Peri Brown

Doctorwhocharacter


caption=Peri in "Attack of the Cybermen".
name=Perpugilliam "Peri" Brown
series=Doctor Who
affiliation=Fifth Doctor Sixth Doctor
race=Human
planet=Earth
era=1984
start= Planet of Fire
finish= The Trial of a Time Lord: Mindwarp
portrayed=Nicola BryantUnreferenced|date=May 2008

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, Peri is a companion of the Fifth and Sixth Doctors and a regular in the programme from 1984 to 1986. She was the first American character to travel with the Doctor, although Bryant herself is actually British, a fact that was downplayed when she joined the series (her marital status was similarly downplayed). Bryant's assumed accent slips a bit on occasion (and the "American" "wanders" from one side of the U.S. to the other in various serials) and she sometimes uses words of British usage rather than American, such as "lift" instead of "elevator". A "Peri" is a fallen angel from Persian mythology.

Character history

Peri first appears in the Fifth Doctor serial "Planet of Fire", in which she encounters the Doctor and Turlough on the island of Lanzarote. After an encounter with the Master and the shapechanging android Kamelion (who disguises himself as her stepfather, Professor Howard Foster), Peri asks to join the Fifth Doctor on his travels, while Turlough departs to return to his home planet of Trion. (The identity of Peri's mother is not revealed in the televised series, but see below.)

Peri is present when the Fifth Doctor regenerates into the Sixth at the end of "The Caves of Androzani" and continues to travel with him, despite the fact that one of the first things the temporarily unstable Sixth Doctor tries to do is strangle her ("The Twin Dilemma").

Peri is a bright, spirited young woman, who travels with the Doctor because, like many of his companions, she wants to see the universe. Although she shares a more abrasive relationship with the Sixth Doctor, there is an undercurrent of affection in their verbal sparring.

Peri travels with the Doctor for an undisclosed period of time; some sources say she travels with him for mere months, while others say years. Between the events of "Revelation of the Daleks" and the season-long story "The Trial of a Time Lord", the character is shown to have matured somewhat (coinciding with an 18-month production break between the two stories) and her relationship with the Doctor is less combative.

In the second segment of the "Trial" story arc, "Mindwarp", Peri is abducted by a slug-like creature named Kiv, who apparently transplants his brain into her body. Soon after, the Doctor is led to believe that Peri is dead, and is severely distressed by this. It is later revealed at the end of "The Ultimate Foe" (the fourth segment of the arc) that the evidence of Peri's death was faked by the Valeyard. Peri has, in fact, survived, presumably recovered from Kiv's transplant (if it ever actually occurred), and married King Yrcanos of Thoros Alpha, a warrior king who had assisted the Doctor and Peri during the "Mindwarp" incident. It is not known what happens to Peri after she marries Yrcanos, although the various spin-off media give different accounts of her eventual fate.

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 revealing 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. Beginning with the story "Timelash", and continuing through the "Trial" season, Peri's mode of dress became more conservative.

Nicola Bryant reprised the role of Peri in the 1993 charity special "Dimensions in Time".

Other appearances

Peri Brown has the distinction of being the first humanoid television companion to appear in the "Doctor Who Magazine" comic strip (previously the strip, which began in 1979, depicted the Doctor either travelling alone or with companions created for the strip, while the robotic television companion K9 was featured in several DWM comic strips featuring the Fourth Doctor). Her first appearance is in "Funhouse Part 1" (DWM #102) in which she appears in two panels as a scantily clad apparition manifested by a villain. Two issues later, in "Kane's Story Part 1" (DWM #104), she becomes a regular character in the trip, initially travelling with both the Sixth Doctor and his shape-shifting companion, Frobisher and continuing until the final part of "Up Above the Gods" in DWM #129. "Kane's Story" establishes that Peri at one point during her travels with the Sixth Doctor leaves the TARDIS for reasons let unrevealed and goes to live in New York City where she takes a job in an office, a job she angrily quits for reasons also unrevealed just prior to encountering the Doctor again and voluntarily rejoining him.

The epilogue to the Target Books novelisation of "Mindwarp" by Philip Martin states that Peri returns to the 20th Century with Yrcanos where the latter became a professional wrestler. This tongue-in-cheek conclusion is not reflected in any televised story, and is generally ignored by fandom.

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 Virgin New Adventures novel "Bad Therapy" by Matthew Jones reveals that, although becoming Yrcanos's Queen, Peri blames the Doctor for abandoning her. In the novel, the Seventh Doctor makes peace with Peri and returns her to late-20th Century Earth.

The Telos novella "Shell Shock" by Simon A. Forward reveals that Peri had been sexually abused by her stepfather. This is hinted at in the Past Doctor Adventures novel "Synthespians™" by Craig Hinton, which also reveals that her parents were Janine and Paul Brown, and that her father died in a boating accident when she was thirteen. She has two step-siblings from her mother's marriage to Foster.

Bryant 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. In several of these stories, the Fifth Doctor and Peri are joined by another companion, the Egyptian princess Erimem.

In the audio play "Her Final Flight", the Sixth Doctor finds Peri on a remote planet, where she apparently dies of a virus, although it is revealed that the entire story was part of a fantasy designed to make The Doctor kill himself.

One audio play, "The Reaping", introduces Peri's mother, Janine Foster, played by American actress Claudia Christian (although in reality, Christian is three years younger than Nicola Bryant). The play, set in 1984, confirms Peri's late father's name as Paul and mentions that Howard and Janine Foster have gone their separate ways, but does not mention Peri's step-siblings. Janine is killed at the end of the play, cutting Peri's last familial tie to Earth.

The canonicity of these other appearances, like all "Doctor Who" spin-off media, is unclear.

