Ben Jackson

Benjamin "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 to the First and Second Doctors and a regular in the programme from 1966 to 1967. Ben appeared in 9 stories (36 episodes). The War Machines, the character's first appearance, is the only one of his stories to exist fully in the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) archives. 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. An Able Seaman in the Royal Navy, serving aboard , Ben is feeling depressed and angry because he has been posted to barracks for six months' shore leave while his ship is deployed to the West Indies. Polly and Dodo try to cheer him up. When another patron accosts Polly in the club, Ben comes to her rescue. Eventually, Ben and Polly aid the Doctor in his battle against the rogue artificial intelligence known as WOTAN. Afterwards, when Ben and Polly bear the Doctor news of Dodo's decision to stay in 1966 and try to return Dodo's key to the time machine, they accidentally get carried away in the TARDIS. It is implied that these events occur on the last day of Ben's shore posting: in The Smugglers, he pleads, "make sure that I get back by teatime, Doctor. I've got to get back to my ship by tonight." Ben is a salt-of-the-Earth kind of fellow, dependable and faithful, but prone to become suspicious when kept in the dark or not understanding what is going on. In The Power of the Daleks Ben reveals that, as a child, he lived opposite a brewery. He is very attached to Polly—whom he considers posh, nicknaming her "Duchess"—and appoints himself protector of both her and the Doctor. He is present with Polly when the Doctor regenerates for the first time, and continues to travel with the Second Doctor. During his travels with Polly and the new Doctor, he encounters Daleks, Cybermen and Macra, and meets the Doctor's next companion, Jamie McCrimmon. Eventually, the TARDIS finds its way back to 1966 London (in The Faceless Ones) on 20 July—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, leaving the Doctor and Jamie to travel on.