Ben Jackson (Doctor Who)

Doctorwhocharacter

Ben Jackson
name=Ben
series=Doctor Who
affiliation=First Doctor Second Doctor
race=Human
planet=Earth
era=1966
start= The War Machines
finish= The Faceless Ones
portrayed=Michael Craze

Ben Jackson is a fictional character played by Michael Craze in the long-running British science fiction television series "Doctor Who". A seaman in the Royal Navy from 1966, he was a companion of the First and Second Doctors and a regular in the programme from 1966 to 1967.

Character history

Ben first appears in the First Doctor serial, "The War Machines", when he meets Polly and Dodo in a London nightclub called the Inferno. As an Able Seaman serving in the Royal Navy, Ben is feeling depressed and angry because he has a six-month shore posting while his ship is deployed to the West Indies, but Polly and Dodo try to cheer him up. When Polly is accosted by another patron in the Inferno, Ben comes to her rescue. Eventually, Ben and Polly aid the Doctor in his fight against the rogue artificial intelligence known as WOTAN. Afterward, Ben and Polly are the bearers of the news of Dodo's decision to stay in 1966 to the Doctor, and accidentally get carried away in the TARDIS when they try to return Dodo's key to the time machine.

Ben is a salt-of-the-Earth kind of fellow, dependable, faithful, but prone to be suspicious when kept in the dark or not understanding what was going on. He is very attached to Polly, considering her , giving her the nickname of "Duchess" and appointing himself as both her protector and that of the Doctor's. He is present with Polly when the First Doctor regenerates into the Second, and continues to travel with the Second Doctor.

Eventually, the TARDIS finds its way back to 1966 London (in "The Faceless Ones") on the very day Ben and Polly had left (although about a year had passed for them). They decide to remain behind to resume their lives without disruption as the Doctor and Jamie travel on.

What happens to Ben after his return to Earth is not known.

Other appearances

In the spin-off short story "Mondas Passing" by Paul Grice (in the anthology "Short Trips") which takes place in 1986, it is revealed that Ben and Polly have gone their separate ways and married other people. Ben meets a divorced Polly again with the help of the Second Doctor in 1999 ("That Time I Nearly Destroyed The World Whilst Looking For a Dress" by Joseph Lidster, published in ""), where the two admit their love for each other. The canonicity of the spin-offs is unclear.

List of appearances

Television

;Season 3
*"The War Machines";Season 4
*"The Smugglers"
*"The Tenth Planet"
*"The Power of the Daleks"
*"The Highlanders"
*"The Underwater Menace"
*"The Moonbase"
*"The Macra Terror"
*"The Faceless Ones"

Novels

;Virgin Missing Adventures
*"Invasion of the Cat-People" by Gary Russell

;Past Doctor Adventures
*"The Murder Game" by Steve Lyons
*"The Roundheads" by Mark Gatiss
*"Dying in the Sun" by Jon de Burgh Miller
*"Ten Little Aliens" by Stephen Cole

;Telos Doctor Who novellas
*"Wonderland" by Mark Chadbourn

hort stories

*"Mondas Passing" by Paul Grice ("Short Trips")
*"That Time I Nearly Destroyed The World Whilst Looking For a Dress" by Joseph Lidster ("")
*"Pluto" by Dale Smith ("")
*"Do You Dream in Colour" by Gary Russell ("")
*"The Slave War" by Una McCormack ("")

Comics

*"The Tests of Trefus" by David Brian ("Doctor Who Annual 1968")
*"World Without Night" by David Brian ("Doctor Who Annual 1968")
*"Food for Thought" by Nicholas Briggs and Colin Andrew ("Doctor Who Magazine" 218–220)

External links

* [http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Ben_Jackson Ben Jackson] at [http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/ "The TARDIS Index File" website]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/companions/page8.shtml Ben Jackson on the BBC's "Doctor Who" website]