Bryant played the role of "Miss Brown" in the first three installments of the BBV video series "The Stranger", opposite Colin Baker as the Stranger; although the character is never explicitly identified as being Peri (much as the Stranger was never directly linked to the Doctor) there are nonetheless similarities in the two characters, with one major difference: Bryant uses her natural English accent for Miss Brown rather than affecting an American one as she did with Peri.

List of appearances

Television

;Season 21
*"Planet of Fire"
*"The Caves of Androzani"
*"The Twin Dilemma";Season 22
*"Attack of the Cybermen"
*"Vengeance on Varos"
*"The Mark of the Rani"
*"The Two Doctors"
*"Timelash"
*"Revelation of the Daleks";Season 23
*"The Mysterious Planet"
*"Mindwarp";30th anniversary special
*"Dimensions in Time"

Audio dramas

;BBC Radio
*"Slipback"

;Big Finish Productions
*"Whispers of Terror"
*"Red Dawn"
*"The Eye of the Scorpion"
*"...ish"
*"The Church and the Crown"
*"Nekromanteia"
*"The Axis of Insanity"
*"The Roof of the World"
*"Her Final Flight"
*"Three's a Crowd"
*"The Council of Nicaea"
*"The Veiled Leopard"
*"The Kingmaker"
*"The Reaping"
*"Year of the Pig"
*"Exotron & Urban Myths"
*"Son of the Dragon"
*"The Mind's Eye & Mission of the Viyrans"
*The Bride of Peladon

Novels

;Virgin Missing Adventures
*"State of Change" by Christopher Bulis
*"Burning Heart" by Dave Stone;Virgin New Adventures
*"Bad Therapy" by Matthew Jones;Past Doctor Adventures
*"The Ultimate Treasure" by Christopher Bulis
*"Players" by Terrance Dicks
*"Grave Matter" by Justin Richards
*"Superior Beings" by Nick Walters
*"Palace of the Red Sun" by Christopher Bulis
*"Warmonger" by Terrance Dicks
*"Blue Box" by Kate Orman
*"Synthespians™" by Craig Hinton;Telos Doctor Who novellas
*"Shell Shock" by Simon A. Forward
*"Blood and Hope" by Iain McLaughlin

hort stories

*"Fascination" by David J. Howe ("Decalog")
*"Timeshare" by Vanessa Bishop ("")
*"Moon Graffiti" by Dave Stone ("More Short Trips")
*"Hot Ice" by Christopher Bulis ("More Short Trips")
*"A Town Called Eternity" by Lance Parkin and Mark Clapham ("Short Trips and Sidesteps")
*"Turnabout is Fair Play" by Graeme Burk ("Short Trips and Sidesteps")
*"Reunion" by David Carroll ("Doctor Who Magazine #191")
*"Vigil" by Michael Collier ("Out of the Darkness")
*"Five Card Draw" by Todd Green ("")
*"The Stabber" by Alison Lawson ("Short Trips: Zodiac")
*"The Canvey Angels" by David Bailey ("")
*"Light at the End of the Tunnel" by Mark Wright ("")
*"The Ruins of Heaven" by Marc Platt ("Short Trips: Steel Skies")
*"CHAOS" by Eric Saward ("")
*"Graham Dilley Saves The World" by Iain McLaughlin and Claire Bartlett ("Short Trips: Past Tense")
*"A Star is Reborn" by Richard Salter ("")
*"The Reproductive Cycle" by Matthew Griffiths ("Short Trips: Life Science")
*"The Gangster's Story" by Jon de Burgh Miller ("")
*"Categorical Imperative" by Simon Guerrier ("")
*"Trapped!" by Joseph Lidster ("Short Trips: Monsters")
*"Telling Tales" by David Bailey ("")
*"A Life in the Day" by Xanna Eve Chown ("")
*"Far Away in a Manger" by Iain McLaughlin ("")
*"The Stars Our Contamination" by Steven Savile ("Short Trips: The Ghosts of Christmas")
*"Methuselah" by George Mann ("")
*"See No Evil" by Steve Lyons ("Short Trips: Transmissions")

Comics

*"Kane's Story" / "Abel's Story" / "The Warrior's Story" / "Frobisher's Story" by Max Stockbridge and John Ridgway ("Doctor Who Magazine" 104–107
*"Exodus" / "Revelation" / "Genesis" by Alan McKenzie and John Ridgway ("Doctor Who Magazine" 108–110)
*"Nature of the Beast" by Simon Furman and John Ridgway ("Doctor Who Magazine" 111–113)
*"Time Bomb" by Jamie Delano and John Ridgway ("Doctor Who Magazine" 114–116)
*"Salad Daze" by Simon Furman and John Ridgway ("Doctor Who Magazine" 117)
*"Changes" by Grant Morrison and John Ridgway ("Doctor Who Magazine" 118–119)
*"Profits of Doom" by Mike Collins, John Ridgway and Tim Perkins ("Doctor Who Magazine" 120–122)
*"The Gift" by Jamie Delano, John Ridgway and Tim Perkins ("Doctor Who Magazine" 123–126)
*"The World Shapers" by Grant Morrison, John Ridgway and Tim Perkins ("Doctor Who Magazine" 127–129)
*"Emperor of the Daleks" by Paul Cornell, John Freeman and John Ridgway ("Doctor Who Magazine" 197; cameo)
*"The Curse of the Scarab" by Alan Barnes and Martin Geraghty ("Doctor Who Magazine" 228–230)
*"Ground Zero" by Scott Gray, Martin Geraghty and Bambos Georgiou ("Doctor Who Magazine" 238–242)

External links

* [http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Peri_Brown Peri Brown] at [http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/ "The TARDIS Index File" website]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/companions/page29.shtml Peri Brown on the BBC's "Doctor Who" website"]