Christopher Benjamin
Encyclopedia
Christopher Benjamin is a British
actor
, born 27 December 1934 in Trowbridge
, Wiltshire
, England
.
He is well known for his roles in some of the UK's biggest cult television programmes. This included playing the same character ("Potter"} in two Patrick McGoohan
dramas, Danger Man
and The Prisoner
, fuelling speculation that they are possibly linked. He was also a regular in The Avengers
and Doctor Who
, playing in three episodes of each, mostly in comedy roles.
He also played recurring roles in several period dramas. He was Sir John Glutton, the regular adversary in the period family adventure series Dick Turpin
, Channing in several episodes of the third series of When The Boat Comes In
, and Prosper Profound in the acclaimed 1967 adaptation of The Forsyte Saga
.
He reprised the role of Henry Gordon Jago
, from the Doctor Who serial The Talons of Weng-Chiang
in four series of Jago and Litefoot audio plays, after a well received episode of the Big Finish Productions
audio C.D. series Doctor Who: The Companion Chronicles entitled The Mahogany Murderers
. He acted alongside Trevor Baxter
who played Professor George Litefoot.
Predominantly a theatre actor, he has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company
. He appeared at Shakespeare's Globe
from 17 June to 5 October 2008 as Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, born 27 December 1934 in Trowbridge
Trowbridge
Trowbridge is the county town of Wiltshire, England, situated on the River Biss in the west of the county, approximately 12 miles southeast of Bath, Somerset....
, Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
He is well known for his roles in some of the UK's biggest cult television programmes. This included playing the same character ("Potter"} in two Patrick McGoohan
Patrick McGoohan
Patrick Joseph McGoohan was an American-born actor, raised in Ireland and England, with an extensive stage and film career, most notably in the 1960s television series Danger Man , and The Prisoner, which he co-created...
dramas, Danger Man
Danger Man
Danger Man is a British television series that was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again between 1964 and 1968. The series featured Patrick McGoohan as secret agent John Drake. Ralph Smart created the program and wrote many of the scripts...
and The Prisoner
The Prisoner
The Prisoner is a 17-episode British television series first broadcast in the UK from 29 September 1967 to 1 February 1968. Starring and co-created by Patrick McGoohan, it combined spy fiction with elements of science fiction, allegory and psychological drama.The series follows a British former...
, fuelling speculation that they are possibly linked. He was also a regular in The Avengers
The Avengers (TV series)
The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...
and Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
, playing in three episodes of each, mostly in comedy roles.
He also played recurring roles in several period dramas. He was Sir John Glutton, the regular adversary in the period family adventure series Dick Turpin
Dick Turpin (TV series)
Dick Turpin is a British television drama series starring Richard O'Sullivan and Michael Deeks. It was created by Richard Carpenter, Paul Knight and Sydney Cole and written by Richard Carpenter, John Kane, Charles Crichton and Paul Wheeler, it was made by Gatetarn, Seacastle productions...
, Channing in several episodes of the third series of When The Boat Comes In
When the Boat Comes In
When the Boat Comes In is a British television period-drama produced by the BBC between 1976 and 1981.The series stars James Bolam as Jack Ford, a First World War veteran who returns to his poverty-stricken town of Gallowshield in the North East of England in the 1920s.The memorable traditional...
, and Prosper Profound in the acclaimed 1967 adaptation of The Forsyte Saga
The Forsyte Saga
The Forsyte Saga is a series of three novels and two interludes published between 1906 and 1921 by John Galsworthy. They chronicle the vicissitudes of the leading members of an upper-middle-class British family, similar to Galsworthy's own...
.
He reprised the role of Henry Gordon Jago
Henry Gordon Jago
Henry Gordon Jago was a character who appeared in the 1977 Doctor Who television serial, The Talons of Weng-Chiang. He was played by Christopher Benjamin. He worked so well with Trevor Baxter's character, Professor George Litefoot, the production team briefly considered giving them their own...
, from the Doctor Who serial The Talons of Weng-Chiang
The Talons of Weng-Chiang
The Talons of Weng-Chiang is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from 26 February to 2 April 1977.-Synopsis:...
in four series of Jago and Litefoot audio plays, after a well received episode of the Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions
Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays based, primarily, on cult British science fiction properties...
audio C.D. series Doctor Who: The Companion Chronicles entitled The Mahogany Murderers
The Mahogany Murderers
The Mahogany Murderers is a Big Finish Productions audiobook based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who....
