10 Major Unanswered Questions From Classic Doctor Who

6. Why Would Benton Become A Used Car Dealer?

For most of the 70s, the Doctor worked with an organisation called UNIT which stood for United Nations at the time, but apparently that's a little too brand conscious these days so they're not allowed to say it anymore. The French version translated it to NUIT, which was pleasing on a many number of levels. Anyway, this led to the muddying of the waters as far as who was technically considered a companion. To illustrate, John Levene appeared in nearly twice as many episodes in his role as Sergeant Benton than Peter Purves did as Steven Taylor. However, he technically never went off in the TARDIS to have adventures, so does he count as a companion? The same problem exists with the Brigadier. Clearly he's important, but does that make him a Companion with a capital C? Well, in the 20th anniversary year they came up with a story set in a school that was to feature the return of Ian Chesterton, played by William Russell, one of the show's very first companions. It would have been a nice little nod to the Doctor's inception, however Mr Russell was unfortunately unable to take the part due to other commitments and they'd already plotted out the entire story. The solution? Replace Ian Chesterton with a different - equally significant - former companion. Enter the Brigadier. Now, the Brigadier retiring and deciding for apparently no justifiable reason to become a maths teacher was just about believable. However, the Brigadier was one of many recurring characters from the days of UNIT and it would have been strange (to say the very least) if the Doctor had met the Brigadier again and didn't ask how the rest of them were doing. Harry Sullivan, he was told, is doing something hush hush for NATO these days. That's great (and fits in with the book Harry Sullivan's War - one of the earliest spin offs), so good for him. Then he's told that Benton is now a used car salesman. No. Wait a minute. What!? Sergeant Benton? He of no first name and impeccable honesty and integrity!? Worst. Used Car Salesman. Ever. To this day it still doesn't make a whole lot of sense.