Series One
Prior to her tour of duty on Moonbase Alpha, Sandra was engaged to be married to Peter Rockwell, a pilot. After the Moon's catastrophic departure from Earth orbit, she was seen in a relationship with an astronaut named Mike Ryan. After his death, she became romantically involved with Main Mission Controller Paul Morrow. Sandra and Morrow were even seen to be married with two children in an alternative future where the Alphans had returned to settle on a devastated Earth. His unexplained death between Series One and Two affected her greatly, as she does not become involved with another Alphan in Series Two and as seen in the featurette 'Message From Moonbase Alpha'.
The character was originally intended to be of Italian origin (as Gerry Anderson had agreed with RAI, an Italian production company which provided partial funding for the first series, to feature Italian actors in prominent roles) and would have been named Sandra Sabatini. Merton's subsequent hiring caused American director Lee Katzin to decide that her elfin appearance and exotic accent did not suit the character concept and rechristen the character 'Benes' (after a delicatessen he frequented in the States).
Read more about this topic: Sandra Benes
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