Doctor Who has finally answered a question that’s been plaguing fans for almost 40 years – what really happened to Peri?
Nicola Bryant played companion Peri Brown opposite Colin Baker’s Sixth Doctor in the 1980s, but the character appeared to meet a dark fate in her final appearance as a series regular.
In the 1986 story The Trial of a Time Lord, the alien Kiv appeared to transplant his brain into Peri’s body, effectively killing her. It was later suggested, however, that Peri had survived, that the evidence of her death had been faked, and that she was now living as queen to the warrior king Yrcanos (Brian Blessed).
Fans never actually saw this happen, however, with some remaining convinced that Peri had died, while others were just curious as to what exactly her life with the eccentric King Ycarnos would’ve entailed.
36 years later and we’ve finally got our answer, as part of a trailer for the next classic Doctor Who Blu-ray set – The Collection: Season 22.
The trailer is bookended by a short film, written and directed by Pete McTighe (Kerblam!), which sees Nicola Bryant reprise her role of Peri, now also known as “the Warrior Queen”.
It’s revealed that Peri did in fact survive the events of The Trial of a Time Lord and lived a life on the planet Krontep alongside Ycarnos, but that she “vanished” following his death some years prior.
- Pre-order Doctor Who: The Collection – Season 22 from Amazon now
“You didn’t need a figurehead anymore, but I come back, every year, to remember,” she says, with the trailer depicting her paying tribute at a statue of Ycarnos.
It’s also revealed that Peri has with the Doctor (“a man of rainbows”) after the pair were previously torn apart, embarking on a whole new series of adventures.
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Though Peri’s fate has been explored previously in books, comic strips and audio dramas, this is the first time that Bryant has reprised her role on-screen to play out a conclusion to the character’s journey.
It might’ve taken almost four decades, but we finally got our happy ending…
Doctor Who: The Collection – Season 22 will include the following stories from 1985: Attack of the Cybermen, Vengeance on Varos, The Mark of the Rani, The Two Doctors, Timelash, and Revelation of the Daleks.
Bonus features will include brand new documentaries, feature-length interviews, extended episodes, audio commentaries, updated special effects and more. The eight-disc box set will also include special features previously released on DVD, as well as mini-episode A Fix With Sontarans and the six-part radio serial Slipback.
Pre-order Doctor Who: The Collection – Season 22 from Amazon now. Visit our Sci-fi hub for more news, interviews, and features, or find something to watch tonight with our TV Guide.