Benton Fraser

Benton Fraser, a Constable of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, is a character played by Paul Gross from the TV programme Due South.

Benton came to Chicago from his native Canada to find those responsible for the killing of his father. After that, for reasons that don't need explaining at this juncture, he stayed to work with the Chicago Police department. He later served as a liaison between the Canadian Consulate in Chicago and the Chicago PD. Before his move to Chicago he had struggled to work in even the least urban of cities, like Moose Jaw*, population 35,000.

As the Due South website** notes, Benton is like an "outdoors Sherlock Holmes". Benton`s main skills are, indeed, most applicable to the great outdoors. However, almost superhuman powers of hearing, eyesight, taste, and memory are helpful on the streets of Chicago. The reason that Benton is a likable and human character is that 99% of the time we see him out of his element in an environment that he is not used to. This means that he must rely on either Detective Ray Vecchio or Detective Stanley Raymond Kowalski, who have the knowledge of the city.

Benton was brought up by his paternal grandparents after his mother died and his father, also a Mountie, was needed to patrol far from civilization. Much of Benton's encyclopaedic knowledge came from his grandparent's travelling library.

Which part of Benton's unusual background is responsible for his utter civility, decency and chivalry is unclear. He takes pride in being an officer of the RCMP and upholding the law. He sees everyone as basically good, or at least that everyone has goodness in them, until proven otherwise.