Peri Brown

Peri Brown, full name Perpugilliam Brown, was an American college student (her passport lists her residence as Pasadena, California) majoring in botany, Peri was a companion of the Fifth and Sixth Doctors. She was the first American known to travel with the Doctor. The Sixth Doctor once pointed out the dimunitive of her first name was also the name of a fallen angel from Persian mythology.

Biography
Peri first encountered the Doctor and Turlough on the island of Lanzarote. The android Kamelion, controlled by the Master assumed the form of Peri's step-father, Professor Howard Foster, and later that of the Master himself, before seizing control of the TARDIS and taking it to the planet Sarn, where the Master was located. After Kamelion was destroyed and the Master defeated, Peri joined the Fifth Doctor on his travels, while Turlough departed to return to his home planet of Trion ("Planet of Fire"). Peri was present when the Fifth Doctor regenerated into the Sixth ("The Caves of Androzani") and continued to travel with him, despite the fact that one of the first things the temporarily unstable Sixth Doctor tried to do was strangle her ("The Twin Dilemma").

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

Peri travelled with the Doctor for an undisclosed period of time; some sources say she travelled with him for mere months, while others say years. Between their adventures on Necros "Revelation of the Daleks" and Ravolox "(The Mysterious Planet)," the character was shown to have matured somewhat and her relationship with the Doctor became less combative.

In her final adventure with the Sixth Doctor, Peri was abducted by Kiv, one of the Mentors of Thoros-Beta who apparently transplanted his brain into her body. Soon after, the Doctor was led to believe that Peri was dead, and was severely distressed by this ("Mindwarp"). It was later revealed the evidence of Peri's death had been faked by the Valeyard. Peri had, in fact, survived, presumably recovered from Kiv's transplant (if it ever actually occurred), and married King Yrcanos of Krontep, a warrior king who had assisted the Doctor and Peri during the events on that planet ("The Ultimate Foe"). It is not known what happened to Peri after she married Yrcanos, although various sources (see "Expanded Universe section below) give different accounts of her eventual fate.

The Expanded Universe

 * The controversial epilogue to the Target Books novelisation of Mindwarp by Philip Martin stated that Peri returned to the 20th Century with Yrcanos where he became a professional wrestler. This tongue-in-cheek conclusion is not reflected in any televised story.


 * In the Marvel Comics graphic novel "The Age of Chaos," written by Colin Baker, Peri lived out her life on Krontep as Yrcanos's Queen and had 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 blamed the Doctor for abandoning her. In the novel, the Seventh Doctor made peace with Peri and returned her to late-20th Century Earth.


 * The Telos novella "Shell Shock" by Simon A. Forward revealed that Peri had been sexually abused by her stepfather. This fact was hinted at in the BBC Past Doctor Adventures novel "Synthespians&trade;" by Craig Hinton, which also revealed 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.


 * The Past Doctor Adventure novel Players revealed that as a child Peri read the American comic "Swamp Thing."


 * For a time Peri and the Fifth Doctor were joined in their travels by the Egyptian Crown Princess Erimem.


 * Peri was among the Doctor's past companions drawn into the Rani's time trap during the events of "Dimensions in Time" but being a brief reunion of Doctor Who's former cast with a loose story thrown in, this is generally not considered canon.

Behind the scenes

 * Counting audio and televised adventures together, Peri effectively shares the longest-serving companion title — both in terms of number of stories and recorded time — with Ace. As they are tied, the title essentially alternates as new stories are released.  Her nearest other rivals are  Jamie and Charley and Nyssa.  Of these, only Nyssa appears to be in active use past 2007, and so only she represents a potential threat to Peri and Ace's record-breaking number of appearances.   While she clearly eclipses the amount of time Sarah Jane has been seen or heard as a companion, Peri is easily outpaced by the character of Sarah, due to Sarah's 21st century revival as a solo character.