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Christopher Benjamin
Born	(1934-12-27)27 December 1934 Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England
Died	10 January 2025(2025-01-10) (aged 90)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1958–2016
Spouse	Anna Fox ​(m. 1959)​

Christopher Benjamin (27 December 1934 – 10 January 2025) was an English actor with many stage and television credits from 1958 to 2016. He is perhaps best remembered for playing Henry Gordon Jago in the 1977 Doctor Who story The Talons of Weng-Chiang, a role he reprised years later for the audio drama series Jago & Litefoot (2010–2017, 2021).

He made two other Doctor Who appearances, 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.

Background

Benjamin was born in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England on 27 December 1934.

Benjamin retired from acting and lived in Hampstead, London, with his wife, Anna Fox, an actress and writer. He died on 10 January 2025, at the age of 90.

Career

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.

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 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. He acted alongside Trevor Baxter who played Professor George Litefoot. He was Sir William Lucas in the acclaimed 1995 production of Pride and Prejudice.

His 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).

Predominantly a stage actor, after six years in repertory theatres, Manchester, Salisbury and Bristol Old Vic (1958–1965) he has performed regularly over twenty years with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He has played Bottom five times, at Bristol Old Vic, Regents Park, Radio 3, 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.

His 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). He has also appeared in several plays at the Donmar, the Kings Head, Mermaid, etc. He has played Falstaff in rep at Salisbury, at Regents Park, and at the Globe in 2008 and after touring the US and UK in 2010.

Selected filmography

References

1. Profile, behindthevoiceactors.com; accessed 23 January 2016.
2. Lee, Christopher (19 September 2019). "Colvil & Soames: The Complete Series 1-2". Retrieved 12 February 2024.
3. ^ "Christopher Benjamin - BFI". Archived from the original on 16 September 2017. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
4. "An Evening with Louis MacNeice - Lee Montague 10th Oct". www.keatscommunitylibrary.org.uk.
5. "Christopher Benjamin 1934–2025". Doctor Who News. 15 January 2025. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
6. "On behalf of the family I've been asked to officially share the announcement of the death of the wonderful Christopher Benjamin. Actor, father, husband and friend". Lisa Bowerman on X. Retrieved 16 January 2025.
7. "Christopher Benjamin". TV Guide.
8. "The Danger Man Website". danger-man.co.uk.
9. "Soul Mates (1981)". BFI. Archived from the original on 3 July 2022.
10. "Christopher Benjamin". www.aveleyman.com.
11. "Jail Birds (1979)". BFI. Archived from the original on 25 October 2020.
12. ".:: WHEN THE BOAT COMES IN ::". www.britishdrama.org.uk.
13. "BBC - Doctor Who Classic Episode Guide - The Talons of Weng Chiang - Details". BBC.
14. "Jago & Litefoot Series One | Doctor Who Reviews". 9 January 2018.
15. "BFI Screenonline: Pride and Prejudice (1995) Credits". www.screenonline.org.uk.
16. "Christopher Benjamin | Movies and Filmography". AllMovie.
17. "Search | RSC Performances | Shakespeare Birthplace Trust". collections.shakespeare.org.uk.
18. ^ "Christopher Benjamin | Theatricalia". theatricalia.com.
19. "The Fairy Queen, Glyndebourne" – via www.thetimes.co.uk.
20. "Henry IV, Part One (2004): Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park, London | BBA Shakespeare". bbashakespeare.warwick.ac.uk.
21. Brantley, Ben (31 October 2010). "A World of Silliness, but No Winking This Time". The New York Times.

External links

• Christopher Benjamin at IMDb
• Christopher Benjamin at the Internet Broadway Database
• Christopher Benjamin discography at Discogs

• 1934 births
• 2025 deaths
• 20th-century English male actors
• 21st-century English male actors
• British male Shakespearean actors
• English male film actors
• English male stage actors
• English male television actors
• English male voice actors
• Male actors from Wiltshire
• People from Trowbridge
• Royal Shakespeare Company members