Ben was born in October 1974, the son of West End producer Simon Caplan'' and has an older sister Amanda. Despite going to see his father's productions he had no interest in acting as a child until, aged about thirteen, he was terrifically impressed by the play "The Woman in Black". Leaving school at sixteen he joined the Young Vic theatre school before going on to study drama at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. Ben credits his television breakthrough as appearing in Band of Brothers (2001) but to many viewers he will be best known as policeman Peter Noakes, husband to midwife Miranda Hart in the hugely successful post WWII series Call the Midwife (2012). On stage he has appeared in several plays referencing his Jewish upbringing - "De Korczak's Example", "Two Thousand Years" and "7 Jewish Children: A Play for Gaza", as well as directing a production of "The Collector", based on the John Fowles book, at the Edinburgh Festival in 2007. Married to theatre director Emma since 2009, he has a son Bertie, born a month before his audition for Call the Midwife (2012).