diff --git a/plutus-benchmark/plutus-benchmark.cabal b/plutus-benchmark/plutus-benchmark.cabal
index 7d80edec848..173b1d623cc 100644
--- a/plutus-benchmark/plutus-benchmark.cabal
+++ b/plutus-benchmark/plutus-benchmark.cabal
@@ -289,17 +289,17 @@ benchmark validation-full
   hs-source-dirs: validation
   other-modules:  Common
   build-depends:
-    , base                                                              >=4.9     && <5
+    , base                     >=4.9     && <5
     , bytestring
-    , criterion                                                         >=1.5.9.0
+    , criterion                >=1.5.9.0
     , deepseq
     , directory
     , filepath
-    , flat                                                              ^>=0.6
+    , flat                     ^>=0.6
     , optparse-applicative
     , plutus-benchmark-common
-    , plutus-core                                                       ^>=1.8
-    , plutus-ledger-api:{plutus-ledger-api, plutus-ledger-api-testlib}  ^>=1.8
+    , plutus-core              ^>=1.8
+    , plutus-ledger-api        ^>=1.8
 
 ---------------- Cek cost model calibration ----------------
 
diff --git a/plutus-benchmark/validation/BenchCek.hs b/plutus-benchmark/validation/BenchCek.hs
index 5f48269ee8c..a6ae5bd46ff 100644
--- a/plutus-benchmark/validation/BenchCek.hs
+++ b/plutus-benchmark/validation/BenchCek.hs
@@ -18,10 +18,11 @@ import UntypedPlutusCore as UPLC
 -}
 main :: IO ()
 main = do
-  evalCtx <- evaluate (force mkEvalCtx)
+  evalCtx <- evaluate $ force mkEvalCtx
   let mkCekBM file program =
-       -- don't count the undebruijn . unflat cost
-       -- `force` to try to ensure that deserialiation is not included in benchmarking time.
-       let !nterm = force (toNamedDeBruijnTerm $ UPLC._progTerm $ unsafeUnflat file program)
-       in whnf (evaluateCekLikeInProd evalCtx) nterm
+          -- don't count the undebruijn . unflat cost
+          -- `force` to try to ensure that deserialiation is not included in benchmarking time.
+          let !benchTerm = force . toNamedDeBruijnTerm . UPLC._progTerm $ unsafeUnflat file program
+              eval = either (error . show) (\_ -> ()) . evaluateCekLikeInProd evalCtx
+          in whnf eval benchTerm
   benchWith mkCekBM
diff --git a/plutus-benchmark/validation/BenchFull.hs b/plutus-benchmark/validation/BenchFull.hs
index a2a76037f55..a0dd8401bc2 100644
--- a/plutus-benchmark/validation/BenchFull.hs
+++ b/plutus-benchmark/validation/BenchFull.hs
@@ -2,15 +2,14 @@
 module Main where
 
 import PlutusCore.Evaluation.Machine.ExBudget
-import PlutusLedgerApi.Test.EvaluationContext (evalCtxForTesting)
 import PlutusLedgerApi.V1
 import UntypedPlutusCore qualified as UPLC
 
 import Common
 import Control.DeepSeq (force)
+import Control.Exception
 import Criterion
 import Data.ByteString as BS
-import Data.Either
 
 {-|
 for each data/*.flat validation script, it benchmarks
@@ -22,36 +21,29 @@ the whole time taken from script deserialization to script execution result.
      `cabal bench -- plutus-benchmark:validation-full --benchmark-options crowdfunding`.
 -}
 main :: IO ()
-main = benchWith mkFullBM
-  where
-    mkFullBM :: FilePath -> BS.ByteString -> Benchmarkable
-    mkFullBM file bsFlat =
-        let
-            body :: Term
-            (UPLC.Program _ v body) = unsafeUnflat file bsFlat
-
-            -- We make some effort to mimic what happens on-chain, including the provision of the
-            -- script arguments. However, the inputs we have are *fully applied*. So we try and
-            -- reverse that by stripping off the arguments here.
-            -- Conveniently, we know that they will be Data constants.
-            -- Annoyingly we can't just assume it's the first 3 arguments, since some
-            -- of them are policy scripts with only 2.
-            (term, args) = peelDataArguments body
-
-            -- strictify and "short" the result cbor to create a real `SerialisedScript`
-            !(benchScript :: SerialisedScript) = force (serialiseUPLC $ UPLC.Program () v term)
-
-        in  whnf (\ script ->
-                      (isRight $ snd $ evaluateScriptRestricting
+main = do
+    evalCtx <- evaluate $ force mkEvalCtx
+    let mkFullBM :: FilePath -> BS.ByteString -> Benchmarkable
+        mkFullBM file bsFlat =
+            let UPLC.Program () ver body = unsafeUnflat file bsFlat
+                -- We make some effort to mimic what happens on-chain, including the provision of
+                -- the script arguments. However, the inputs we have are *fully applied*. So we try
+                -- and reverse that by stripping off the arguments here. Conveniently, we know that
+                -- they will be Data constants. Annoyingly we can't just assume it's the first 3
+                -- arguments, since some of them are policy scripts with only 2.
+                (term, args) = peelDataArguments body
+                -- strictify and "short" the result cbor to create a real `SerialisedScript`
+                !benchScript = force . serialiseUPLC $ UPLC.Program () ver term
+                eval script =
+                    either (error . show) (\_ -> ()) . snd $ evaluateScriptRestricting
                         (ProtocolVersion 6 0)
                         -- no logs
                         Quiet
-                        evalCtxForTesting
+                        evalCtx
                         -- uses restricting(enormous) instead of counting to include the periodic
                         -- budget-overspent check
                         (unExRestrictingBudget enormousBudget)
                         script
-                        args)
-                      || error "script failed to run"
-                 )
-            benchScript
+                        args
+            in whnf eval benchScript
+    benchWith mkFullBM