Benjamin 'Ben' Stewart | |||||||
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Blue Heelers character | |||||||
Portrayed by | Paul Bishop | ||||||
Duration | 253 episodes | ||||||
First appearance | Nine Lives Ep. 198, 26 August 1998 |
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Last appearance | Away Games Ep. 450, 6/10/2004 |
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Profile | |||||||
Occupation | Detective Acting Sergeant -> (demoted) Senior Constable -> Acting Sergeant -> Sergeant |
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Siblings | Liz Stewart(younger sister) |
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Spouse |
Angel White (ex-wife) |
Children | Madeleine Stewart(daughter) Emma Stewart (daughter) Josh Stewart (son) |
Angel White (ex-wife)
Rachel Stewart(ex-wife)
Benjamin 'Ben' Stewart was a fictional character in the long-running Australian police series Blue Heelers. He was portrayed by Paul Bishop.
His first appearance on the series took place in the middle of season 5 as a guest, before returning to the series as a full-time cast member from later in season 5 until season 11. Initially, he was a visiting Detective Acting Sergeant from the Organised Crime Squad, but was accused of the murder of a suspect by another visitor, Detective Sergeant Pepi Romano of the Homicide Squad. After it was discovered that Romano himself was responsible for the murder, as well as the attempted framing of Ben Stewart, Ben assaulted Pepi while Pepi was handcuffed, which led to Pepi being dismissed from the force and charged, and Ben was demoted back into uniform as a Senior Constable. Shortly after, he was then posted to Mount Thomas permanently.
In the series, he fell for Maggie Doyle upon arriving and the two had a brief relationship, but later on in the series, Maggie chose P.J. Hasham instead.
Ben is divorced from his wife Rachael, and has three children: Madeline, Emma and Josh. While they live with their mother, Emma also spent a short amount of time living with Ben. At the start of the 8th season, Ben learned that Rachael and her husband Frank planned to move with his children over to Perth, where Ben would be less likely to see them, and for a short while he planned to sue Rachael for custody, but due to a similar case at the time that ended badly for all concerned, he had a change of heart and did not fight the move to Perth.
Ben was depicted as having a problem with alcoholism towards the end of season 9, and the first half of season 10, suspected to be fuelled by both being passed over for promotion, and that his children had been moved to the other side of the country. Later in season 10 he meets a woman in the Salvation Army named Marrissa Caddrock, it leads Ben to join the Salvation Army including taking a vow of chastity, the two later begin a relationship together and go on to become engaged.