- Ray Float, Doctor Who #129: The Five Doctors, TV, 1983. Levene refused to reprise his UNIT solider, Sergeant John Benton, in the 20th anniversary episode. Because the script had him failing to recognise Doc2. “But he’d never forget him,” he complained. Levene was Benton for eight years and 74 episodes, 1968-1975, from #46: Invasion, to #83: The Android Invasion – by accident. Cast as a Cyberman in ’68, he was given Benton when the original choice was sacked for laziness. Levene had also became an actor by a similar chance. Telly Savalas was impressed by him working in a London clothes store in 1966 and tried to get him into The Dirty Dozen – impossible as he was not a member of the actors’ union, Equity. He found an agent and earned membership by working his way up from walk-ons to, well, talk-ons. He came back – as Brigadier Benton! – in the (non-BBC) 2016 short, Tale of a Timelord, with Doc6 Colin Baker.
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