. He acted alongside Trevor Baxter
Trevor Baxter
Trevor Baxter is a British actor and playwright.He is perhaps best remembered for his appearance in the 1977 Doctor Who serial The Talons of Weng-Chiang as Professor George Litefoot. He reprised his role of Professor Litefoot in an episode of audio series, Doctor Who: The Companion Chronicles:...
who played Professor George Litefoot.
Predominantly a theatre actor, he has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
. He appeared at Shakespeare's Globe
Shakespeare's Globe
Shakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse in the London Borough of Southwark, located on the south bank of the River Thames, but destroyed by fire in 1613, rebuilt 1614 then demolished in 1644. The modern reconstruction is an academic best guess, based...
from 17 June to 5 October 2008 as Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merry Wives of Windsor is a comedy by William Shakespeare, first published in 1602, though believed to have been written prior to 1597. It features the fat knight Sir John Falstaff, and is Shakespeare's only play to deal exclusively with contemporary Elizabethan era English middle class life...
.
Selected credits
- Prosper Profond in The Forsyte SagaThe Forsyte SagaThe Forsyte Saga is a series of three novels and two interludes published between 1906 and 1921 by John Galsworthy. They chronicle the vicissitudes of the leading members of an upper-middle-class British family, similar to Galsworthy's own...
(1967) - Dick TurpinDick Turpin (TV series)Dick Turpin is a British television drama series starring Richard O'Sullivan and Michael Deeks. It was created by Richard Carpenter, Paul Knight and Sydney Cole and written by Richard Carpenter, John Kane, Charles Crichton and Paul Wheeler, it was made by Gatetarn, Seacastle productions...
: Sir John Glutton - Danger ManDanger ManDanger Man is a British television series that was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again between 1964 and 1968. The series featured Patrick McGoohan as secret agent John Drake. Ralph Smart created the program and wrote many of the scripts...
: Potter in Koroshi (1968) - The PrisonerThe PrisonerThe Prisoner is a 17-episode British television series first broadcast in the UK from 29 September 1967 to 1 February 1968. Starring and co-created by Patrick McGoohan, it combined spy fiction with elements of science fiction, allegory and psychological drama.The series follows a British former...
: Potter in The Girl Who Was DeathThe Girl Who Was Death"The Girl Who Was Death" is a television episode of the British science fiction-allegorical series, The Prisoner. It originally aired in the UK on ITV on 18 January 1968...
(1968); Number Two's Assistant in The Chimes of Big BenThe Chimes of Big Ben (The Prisoner)"The Chimes of Big Ben" is the title of the second episode of the British science fiction-allegorical series, The Prisoner. It originally aired in the UK on ITV on 6 October 1967 and was first broadcast in the United States on CBS on 8 June 1968....
(1967); and Labour Exchange Manager in ArrivalArrival (The Prisoner)"Arrival" is the title of the first episode of the British science fiction-allegorical series, The Prisoner. It originally aired in the UK on ITV on 29 September 1967 and was first broadcast in the United States on CBS on 1 June 1968....
(1967). - The AvengersThe Avengers (TV series)The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...
: Swindin in Split (1968); Whittle in Never, Never Say Die (1967); and J.J Hooter in How to Succeed .... at Murder (1966) - The Strauss FamilyThe Strauss FamilyThe Strauss Family is a 1972 Associated Television series, made in England, of eight episodes, about the family of composers of that name, including Johann Strauss I and his sons Johann Strauss II, Eduard Strauss and Josef Strauss....
(1972): Dommayer - Upstairs, DownstairsUpstairs, DownstairsUpstairs, Downstairs is a British drama television series originally produced by London Weekend Television and revived by the BBC. It ran on ITV in 68 episodes divided into five series from 1971 to 1975, and a sixth series shown on the BBC on three consecutive nights, 26–28 December 2010.Set in a...
