distant relative. The tiger's role called for it to be frightening (in the early episodes) but later to be revealed as kind, loving and with a sense of humour. The other tigers auditioned could perform one of these, some were so fierce that the viewer could never be sympathetic towards them, others just lacked the level of snarl required for the early scenes. But it wasn't just his versatility, Terrence had a certain sparkle in his eyes.  "He's a star," the director had said, just minutes into the audion. And thus a star was born.

Susan no longer worked, so she went along to filming, claiming a 'handlers fee' for so doing, thus adding to the generous fee that Terrence earned. She also took along Billy the Pie, the clown who did much of the day to day care for the tiger, having had similar responsibilities in his circus days. 

Susan didn't recognise most of the cast, but the woman playing the lead was a big star, Amelia Adnams, who'd won Oscars, Baftas and was just about the biggest name on the planet. Susan was therefore most surprised when, at the start of the first day's filming, she walked over to say hello.

"I hope you don't mind my introducing myself," Amelia said, "But I heard your story and it sounds just like my character's, Jilly. I could really learn from how you've dealt with it, how your friends reacted, things like that. Can I hang around with you when I'm not shooting?"

"Of course, I don't have many famous actors ask to hang around with me." 

However, though Amelia was as brilliant as you might expect, the rest of the supporting cast were very average, wooden, with two-dimensional scripts and very little action. 

"You'd be better than any of this lot," Susan said to Billy, "They're so boring."

"I'm not a TV star," Billy said, just a circus clown."

"But I think you could do it," Susan said. "You're one of those people everyone looks at when you enter the room."

"That is because I have got purple hair, big bright shoes and a red nose."

But the Director clearly agreed, as during a break between shooting he came over to speak to Susan.

"This Billy, is he really a clown, only he seems to know a lot about tigers?"

"Yes, he helped looked after the tigers in his circus."

"So that's a real thing, clowns do know about tigers?"

"I think everyone at the circus mucks in."

"Would you mind if we borrowed the idea of Jilly hiring a clown to help look after the tiger, the script needs a bit of colour?"

"Not at all."

"And would you mind if we asked Billy to play the part. He's here every day anyway and it would save a lot of time getting Terrence used to a new clown."

"I'd be delighted."

And so Billy was cast as the clown helping to look after. There were some swift script edits and a few of the duller cast members were edited out.  Billy and Amy clicked immediately and he was soon showing her the funniest way to throw a pie and backing up his argument with graphs and statistics. They worked on screen as well, the addition of a clown helped power the plot, as Jilly's life, already thrown by the arrival of a tiger, was changed further by the arrival of, and developing friendship with, a professional clown.

No sooner had filming finished than Susan took a call from Midsummer Murders, who were filming an episode about a series of suspicious deaths at Midsummer Zoo. Terrence the tiger was now a bona fide TV star and Susan's life was never going to be the same again.