Benito "Ben" Lucini is a fictional character from the Australian television soap opera Home and Away, played by Julian McMahon. The character made his first screen appearance on 27 February 1990. McMahon wanted to appear in another prime-time soap opera having previously appeared in The Power, The Passion and had to audition for the role of Ben four times. Ben was introduced as a new love interest of established character Carly Morris (Sharyn Hodgson). The show's producer, Andrew Howie had already planned their wedding before Ben had debuted on-screen. Ben is portrayed as a soldier and characterised as an honest and easy-going man. Ben is an Italian character and writers explored his backstory through his friendship with Dave Porter (John Adam). Producers made Ben and Carly's relationship one of the show's centric stories and focused on their pursuit of happiness as they married and moved into their first home. Ben made his final appearance during the episode broadcast on 1 May 1991. His departure story featured Ben rejoining the army and Carly moving to Perth to live closer to him.