(A Change of Scene) (1973): Max Weinberg - Doctor WhoDoctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
: Sir Keith Gold in InfernoInferno (Doctor Who)Don Houghton came to Terrence Dicks with an idea for the story based on the real life Project Mohole. A smaller budget for the serial drove the idea of a parallel world, where the studio could use the same actors in multiple roles...
(1970); Henry Gordon Jago in The Talons of Weng-ChiangThe Talons of Weng-ChiangThe Talons of Weng-Chiang is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in six weekly parts from 26 February to 2 April 1977.-Synopsis:...
(1977); and Colonel Hugh in The Unicorn and the WaspThe Unicorn and the Wasp"The Unicorn and the Wasp" is the 7th episode in the revised fourth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was aired by BBC One on 17 May 2008 at 19:00. Perhaps due to its later broadcast, it received an overnight audience rating of 7.7 million, making it the...
(2008)- Henry Gordon Jago in Big FinishBig FinishBig Finish may refer to:* Big Finish Productions, a British company that produces books and audio plays based on science fiction properties* Big Finish Games, the production company behind the Three Cards to Midnight adventure game...
audio dramas Jago & Litefoot (2009–present)
- Henry Gordon Jago in Big Finish
- Sir Hugh Bodrugan in PoldarkPoldarkPoldark is a BBC television series based on the novels written by Winston Graham which was first transmitted in the UK between 1975 and 1977.-Outline:...
(1975) - George Tozer in Murder Most English (1977)
- James Channing in When the Boat Comes InWhen the Boat Comes InWhen the Boat Comes In is a British television period-drama produced by the BBC between 1976 and 1981.The series stars James Bolam as Jack Ford, a First World War veteran who returns to his poverty-stricken town of Gallowshield in the North East of England in the 1920s.The memorable traditional...
(3 episodes, 1977) - Mr. Vincent Crummles/Walter Bray in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas NicklebyThe Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (play)The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby is an eight-hour stage play, presented over two performances, adapted from the Charles Dickens novel of the same name by David Edgar. Directed by John Caird and Trevor Nunn, it opened on 5 June 1980 at the Aldwych Theatre in London. The music and lyrics...
(1982) - Chief Constable in Blott on the LandscapeBlott on the LandscapeBlott on the Landscape is a novel written in 1975 by Tom Sharpe. It was adapted into a 6-part television series for the BBC in 1985.-Plot:The story revolves around the proposed construction of a motorway through Cleene Gorge in rural South Worfordshire...
(1985) - French Ambassador in Yes, Prime Minister (1987)
- George Younger in Thatcher: The Final DaysThatcher: The Final DaysThatcher: The Final Days is a 1991 British television film about the events surrounding the final few days of Margaret Thatcher's time as Prime Minister. It was written by Richard Maher, directed by Tim Sullivan and starred Sylvia Syms in the role of Mrs Thatcher...
(1991) - The Tomorrow PeopleThe Tomorrow PeopleThe Tomorrow People is a British children's science fiction television series, devised by Roger Price. Produced by Thames Television for the ITV Network, the series first ran between 1973 and 1979. The series was re-imagined in 1992, Roger Price acting as executive producer...
: Professor Lawrence Middlemass in Monsoon Man (1994) - Sir William Lucas in Pride and PrejudicePride and Prejudice (1995 TV serial)Pride and Prejudice is a six-episode 1995 British television drama, adapted by Andrew Davies from Jane Austen's 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice. Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth starred as Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. Produced by Sue Birtwistle and directed by Simon Langton, the serial was a BBC...
(1995) - The Pope in Leonardo, the Alan YentobAlan YentobAlan Yentob is a British television executive and presenter who has worked throughout his career at the BBC.-Early life:...
drama documentary for the BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
(2003) - The veteran barrister Mr. Ghaidan in Judge John DeedJudge John DeedJudge John Deed is a British legal drama television series produced by the BBC in association with One-Eyed Dog for BBC One. It was created by G.F. Newman and stars Martin Shaw as Sir John Deed, a High Court judge who tries to seek real justice in the cases before him. It also stars Jenny Seagrove...
- Colonel Surikov in BBC radio's Flying the FlagFlying the Flag-Synopsis:Created at the height of the Cold War, this BBC Radio 4 sitcom chronicled the vagaries of diplomatic life in a fictitious eastern-bloc country...