Nicola Bryant as Peri Brown. Peri Brown, full name Perpugilliam Brown, is a fictional character played by Nicola Bryant in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. An American college student (her passport lists her residence as Pasadena, California) majoring in botany that travelled with the Fifth and Sixth Doctors, she was a regular in the programme from 1984 to 1986. She was the first American to travel with the Doctor, although Bryant is actually British, a fact that was downplayed when she joined the series. A "Peri" is a fallen angel from Persian mythology.
Peri first appeared in the Fifth Doctor serial Planet of Fire, where she encountered the Doctor and Turlough on the island of Lanzarote. When her step-father, Professor Harold Foster, was killed, she joined the Fifth Doctor on his travels, while Turlough departed to return to his home planet of Trion. Peri was present when the Fifth Doctor regenerated into the Sixth at the end of The Caves of Androzani and continued to travel with him until Mindwarp, when she married King Yrcanos of Thordon.
Peri was a bright, spirited young woman, who travelled with the Doctor because she wanted to see the wonders of the universe. Although she shared a more abrasive relationship with the Sixth Doctor, there was an undercurrent of affection in their verbal sparring, and the Doctor was severely distressed when he believed she had died during the events of Mindwarp.
It is not known what happened to Peri after she married Yrcanos, although the various spin-off media give different accounts of her eventual fate. The Virgin New Adventures novel Bad Therapy by Matthew Jones reveals that, although becoming Yrcanos's Queen, Peri blamed the Doctor for abandoning her. In the novel, the Seventh Doctor makes peace with Peri and returns her to late-20th Century Earth. In the Marvel Comics graphic novel The Age of Chaos, written by Colin Baker, Peri lives out her life on Krontep as Yrcanos's Queen and has at least three grandchildren, who are principal characters in the story. The epilogue to the Target Books novelisation of Mindwarp by Philip Martin states that Peri returned to the 20th Century with Yrcanos where the latter became a professional wrestler.
Peri was one of the more controversial companions, with some critics complaining about the motivation for adding a character who spent much of her time on screen wearing skimpy, bust-enhancing outfits. Series producer John Nathan-Turner admitted that Peri was created in order to add sex appeal to the series. Similar criticisms had been levelled against the character of Leela nearly a decade earlier. During her final season, Peri's mode of dress became more conservative.
Nicola Bryant reprised the role of Peri in the 1993 charity special Dimensions in Time, and also played the role of "Miss Brown" in the BBV video series The Stranger, opposite Colin Baker as the Stranger. Bryant has also voiced the character of Peri in several audio plays produced by Big Finish Productions, alongside both Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor and Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor.
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