Benito "Ben" Lucini is a fictional character from the Australian television soap opera Home and Away, played by Julian McMahon.

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.

[4] McMahon told Barry Divola from Stars of Oz that Ben is characterised as a "lovely guy, he's very honest, very open.

"[3] In the 1992 Home and Away Annual, Kesta Desmond and David Nicholls described Ben as being "relaxed" and "easy-going" for a twenty-one-year-old male.

Ben's skillset saw him quickly promoted to an army corporal, whereas Dave was happy to remain a lower rank.

[1] To help introduce Ben in the series, writers created friendship with fellow new character Grant Mitchell (Craig McLachlan).

"[4] McMahon told Divola that he and Hodgson worked hard to create the impression that their characters were in "love at first sight".

"[1] McMahon explained that Ben and Carly portray "all that pre-marriage trauma stuff" such as finding their first home and worrying about paying the rent.

[9] Ahead of the wedding, Ben's family were introduced including his interfering cousin Angelo (Raj Sidhu), who agrees to be the best man.

Ben takes medication to relieve his symptoms and decides to opt out of a traditional bucks night in favour of drinking some beer.

Hodgson added "it's all a bit rushed, but it's a fairytale wedding [...] The bride in a traditional gown and veil, the scene is very pretty.

"[8] In the United Kingdom, more than twelve million viewers watched Ben and Carly's wedding episode when it was broadcast on ITV.

[12] In the 1 September 1990 edition of TV Week, David Brown publicised McMahon's departure and revealed that Hodgson was also leaving.

Brown added that producers were asking McMahon to stay until Hodgson's departure so that Ben and Carly's exit stories coincided with each other.

Ben proposes marriage to Carly and she accepts but her foster parents Tom (Roger Oakley) and Pippa Fletcher (Vanessa Downing) accuse the pair of being too hasty.

Ben's family arrive ahead of the wedding but gets food poisoning after his cousin Angelo buys him a takeaway meal.

Ben learns that Fred Owens (Keith Holloway) is selling his boatshed business and secures a bank loan to purchase it.

Military policemen arrive to arrest Ben, but Alf Stewart (Ray Meagher) manages to convince them to give him time to save his marriage.

Peter Holmes of The Sydney Morning Herald was critical of McMahon's acting in the role, calling him "wooden" and saying he did "a splendid impression of a Thunderbird".

[17] A reporter from TV Week stated that Ben's bucks night filled with pranks was one of the best featured in a soap opera.

"[20] Donna Hay from What's on TV included Ben and Carly in their soap opera "marriages made in heaven" list.