Samson Ware

Regimental Sergeant Major Samson Ware was a key member of the Fifth Operational Corps during the time that it was active. He was a close friend to Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, who saw him as calm and resolute; most others saw him as glib and bold, which was in part a facade he put on.

As a black man in Britain at the time, he grew used to both casual and overt racism. While it angered him, he tried to avoid letting anything show. (PROSE: The Lost Skin)

Early life
Samson was the grandson of Sidney Ware, who emigrated from Barbados to Liverpool in World War I. When his mother (Lucia Brown) died in childbirth in 1936, Samson's father Wesley Ware went off the rails and so Samson's grandparents raised him. At the end of the Second World War, his father took custody of him again and Samson was moved to London.(PROSE: Character bio in The Showstoppers) He lived in Brixton and spent his youth around the boxing clubs his father trained at.(PROSE: The Showstoppers) For most of his life, he detested his father. (PROSE: The Lost Skin)

He proved to be a keen boxer but not academically gifted and, ironically, had the same temper his father had had in his youth. To straighten him out, Wesley forced him to join the British Army.

When he first met 2nd Lieutentant Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, he disliked him: considering him an overprivileged prig. They soon became friends as Samson grew to respect Lethbridge-Stewart for his decency. In 1956, Alistair punched a cab driver for racially abusing Samson and took all the blame even though Samson had lost his temper first. (PROSE: Character bio in The Showstoppers) Samson was sent to Cyprus while Alistair was serving punishment and the two fell out of contact, as Alistair was unable to find where Samson had been sent.

Samson spent two years fighting the Cyprus insurgency and hated it, haunted at night by the constant sniper fire and bombings. In 1958, he received an honourable discharge in 1958. He tried to leave the bad memories behind but could still be haunted by them a decade later. (PROSE: The Showstoppers) The discharge had happened as his suitability for combat was deteriorating, following a close call with a bus bomb and his father's death happening in quick succession; he'd grown to think he was being punished somehow. (PROSE: Character bio in The Showstoppers) Despite hating his father, the loss left a hole in him he tried to fill by "getting on" with things. (PROSE: The Lost Skin)

After some work as a boxer and a bouncer, he found he still craved the adrenaline rush of being a soldier. Through a girlfriend (PROSE: Character bio in The Showstoppers) he became a stuntman in order to get that rush without the genuine danger. As a black man, people tended to ignore him on set.

In August 1969, Samson was hired for the show BLIMEY. During the filming, he began to be suspicious of actor Aubrey Mondegreene and found himself being followed by a tramp (former CIA agent Hannsen). While having a drink at The Gunmaker's Arms, Samson re-encountered Alistair and learned of the newly former Fifth Operational Corps. Working with Anne Travers and Hansenn, Samson investigated Mondegreene's operation and were crucial in unmasking him as a clone of the Nazi scientist Vilhelm Schädengeist, planning to experiment on humans in his vast bunker. After Samson helped the Corps stop Schädengeist from faking a nuclear war to terrorise people into entering his bunker, he was offered a position as a regimental sergeant major. (PROSE: The Showstoppers) While he wouldn't admit to it, Samson joined up as he felt his life was a string of failures and he wanted to prove himself by dedicating himself to a cause.(PROSE: Character bio in The Showstoppers)

Fifth Operational Corps
He took up the role and moved to Scotland, where he rapidly picked up a local girlfriend. His skin colour stood out in the country. (PROSE: The Lost Skin)

He was on hand to face the Ymir on Strommach, (PROSE: The Grandfather Infestation) and in October he was sent on a mission to John o Groats with Professor Travers to distract Harold Chorley from closing in on Lethbridge-Stewart. (PROSE: The Lost Skin) He accompanied Lethbridge-Stewart to Santorini (PROSE: Blood of Atlantis) and took it personally when Lethbridge-Stewart was later assualted while undercover in Wormwood Scrubs Prison. (PROSE: Mind of Stone)

On 24 December 1969, Samson was sent to Llanfairfach after Private Gwynfor Evans sighted a slug-like alien in his house. Working with Evans, Samson discovered that the creature was just one of many which were stealing mechanical pieces from christmas presents to build a dangerous combat machine. They also worked out that pine sap was poisonous to the creatures. Samson stuck a pine needle in one creature so that when it interacted with its fellow creatures it would poison all of them. With the creatures all dead, Samson celebrated Christmas with Evans's family. (PROSE: The Feast of Evans) He returned to Edinburgh on Boxing Day in time for the officers and family meal, where he was introduced to Bob Maddox, husband of Sergeant Jean Maddox. (PROSE: in Home for Christmas)

By 1990, Samson had died. (PROSE: The Enfolded Time)

Behind the scenes
More information about Samson Ware is revealed on his character profile on the Lethbridge-Stewart website. He was born in London on 8 April 1936, with his parents being Wesley Ware and Lucia Brown. His surname, and career as a stuntman, was a deliberate tribute to Derek Ware, who died shortly before work began on The Showstoppers.