Christopher Benjamin 1934-2025

The actor Christopher Benjamin has died at the age of 90. 

Christopher Benjamin is best known to Doctor Who fans for his virtuoso performance in the 1977 Fourth Doctor story The Talons of Weng-Chiang. He played Henry Gordon Jago the owner of the Palace Theatre who teams up with Professor George Litefoot, as played by Trevor Baxter, to help the Doctor defeat Magnus Greel and his acolyte Li H'sen Chang. 

The chemistry between Benjamin and Baxter ensured that the couple were given their own spin-off audio series by Big Finish, with fourteen series of Jago & Litefoot being released between 2010 and 2017. 

Benjamin's first appearance in Doctor Who was in the 1970 story Inferno, where he played Sir Keith Gold the director of the Inferno Project.

He was one of the few actors who appeared in both the original series and the revived 2005 series appearing with the Tenth Doctor in the 2008 story The Unicorn and the Wasp where he played Colonel Hugh Curbishley.

Born in Trowbridge in Wiltshire, Benjamin was a familiar face on British Television for over forty years. His passion for acting was developed while at school and he joined a local amateur group in Bath before doing his National Service. 

His professional debut was in repertory at the Manchester Library Theatre followed by a stint at the Salisbury Arts Theatre. He spent several seasons working at the Bristol Old Vic and was a regular performer for the Royal Shakespeare Company. 

His Television work included three appearances in the cult series The Prisoner and guest appearances in The Avengers, The Saint and Jason King. In 1967 he played Prosper Profond in the BBC's acclaimed series The Forsyte Saga. He was Sir Hugh Bodrugan in the original series of Poldark and Sir William Lucas in the 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice. 

Other series he appeared in include Heartbeat, Rosemary & Thyme, Midsomer Murders, Foyle's War, Leonardo, EastEnders, Treasure Island, Lovejoy, Magic Grandad, The Tomorrow People, London's Burning, Casualty, Maigret, Rumpole of the Bailey, Brass, King & Castle, Yes, Prime Minister, Casanova, The Diary of Anne Frank , Dempsey and Makepeace, Blott on the Landscape, Minder, Shoestring and The History of Mr. Polly.

Christopher Benjamin is survived by his wife, actress Anna Fox, and their three children.