Ben Jackson

Doctor Who character
Ben Jackson
Ben
Affiliated with	First Doctor Second Doctor
Race	Human
Home planet	Earth
Home era	1966
First appearance	The War Machines
Last appearance	The Faceless Ones
Portrayed by	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.

Contents 1 Character history 2 Other mentions 3 Other appearances 4 List of appearances 4.1 Television 4.2 Novels 4.3 Short stories 4.4 Comics 4.5 Audio stories 5 External links

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, aboard the HMS Teazer, 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 posh, 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. The Doctor seems to think that Ben will become an Admiral and that Polly will look after Ben, but it is unclear if this is a prediction or simply wishing them well.

Other mentions

The 7th Doctor whispers his name in The Curse of Fenric and a vision of Ben is seen along with every other companion aside from Leela on the scanner screen in Resurrection of the Daleks.

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 Short Trips: Past Tense), where the two admit their love for each other. The canonicity of the spin-offs is unclear^{[citation needed]}.

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)
• "Do You Dream in Colour" by Gary Russell (Short Trips: The Ghosts of Christmas)
• "The Slave War" by Una McCormack (Short Trips: The Quality of Leadership)

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)

Audio stories

• Resistance (adventure related by Polly)
• The Three Companions (adventure related by Polly)

External links

• Ben Jackson on TARDIS Index File, an external wiki
• Ben Jackson on the BBC's Doctor Who website

v • d • e Companions of the First Doctor
Season	Season 1								Season 2									Season 3									Season 4 →
Serial	001	002	003	004	005	006	007	008	009	010	011	012	013	014	015	016	017	018	020	021	022	023	024	025	026	027	028	029
Companions	Susan										Vicki									Sara	Dodo
	Barbara																		Katarina							Polly →
	Ian																									Ben →
																Steven

v • d • e Companions of the Second Doctor
Season	← Season 4							Season 5							Season 6
Serial	030	031	032	033	034	035	036	037	038	039	040	041	042	043	044	045	046	047	048	049	050
Companions	← Polly						Victoria							Zoe
	← Ben
		Jamie