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Sergeant Benton
(1968 - 1975) |
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| John Levene |
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Born in 1941 in Salisbury,
as John Words, at the age of 21 he left home to
work in a mens clothing store in London. During
this time he signed on at an agency who supplied
walk on actors. Using the acting name John Levene
various television parts included Adam Adamant
Lives, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, Z
Cars and Doctor Who where he played the
part of a Cyberman and a then again as a Yeti. He
was then offered the part of Benton a small part
in the 1968 story "Invasion". Despite not having
any formal training it was because of the character's
popularity that he was asked to recreate the role
as a UNIT regular from the 1970 story "The
Ambassadors of Death". On leaving Doctor
Who he gave up acting as a career to set up
his own company specialising in conference presentations.
He has also worked as an entertainer on cruise liners
and has now emigrated to the USA where he has returned
to acting under the name John Anthony Blake. He
however, returned to the role of Benton in the 1988
Reeltime Pictures video production Wartime.
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 When Benton first appeared on Doctor Who,
no one realised that he would be considered a companion but
his role may have started small but it grew in popularity until
he became one of the most popular characters on the program
during that time.
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| The Invasion |
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Benton
was a very competent member of the British branch of the newly
formed United Nations Intelligence Taskforce (UNIT) which is
under the command of Brigadier
Lethbridge-Stewart. He was initially
seen as a Corporal but he rose in the ranks as the show progressed,
being promoted to Sergeant prior to the events of "The
Ambassadors of Death" and remaining in that rank throughout
the remainder of the Third
Doctor's era. He was then promoted
to Warrant Officer during the Fourth
Doctor's story "Robot" and
then again to Regimental Sergeant Major in "Terror
of the Zygons", some sources suggesting that he was
promoted further to Lieutenant later in his career.
His
capabilities impressed all, and he showed great stamina and
was very practical when faced with the many varied problems.
It was because of this that The Brigadier singled him out for
special duties and this included the watching of a strange electronics
firm which is where he had his first encounter with The Doctor
who was then in his second
incarnation, Benton bringing The
Doctor and Jamie to The Brigadier after The Brigadier recognised
them from Benton's surveillance photos ("The
Invasion").
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| Inferno |
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Steadfast
and doggedly loyal to both The Doctor and to The Brigadier he
was ever dependable and could be counted on in moments of crisis.
He was unflinchingly courageous and would always be right in
the foreground fighting the variety of strange alien invaders,
crazed scientists and natural menaces that UNIT was faced with.
He was the impeccable right hand man to both of them and his
ability to command and to gain loyalty in the troops was very
evident and he would be the first to be called upon for help.
Despite this, when the time came for The Brigadier to promote
a sergeant to the rank of Captain, Benton recommended the more
recent recruit of Sergeant Mike
Yates for the job, as he felt
that he was ill-suited for the more political aspects of such
a career compared to Mike ("The
Scales of Injustice").
He had an amiable good humour and cheerfulness
both on and off duty and was portrayed as a nice and honest
man, being as efficient with a gun or a kettle depending on
the situation, to the extent that The Doctor once commented
that Benton made one of the finest cups of coffee he'd encountered
(The finest being apparently made by Mrs Samuel Pepys). Despite
his working class background he was well liked by both his junior's
and senior's and was also well thought of by Jo Grant and
then Sarah
Jane Smith. He was always concerned for the safety of anyone
who was put in his care - to the point that he went to great
effort to avoid killing villagers who were possessed by alien
parasites even when they were trying to kill him and his men
("Last
of the Gaderene") -, and he was especially devoted
to Jo and would always try to protect her. Although he described
himself as a straightforward man operating on the military principle
of saluting what moved and whitewashing what didn’t ("The
Devil Goblins From Neptune"), he made it clear more
than once that he would obey a person before he obeyed rank
if the two ever conflicted, such as when he encouraged The Doctor
to escape captivity even after a general had accused The Doctor
of being responsible for the current crisis ("Invasion
of the Dinosaurs"), or siding with the Seventh Doctor
despite the rest of UNIT no longer trusting him after they'd
been affected by brainwashing VR equipment secretly supplied
by The Doctor’s old enemy The
Meddling Monk ("No
Future").
