Peri Brown is an American botany student from Pasadena, California. She may have also lived in Albuquerque, and it seems very likely that Peri spent some of her formative years in England, as both her vocabulary and pronunciation are occasionally British (although, as Peri has never visited London before her travels with the Doctor, there may be another reason). Peri may also be Catholic; she wears a St Christopher around her neck. Peri meets the Doctor while on vacation in Lanzarote. She gets along poorly with her stepfather, and has a great desire to travel - so, despite her ongoing ecology project and imminent exams, she is only too pleased to take a break from the grind of the real world to go adventuring with the Doctor. Her grades at school apparently aren't too great, but she hopes to improve this by collecting a variety of the alien plants that she comes across on her travels with the Doctor.
Peri is naturally very plucky, standing up for herself and confronting baddies with bravado, but the excitement of time travel with the Doctor is greatly tempered by the terrifying situations he gets her into. As a result, Peri often ends up stammering nervously, and her protests are not quite as confident as she would probably like. During her forays outside the TARDIS with the Doctor, Peri is frequently found asking if things are safe and/or if they can just go back to the TARDIS. Because of this, she seems overly cautious, if not downright timid. But in fact, Peri only whines about this when she feels that the Doctor is being too reckless; when he actually agrees to her suggestion in The Twin Dilemma, she instantly backs down and protests that they really shouldn't be leaving after all.
The fifth Doctor is something of a surrogate father figure for Peri; she finds him sweet, and teases with him. Then he regenerates. At first, the arrogant and brash sixth Doctor brings out Peri's worst side. Exasperated with the Doctor, Peri argues with him most of the time that they are alone. When not arguing, she is frequently whining or complaining about something. But in time, she and the new Doctor get used to one another and their relationship becomes much smoother.
Despite the rocky moments, Peri really does enjoy being with the Doctor. On the occasions when he threatens to take her straight home, she persuades him not to do so. Even if there were no other reason, Peri's travels with the Doctor give her the chance to see lots of exotic alien plants and several that became extinct on Earth before her time. Apparently the Doctor has also shown her photographs of some of his previous adventures, because Peri knows of his past travelling companions and can at least identify Jo by name.
Peri is fairly short, with brown eyes and a bob of dark brown hair that she later grows out long and curly. She tends to favor wearing colorful leotards and a pair of shorts, although eventually her tastes drift toward brightly-colored jacket-and-trouser suits.
Initially, Peri only intended to travel with the Doctor during her three-month vacation, but she ended up staying with him much longer. During a trip to the planet Thoros-Beta, the Doctor was snatched away by the Time Lords to be put on trial, and Peri was unintentionally abandoned. She was rescued from a mind-transfer experiment by a warrior king, Yrcanos, who she later married.
