Christopher Benjamin

Christopher John Benjamin (27 December 1934 – 10 January 2025) was an English actor with many stage and television credits from 1958 to 2016. He played Henry Gordon Jago in the 1977 Doctor Who story The Talons of Weng-Chiang, a role he reprised for the audio drama series Jago & Litefoot (2010–2017, 2021), and made two other appearances in the series, portraying Sir Keith Gold in Inferno (1970) and Colonel Hugh Curbishley in "The Unicorn and the Wasp" (2008). He also provided the voice of Rowf in the animated film The Plague Dogs (1982). His radio acting career included two BBC Radio adaptations of Christopher Lee's crime drama Colvil and Soames.

Benjamin was born in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, on 27 December 1934. He served in the Royal Air Force for his national service and studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Benjamin appeared regularly in television and radio from 1965. 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 played the Old Man (boss of Philip Roath) in the Thames Television comedy by Peter Tilbury, It Takes a Worried Man (1981). He was also an occasional guest star in The Avengers and Doctor Who, making three appearances in each, mostly in comedy roles.

Benjamin 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 Profond 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 thirteen 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,[ 11] [ 12] acting alongside Trevor Baxter as Professor George Litefoot. He played Sir William Lucas in the BBC's 1995 production of Pride and Prejudice.[ 13]

Benjamin's few film roles included appearances in Ring of Bright Water (1969), Brief Encounter (1974), Hawk the Slayer (1980), The Tichborne Claimant (1998) and Angel (2007). His final screen appearance was in The Legend of Tarzan (2016).[ 14]

Predominantly a stage actor, after six years in repertory theatres, Manchester, Salisbury and Bristol Old Vic (1958–1965), he performed regularly over twenty years with the Royal Shakespeare Company.[ 15] He played Nick Bottom five times, at Bristol Old Vic, Regents Park, on Radio 3, at the RSC (including a tour of Australia and New Zealand) and finally at Glyndebourne in The Fairy-Queen, before retiring from the stage in 2012.[ 16] [ 17]

Benjamin's West End performances included How the Other Half Loves at the Duke of Yorks, A Voyage Round My Father at Wyndhams, The Clandestine Marriage at the Queens Theatre, Sweeney Todd at the Royal National Theatre, and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui at the Saville (with Leonard Rossiter).[ 16] He also appeared in several plays at the Donmar, the Kings Head, Mermaid, etc.[ 16] He played Falstaff in rep at Salisbury, at Regents Park, and at the Globe in 2008 and after touring the US and UK in 2010.[ 18] [ 19]

Benjamin lived in Hampstead, London, with his wife, Anna Fox, an actress and writer.[ 20] He died on 10 January 2025, at the age of 90.[ 21] [ 22] [ 23]