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1[[quoteright:150:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/levene.jpg]]
2John Levene (born 24 December 1941) is an English actor. He is best known for playing the role of UNIT solider Sergeant Benton in ''Series/DoctorWho'' from 1968 to 1975, during the show's "UNIT Years".
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4His first involvement in ''Doctor Who'' came as a Cyberman in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E6TheMoonbase The Moonbase]]" (1967), followed by a Yeti in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E5TheWebOfFear The Web of Fear]]" (1968). He was originally cast as a Cyberman again in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E3TheInvasion The Invasion]]", but was promoted to play (then-Corporal) Benton, who was only intended to be a one-off character, after the original actor was sacked for tardiness.
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6His elevation to series regular came because Creator/DouglasCamfield, who had cast Levene as director in "The Web of Fear" and "The Invasion", was assigned to direct "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E4Inferno Inferno]]", for which the script featured a Sergeant; Camfield cast Levene in the role due to his prior experience of working with him, and it was then decided that he should be the same character than Benton had played in "The Invasion", so the Sergeant was made a promoted Benton, and inserted into the script for the latter episodes of the preceding story "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E3TheAmbassadorsOfDeath The Ambassadors of Death]]".
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8Levene is renowned amongst ''Doctor Who'' fandom for his eccentric personality; in 2012 prominent ''Who'' fan Toby Hadoke presented the documentary "Living With Levene" in which he spent a weekend staying with John Levene while he went about his daily life.
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10!! His roles in works with TV Tropes pages:
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12[[AC:Film]]
13* ''Film/WhenDinosaursRuledTheEarth'' (1970) -- Minor Role (uncredited)
14* ''Film/{{Zeppelin}}'' (1971) -- British Soldier in Pub
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16[[AC:TV]]
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18* ''Series/AdamAdamantLives'': episode "A Sinister Sort of Service" (1967) -- S.S. Guard
19* ''Series/ZCars'': 13 episodes (1967) -- Constable
20* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
21** 2 episodes, serial "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E6TheMoonbase The Moonbase]]" (1967) -- Cyberman
22** 5 episodes, serial "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E5TheWebOfFear The Web of Fear]]" (1968) -- Yeti
23** 68 episodes, 16 serials[[labelnote:show list]]"[[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E3TheInvasion The Invasion]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E3TheAmbassadorsOfDeath The Ambassadors of Death]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS7E4Inferno Inferno]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS8E1TerrorOfTheAutons Terror of the Autons]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS8E2TheMindOfEvil The Mind of Evil]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS8E3TheClawsOfAxos The Claws of Axos]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS8E5TheDaemons The Dæmons]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS9E1DayOfTheDaleks Day of the Daleks]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS9E5TheTimeMonster The Time Monster]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E1TheThreeDoctors The Three Doctors]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E5TheGreenDeath The Green Death]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E2InvasionOfTheDinosaurs Invasion of the Dinosaurs]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E5PlanetOfTheSpiders Planet of the Spiders]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E1Robot Robot]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E1TerrorOfTheZygons Terror of the Zygons]]", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E4TheAndroidInvasion The Android Invasion]]"[[/labelnote]] (1968-75) -- Sergeant Benton
24* ''Series/CoronationStreet'': 1 episode (1969) -- Drinker
25* ''Series/{{UFO|1970}}'': episode "Close Up" (1970) -- Interceptor Pilot
26* ''Series/TheRivalsOfSherlockHolmes'': episode "The Affair of the Tortoise" (1971) -- Constable
27* ''Series/{{Callan}}'': episode "I Never Wanted the Job" (1972) -- Harold
28* ''Series/CarryOnLaughing'': episode "The Baron Outlook" (1975) -- Soldier
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30[[AC:Audio Play]]
31* ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'':
32** ''The Third Doctor Adventures'': 2 releases[[labelnote:show list]]"[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho3DAS5E2TheScreamofGhosts The Scream of Ghosts]]", "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho3DAS6E1PoisonOfTheDaleks Poison of the Daleks]]"[[/labelnote]] (2019-20) -- Sergeant Benton
33** ''The Companion Chronicles'': "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWhoCCS7E12TheCouncilOfWar The Council of War]]" (2013) -- Sergeant Benton
34** ''UNIT: The New Series'': "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWhoUnitAssembled UNIT: Assembled]]" (2017) -- Sergeant Benton

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