Accepted the role of Fleming's Doctor or remained aloof (4,2,4)

'fleming's doctor or remained aloof' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't judge whether it can be defined by this definition.

'accepted the role of' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'accepted' could be 'took' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'took' is located in the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is located in the answer.
'of' could be 'o' and 'o' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?