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.

The writer Barbara Clegg has died at the age of 98.

Barbara Clegg wrote the fifth Doctor story Enlightenment first broadcast in 1983.

Clegg was born in Manchester in March 1926 the niece of the founder of the Littlewoods empire. After graduating from Oxford she worked as an actress performing in many Shakespeare plays and touring across the UK and Australia

In the 1960s, she began writing for Radio starting with scripts for Mrs Dale's Diary.

Television followed where she contributed scripts for both Coronation Street and Crossroads. 

In 1981 she wrote her first Science Fiction story, The Chrysalids, adapted from the novel for Radio 4.

In 1983 she was asked to contribute a script for Doctor Who and therefore became the first woman to write a script for the series. The story would be the final one in the Black Guardian Trilogy.

It was the only script commissioned for the television series but one of her ideas Point of Entry was later used by Big Finish in the audio range. 

Barbara Clegg died on 7 January 2025

Issue 612 of Doctor Who Magazine is released today.

Inside this issue

• An in-depth look at the making of The War Games in Colour, including the brand-new model work and the Troughton/Pertwee regeneration sequence.

• EastEnders veteran RUDOLPH WALKER recalls his role in The War Games…

• Writer and exec producer STEVEN MOFFAT discusses Joy to the World, including scenes that never made it to screen.

• RUSSELL T DAVIES explains what connects The Pirate Planet, The Christmas Invasion’s ill-fated Danny Llewellyn and a branch of Marks and Spencer…

• Build your own half-scale Dalek with a new Doctor Who partwork. We talk to the team behind this exciting new project…

• Script to Screen – on the creation of BabyStation Beta – as seen in the 2024 season debut Space Babies.

• LISA BOWERMAN, JAMES GOSS and GARY RUSSELL reflect on the enduring appeal of archaeologist adventure Professor Bernice Summerfield.  

• In the second part of our coverage celebrating 50 years of stage play Seven Keys to Doomsday, we talk to JAMES MATHEWS who played companion Jimmy.

• The Memory Worm gets its teeth into YEE JEE TSO – Chang Lee in the 1996 TV movie.

• We look at how fandom reacted to the casting of BONNIE LANGFORD as companion Mel in 1986…

• ALISON ZRADA asks us what advice can be found in Doctor Who for New Year’s resolutions.

• The Fact of Fiction looks at the opening episodes of 1968’s The Dominators.

• The continuing adventures of the Doctor and Ruby in the comic strip!

Regular features

• Gallifrey Guardian – looking ahead to the 2025 series!

• Shelf Life – featuring reviews of the latest books and audio releases.

• Other Worlds – the essential guide to new stories in Doctor Who’s expanded universe.

• Prizes to be won including a special Blu-ray bundle! 

Doctor Who Magazine Issue 612 is on sale Thursday 2 January 2025  from panini.co.uk and WH Smith priced £7.99 (UK). 

Also available as a digital edition from pocketmags.com priced £6.99.

Toby Hadoke has published his annual memoriam of those who have delighted us both in front of and behind the scenes of Doctor Who and its extended worlds, who sadly died in 2024.

Doctor Who In Memoriam 2024