Ben Jackson Biography

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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 merchant marine 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 appeared in the First Doctor serial, The War Machines, when he met Polly and Dodo in a London nightclub called the Inferno. Ben was feeling depressed and angry because he had a six-month shore posting while his ship was going to the West Indies, but Polly and Dodo tried to cheer him up. When Polly was accosted by another patron in the Inferno, Ben came to her rescue. Eventually, Ben and Polly aided the Doctor in his fight against the rogue artificial intelligence known as WOTAN. They were bearers of Dodo's decision to stay in 1966 to the Doctor, and accidentally got carried away in the TARDIS when they tried to return Dodo's key to the time machine.

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

Eventually, the TARDIS found 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 decided to remain behind to resume their lives without disruption as the Doctor and Jamie travelled on.

What happened to Ben after his return to Earth is not known. The Doctor seemed to think that Ben would become an Admiral and that Polly would look after Ben, but it is unclear if it was a prediction or simply wishing them well.

Other appearances

In the spin-off short story "Mondas Passing" by Paul Grice (in the anthology Short Trips) which takes place in 1986, it was revealed that Ben and Polly eventually went their separate ways and married other people. Ben met 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 Short Trips: Past Tense), where the two admitted 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
  

Short stories

• "Mondas Passing" by Paul Grice (Short Trips)
  
• "That Time I Nearly Destroyed The World Whilst Looking For a Dress" by Joseph Lidster (Short Trips: Past Tense)
  
• "Pluto" by Dale Smith (Short Trips: The Solar System)
  

Comics

• "Food for Thought" by Nicholas Briggs and Colin Andrew (Doctor Who Magazine 218â??220)
  

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