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Behind the scenes

Go an exclusive tour with the Packed to the Rafter's cast

Meet Ben Rafter

We chat to the cheeky Hugh Sheridan

Ben, 23, is the middle of the Rafter kids. Cute in a goofy sort of way, he still doesn't have any real sense of his place in the world or even what he’d potentially like his place to be. Not that money seems to be too much of a problem. He works four shifts at the local Boat Club bar, but is also – unbeknownst to his parents – on the dole.

“Ben is a really lovable kind of guy,” Hugh says about his character. “He’s just your average, every day Aussie bloke. It’s nice to play a genuinely good person. There’s not a bad bone in his body.”

Picking up finally on his dad’s on-going barrage of less-than-subtle hints, Ben decides it probably is time he got his own place, but takes the less-stress half-measure of moving in with his mate Carbo next door.

Not that the process of finding his own place is beyond Ben. He’s got the smarts, at least the street-smarts, but the thought of moving too far away from home-cooking and home-laundry is too burdensome to contemplate at this stage of life.

“Audiences will see Ben grow an enormous amount as the series progresses,” Hugh explains. “The big journey for him is growing up and realising his place in the family. He goes through an awful lot, from learning to cook and clean, buying food, managing money and realising how much he loves and misses his family. He learns and grows through the process.”

Moving into Carbo’s parents’ McMansion has the advantage of relative luxury and prestige, with the additional bonus of a place to bring girls when he pulls.

Easy-going Ben never fails to pick up because he never targets a girl he knows he can’t get. The thought of being involved with a girl for longer than one uncomplicated night has never appealed – the last thing he wants is to be pinned down in his early 20s like both his father and Nathan.

But when nurse Melissa joins him and Carbo in the house, he’s immediately attracted to her but will he get the girl? “The both think she’s pretty hot,” Hugh says. “Originally they let her move in so they don’t have to cook and clean. But they couldn’t be more wrong about her. Melissa’s a strong feminist and less likely to clean than anyone. So Ben ends up doing all the cooking and cleaning just to impress her!”

Watch Hugh Sheridan talk about why he’s secretly a bit goofy like Ben here