London Film and Comic Con: An Interview with Ben Browder

This interview can also be found on Step2TV.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again – I bloody love Stargate! As such, it was beyond brilliant meeting with the man who portrayed Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Mitchell – Ben Browder.

Browder, probably best known for his role as John Crichton in Farscape, joined the cast of Stargate SG-1 (along with former Farscape co-star, Claudia Black) for it's final two seasons, leading the team after Richard Dean Anderson left the show. Although Anderson's role as Colonel Jack O'Neil was certainly a tough act to follow, Browder proved to be a fantastic addition to the cast.

From the moment I heard Ben Browder would be attending LFCC, I couldn't wait to interview him!

BJ: Hello, Ben Browder! How have you been enjoying the weekend so far?

BB: Well it's been fun, although I'm a little jet-lagged. My soul is still somewhere over the Atlantic.

BJ: I guess you arrived recently then, just for this event?

BB: Yeah, flew in on Friday, so I'm almost up to Greenwich Mean Time.

BJ: Well, give it a few more days! When do you have to head back to the States?

BB: I head back on Tuesday.

BJ: Blimey, so you don't have a lot of time to acclimatise!

BB: Nah... I might see a mate or two on Monday, and then head back home so... I'm not staying for the Olympics, not going to see the Wimbledon final...

BJ: Can't blame you for not staying for the Olympics! It's going to be rainy, all the transport's going to be delayed... Very British concerns!

BB: Ya know what, it'll be fun. The Olympics is a great event.

BJ: No doubt about that, but I bet you a fiver it's going to rain on the Opening Ceremony!

BB: You're on!

BJ: Anyway, you starred in both Stargate and Farscape, two very prominent SciFi series. What was it like working on such critically acclaimed shows?

BB: It was a brilliant experience, I loved it. It was great. Farscape with all the amazing things we had on set, the prosthetics and animatronics, the fact we were shooting in Australia which has a very free-wheeling sensibility about it. It was great. Stargate, by the time I got there, they'd been doing the show for eight years so they knew what they were doing, and my job was to fit in; basically getting along with the cast, and they're fantastic people! Chris is very, very funny, Mike's a consummate actor, Amanda's just lovely and Claudia came along for a bit of the ride as well. Both were really great shows.

BJ: And you actually wrote a couple of episodes for both series as well.

BB: I wrote two full episodes for Farscape, and for Stargate I had a story idea which I gave to the writers, and they used it – I didn't actually write the script for that one.

BJ: One of the great things about Stargate was how hands on the cast were with writing and directing episodes, which I think really strengthened the cast with their input and the show as a whole.

BB: Well, I think it was a very good cast. They're obviously a very talented group of actors, many of them multi-talented. … Star Trek did that as well; Jonathan Frakes is an excellent director, so it's not that unusual to see that kind of thing happen. But definitely, all of the Stargate cast are terribly talented.

BJ: Absolutely – personally I reckon Stargate is one of the best SciFi series out there! Now, on the topic of brilliant SciFi, you're also going to be appearing in an episode of Doctor Who in the upcoming series.

BB: Aha, yes.

BJ: Are you able to reveal anything about that, or would a sniper take you out if you said so much as a word?!

BB: I'd probably be deported if I said anything. I can't tell you anything. If I said one thing and then Matt Smith says another thing, or someone else says something, by the time it all gets put together you might have the entire setup.

BJ: You've foiled my plan!

BB: Ha! So, no, I can't tell you anything, other than that it's a Western and that it was a lot of fun – I had a great time.

BJ: Had you been a fan of Doctor Who before-hand?

BB: Yeah, I've actually seen all of the new series. My kids absolutely love it, so you know, it was a no-brainer. When the question came up “do you want to do Doctor Who?” it was immediately “when and where?!”

BJ: Well, I'm thoroughly looking forward to it and... There appears to be a queue forming, so we're going to have to wrap it up.

BB: See, you're stood here for more than three minutes and people queue up behind you... It's England!

BJ: Can't resist a good queue! Anywho, I'm thoroughly looking forward to that episode! It's been an absolute pleasure talking with you.

BB: Great, thank you.