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Peri travelled with the Doctor between Planet of Fire and Trial of a Time Lord. Perpugilliam Brown, known as Peri, was an eighteen year-old American Botany student holidaying in Lanzarote with her uncle, when the Doctor and Turlough landed nearby. Turlough rescued Peri when she tried to swim to shore from her uncle's boat, and took her inside the TARDIS to recover. The TARDIS took off with Peri still on board and her first adventure with the fifth doctor began. She was always headstrong and argumentative, even out-shouting The Master when he tried to bully her. She was just coming to trust the Fifth Doctor and have some real affection for him when he was forced to regenerate into his sixth and most difficult regeneration. Immediately after the regeneration he was erratic, with mood swings and outright cruelty towards her and it took her some times to regain her trust for The Doctor. When she did, she faced up to some very frightening situations alongside him, her own courage and sense of right and wrong coming out strongly. The Trial of a Time Lord with its flashback scenes made it difficult to say what happened to Peri. She appeared to have been murdered by the Mentors of Thoros Beta, but The Inquisitor assured The Doctor that it was a false image and that she in fact married the Krontep warlord Yrcanos and went on to lead an interesting life.
It was also during her time at drama school, that Nicola married
the Broadway singer, Scott Kennedy, although they later separated.
Her final production at Webber Douglas was "No, No, Nanette",
in which she played the lead. She was spotted by an agent, Terry Carney
(William Hartnell's Grand-daughter's husband), and asked to audition
for the part of Peri in "Doctor Who", which she got. She
played the part from 1984 to 1986, first with Peter Davison, and then
with Colin Baker as the Doctor. Her role was not always well received
by fans who saw her as an attempt by producer John Nathan-Turner to
pump up the sex appeal of the aging series by casting her in revealing
costimes. Her character was American and for a while a publicity-driven
fiction was maintained suggesting that she WAS American, but sharp-eared
students of luinguistics could spot the fake accent. During her final
season on Doctor Who, the actress was allowed to dress more conservatively
on the show. After appearing in Doctor Who she has had other television roles, including a part in Blackadder's Christmas Carol. In the early-mid 1990s, she also co-starred with Baker in a series of made-for-video science fiction films entitled The Stranger for BBV, although the first few films in the series were little more than Doctor Who episodes in disguise. She also appeared alongside Baker, Davison, Sylvester McCoy and Jon Pertwee in another BBV production, The Airzone Solution which is notable as it includes a love scene between Baker and Bryant. In 1992, she went to Los Angeles for several months before returning to the UK. In 1995, she appeared as Martine in "The Biz", a children's series, which has ran for three series. She also has sung with Colin Baker, Anthony Ainley, Nicholas Courtney and a number of British pop stars on the "Doctor In Distress" record. Nicola lives in Notting Hill, where her understanding neighbours allow her to write music at all hours of the day and night. Nicola has reprised the role of Peri in several of the Big Finish Productions Doctor Who spin-off audio plays. She has appeared with both Peter Davison and Colin Baker in these. She also directed UNIT: The Wasting. According to her official website, her acting work in recent years has been limited due to a back injury suffered during a fall on stage in the early 2000s, although she continued to work on Big Finish audio productions during her recuperation. In February 2006, she returned to live performances, appearing in a New End Theatre production of Taboos, a play by Carl Djerassi. She also appeared on a DVD documentary regarding the making of the Doctor Who serial The Two Doctors which was released in late 2003.
Film and TV "Doctor Who" (33 episodes)
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