Ben travelled with the Doctor between The War Machines and The Faceless Ones.

Ben first met the Doctor at the Inferno night club, where he was looking for Dodo and Polly, the secretary of Professor Brett, who had been developing the malevolent WOTAN computer. When the computer had been defeated Ben and Polly, who had become friends, came to tell The Doctor that Dodo was not coming back and to give him back her key. The TARDIS accidentally took off with them on board, leading them to a series of adventures, including the Doctor's first encounter with the Cybermen.

Ben and Polly were present when the Doctor regenerated for the first time. When their travels eventually returned them to Earth, Ben and Polly took the opportunity to leave the Doctor.

Michael Craze was born in Cornwall, November 29, 1942. He got into acting by chance at the age of twelve when he discovered through Boy Scout Gang Shows that he had a perfect boy soprano voice. This led him to win parts in stage shows The King and I and Plain and Fancy, both at Drury Lane, and Damn Yankees at the Coliseum. Having left school, he went into repertory and got into TV through his agent. His first television was a show called Family Solicitor for Granada which was followed by a part in ABC TV's 1960 series Target Luna (written by Malcolm Hulke and Eric Price and produced by Sydney Newman).

At the age of twenty Michael wrote, directed and acted in a film called The Golden Head which won an award at the Commonwealth Film Festival in Cardiff. Following his most famous role as Benn Jackson in Doctor Who, he worked on several ITV productions, including one episode (The Last Visitor) of Hammer Films' first TV series Journey to the Unknown in 1968. Other television roles include parts in Dixon of Dock Green and Z-Cars. In the 1980s Michael acted only occasionally and also managed a pub.

Michael died tragically on December 8, 1998. He had fallen down some steps the previous day while picking up his neighbour's paper for her and suffered a heart attack.

TV and Film

"Doctor Who" (37 episodes)
The War Machines: Episode 1 (25 June 1966) - Ben Jackson
The War Machines: Episode 2 (2 July 1966) - Ben Jackson
The War Machines: Episode 3 (9 July 1966) - Ben Jackson
The War Machines: Episode 4 (16 July 1966) - Ben Jackson
The Smugglers: Episode 1 (10 September 1966) - Ben Jackson
The Smugglers: Episode 2 (17 September 1966) - Ben Jackson
The Smugglers: Episode 3 (24 September 1966) - Ben Jackson
The Smugglers: Episode 4 (1 October 1966) - Ben Jackson
The Tenth Planet: Episode 1 (8 October 1966) - Ben
The Tenth Planet: Episode 2 (15 October 1966) - Ben
The Tenth Planet: Episode 3 (22 October 1966) - Ben
The Tenth Planet: Episode 4 (29 October 1966) - Ben
The Power of the Daleks: Episode 1 (5 November 1966) - Ben Jackson
The Power of the Daleks: Episode 2 (12 November 1966) - Ben Jackson
The Power of the Daleks: Episode 3 (19 November 1966) - Ben Jackson
The Power of the Daleks: Episode 4 (26 November 1966) - Ben Jackson
The Power of the Daleks: Episode 5 (3 December 1966) - Ben Jackson
The Power of the Daleks: Episode 6 (10 December 1966) - Ben Jackson
The Highlanders: Episode 1 (17 December 1966) - Ben Jackson
The Highlanders: Episode 2 (24 December 1966) - Ben Jackson
The Highlanders: Episode 3 (31 December 1966) - Ben Jackson
The Highlanders: Episode 4 (7 January 1967) - Ben Jackson
The Underwater Menace: Episode 1 (14 January 1967) - Ben Jackson
The Underwater Menace: Episode 2 (21 January 1967) - Ben Jackson
The Underwater Menace: Episode 3 (28 January 1967) - Ben Jackson
The Underwater Menace: Episode 4 (4 February 1967) - Ben Jackson
The Moonbase: Episode 1 (11 February 1967) - Ben Jackson
The Moonbase: Episode 2 (18 February 1967) - Ben
The Moonbase: Episode 3 (25 February 1967) - Ben
The Moonbase: Episode 4 (1 March 1967) - Ben
The Macra Terror: Episode 1 (11 March 1967) - Ben Jackson
The Macra Terror: Episode 2 (18 March 1967) - Ben Jackson
The Macra Terror: Episode 3 (25 March 1967) - Ben Jackson
The Macra Terror: Episode 4 (1 April 1967) - Ben Jackson
The Faceless Ones: Episode 1 (8 April 1967) - Ben Jackson
The Faceless Ones: Episode 2 (15 April 1967) - Ben Jackson
The Faceless Ones: Episode 6 (13 May 1967) - Ben Jackson

The Patient (1994)
Terror (1978/I) .... Gary
"Z Cars" .... Det. Con. Johnson / ... (3 episodes, 1970-1977)
- Scavengers (1977) TV Episode .... Det. Con. Johnson
- Rules of the Game: Part 1 (1971) TV Episode .... Nick
- Strictly Cash: Part 2 (1970) TV Episode .... Jack
Satan's Slave (1976) .... John
"Play of the Month" .... Bernard Fawcett (1 episode, 1974)
- The Linden Tree (1974) TV Episode .... Bernard Fawcett
"Crown Court" (1 episode, 1974)
- Do Your Worst (1974) TV Episode
Neither the Sea Nor the Sand (1972) .... Collie
"The Pathfinders" .... Flight Sergeant Tom Searle (2 episodes, 1972)
- Fog (1972) TV Episode .... Flight Sergeant Tom Searle
- For Better, for Worse (1972) TV Episode .... Flight Sergeant Tom Searle
"A Family at War" .... A Corporal (1 episode, 1970)
- Hope Against Hope (1970) TV Episode .... A Corporal
"Detective" .... Charles Knottage (1 episode, 1969)
- Mr. Guppy's Tale (1969) TV Episode .... Charles Knottage
"Journey to the Unknown" .... Fred (1 episode, 1969)
- The Last Visitor (1969) TV Episode .... Fred
Journey to the Unknown (1969) (TV) .... Fred (episode 'The Last Visitor')
"Ways with Words" (1967) TV Series
"The Wednesday Play" .... Ernst (1 episode, 1966)
- A Piece of Resistance (1966) TV Episode .... Ernst
"Dixon of Dock Green" .... Boy / ... (4 episodes, 1962-1966)
- Face at the Window (1966) TV Episode .... Boy
- The Late Customer (1965) TV Episode .... Hyett
- Facing the Music (1964) TV Episode .... Fleming
- The Flemish Giant (1962) TV Episode .... Jimmy
"Cluff" .... Eric Liddler (1 episode, 1965)
- The Dictator (1965) TV Episode .... Eric Liddler
Fragment (1965)
"Gideon's Way" .... Vince Kelly (1 episode, 1965)
- Boy with a Gun (1965) TV Episode .... Vince Kelly
Two Left Feet (1963) .... Ronnie
"Target Luna" (1960) TV Series .... Geoffrey Wedgwood

Some of Michael's Early Work