Ben (Beguine)

Ben was a writer who encountered Iris Wildthyme on two separate occasions.

At the age of fourteen, Ben felt that his upbringing, which had been safe and stable, had also made him too average to become the successful writer he wanted to be. This changed one Sunday night when he was visited by Iris Wildthyme, who claimed that she had found his pet beagle Doug traversing dimensions after slipping through a ley line and had brought him back. The strange conversation gave Ben the inspiration he would need in his writing career. According to Iris, his books would be praised worldwide.

As a young adult, Ben attended a writers' workshop, where he encountered Tom and spent a night of passion with him. Their relationship failed to go anywhere, although Tom would keep the farewell letter Ben wrote him.

In his old age, Ben lived in a retirement home. He and the other residents escaped one day to an old shack so that one of their number, Edna, could perform a strip show. When he went out to the back to urinate, he was shocked to see Iris and Tom there, the two of them having just arrived in her TARDIS. Shortly afterwards, a group of young people arrived to take Ben and the other old people back to their home. (PROSE: Beguine)