John Smith and the Common Men ( comic story ) Summary . The Eleventh Doctor has forgotten who he is and believes he is just an ordinary man called John Smith who works in the Department of Commonality . " Smith " is woken up by his alarm on a Monday morning and gets ready for work , thinking about his life . When he arrives at work , he comments that the clock on the corner of the building has always been five minutes slow and it bothers him , but he won ' t complain about it . He enters the building and goes to his desk ( passing all the other Common Men — all of whom wear the same bow tie and tweed blazer ) , which is next to the desk of a man called Harry Sullivan . Harry starts chatting with " John " and mentions something about his sister ' s boyfriend filming a protest . " John " panics and tells him to shut up because personal cameras are illegal and he doesn ' t want to get into trouble . Tuesday morning arrives and once again , the clock is five minutes slow . " Smith " ignores it and gets on with his work like he does everyday , until his routine is completely changed by his boss , Mr Waites , who gives him a promotion . " Smith " doesn ' t want the job because the thought of working with the public scares him but he can ' t turn it down and starts work as an Assistant Mediator the next day , telling people that he can ' t help them with their problems . The Brigadier is one of the people who come to see him . His pension has been cancelled . " Smith " tells him , " I ' m sorry but I can ' t help " . Jamie McCrimmon also comes to see him . He is being sent to a work camp . " Smith " tells him , " I ' m sorry but that ' s above my authority " . Ace comes to see him too . She is getting sent to a Correction Unit . " Smith " tells her , " I ' m sorry but that ' s out of my hands " . Then Clara arrives . She starts to cry because she ' s lost her job as a nanny and has no money left . When " Smith " starts to tell her he can ' t do anything for her she begs him to help , but he turns her away . On Thursday " Smith " has had enough ( once more it is noted that the clock is slow ) so he goes to see Mr Waites and asks for his old job back . Waites will only do that in return for something valuable . " Smith " tells him about Harry ' s sister ' s boyfriend ' s camera and this works . Harry gets arrested . " Smith " does nothing . Mr Waites returns to congratulate " John " and says that he will be staying here " forever . " This sends " Smith " over the edge because he can ' t deal with this life forever and asks why the clock hasn ' t been fixed . Waites insists that it ' s fine , but " Smith " disagrees and in a fit of anger , climbs out of the window , goes out to the clock and pulls the big hand down to the correct time . The hand breaks and he falls . He knows that he is going to die but he doesn ' t really care and the ground rushes up to meet him . . . The Doctor , back in his purple coat and bow tie , jolts awake . He is in a weird rainbow room , on one of the several metal bed that are hooked up to a giant blue head — " Mr Waites " — by wire - like tentacles . It is a mind parasite , which feeds on the realities the people wired to it create . It refers to their dreams as " the Hellscape " and thinks that nobody can escape it , that the Doctor ' s escape was merely a fluke . Just then , Clara wakes up and goes ballistic at the parasite for putting her in such a horrible reality . She and the Doctor pull the tendrils off the other people to save them and then the Doctor grabs two and attaches them to the parasite ' s face . It explodes . Clara and the Doctor walk away , virtually unscathed , and the Doctor congratulates Clara for realising the dream was fake . He thinks it ' s because of all of the lives she ' s lived , but she tells him that the actual reason she knew it wasn ' t real was because " he " wasn ' t in it , and " what kind of a world doesn ' t have the Doctor ? " Plot . " to be added " References . " to be added "