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| The Dæmons |
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Although he dismissed himself as a simple soldier, Benton
showed great courage even when dealing with such unusual situations
as travelling along a time bridge to a mysterious island over
thirty years in the past in order to rescue The Doctor and Liz Shaw ("The
Eye of the Giant"). He also showed a surprising
intelligence when he managed to follow an explanation about
how the temporal teleportation device TOMTIT worked, clarifying
to The Brigadier that it moved objects ‘between now and
now’ by passing the object through 'temporal molecules',
the same episode seeing Benton catching The
Master off-guard
even after The Master had almost perfectly copied The Brigadier’s
voice to give him fake orders simply because The Master referred
to him as ‘dear fellow’ over the phone, Benton recognising
that the ever-professional Brigadier wouldn't do something like
that ("The
Time Monster"). Although he never underestimated
the danger that The Master could pose to Earth, Benton was the
man responsible for The Brigadier recruiting The Master’s
assistance while UNIT faced an invasion from an alternate Earth
while The Doctor was away, recognising that The Master’s
advanced knowledge could be useful even if The Master himself
couldn’t be trusted ("The
Face of the Enemy").
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| The Three Doctors |
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His outlook
on life was very much down to Earth and even though he did not
really fully understand The Doctor he was rarely phased by anything,
his only obvious sign of discomfort in the series being when
he was regressed to an infant and appeared stark naked before
his colleagues after he was returned to the proper age ("The
Three Doctors"). His casual approach to events was particularly
apparent during his first experience with the TARDIS’s
interior when UNIT HQ came under attack by Omega's Gell Guards.
When The Doctor asked the clearly-amazed Benton if he was going
to comment on the interior’s size in relation to the exterior,
Benton simply commented that such a thing was obvious, adding
that nothing to do with The Doctor surprised him any more. During
the same crisis, he had little trouble accepting the idea of
two Doctors being in the same place when even The Brigadier
showed some discomfort at the idea, working with the Second
Doctor to investigate Omega's gel-creature after the Third Doctor
was abducted by it ("The Three Doctors").
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| The Android Invasion |
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Benton's casual attitude towards The Doctor
was seen once again when The Doctor regenerated ("Planet
of the Spiders"), Benton quickly accepting The Brigadier's
explanation for the new Doctor despite not having witnessed
the transformation himself ("Robot"). Although the
new Doctor was more distant than the old one, Benton continued
to prove himself to be as dependable as ever, rescuing the Fourth
Doctor and Sarah when they were captured by the Zygons ("Terror
of the Zygons") and verifying The Doctor's identity when
he was contacted to help find the recently-captured Brigadier
while UNIT had been taken over by another organisation ("Heart
of TARDIS").
During a later encounter with The Brigadier,
the Fifth
Doctor learned that Benton had left
UNIT to become a second hand car salesman ("Mawdryn
Undead"). Despite his departure, The Doctors
continued to remember Benton fondly, the Fifth
Doctor once commenting that Benton was one of
the few soldiers he had always managed to get
along with ("Warmonger"),
and the Ninth
Doctor appreciating a brief meeting with
Benton’s father - apparently his son's
inspiration for joining the armed forces - when
he and Rose Tyler encountered the senior Benton
in the trenches during a visit to the First
World War ("The Forgotten"). Benton
apparently returned to UNIT some time prior
to 2000, or at least retained contacts in that
organisation, as he was able to answer Jo Grant’s
inquiries about the activities of the ruthless
Corporal Hynes ("Genocide"), the same
novel revealing that he was now married with
at least three children.
It has often
been said that the British Army is the best
in the world because it has the best non-commissioned
officers in the world. If this is the case then
one of the best examples must be the type of
man portrayed as Benton.
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