Talk:Peri Brown

American "cover up"

I added a bit about this to Behind the Scenes, but I'm trying to find further information. I clearly recall reading in with DWM or another source that back in 1983-84 there was an attempt by publicists to conceal the fact that Bryant wasn't really an American. Yet I just heard an interview with her from around that time on one of the Doctor Who at the BBC CDs and she clearly speaks with an English accent. If anyone can add to this, that would be great. I'm putting it here rather than in Nicola's article because it is pertaining to how the character of Peri was promoted and introduced. I am actually of the opinion this might be more myth than fact, but the fact it has been recorded in media means it's worth addressing. 23skidoo 16:40, January 14, 2010 (UTC)

Nicola herself says there was, indeed, an American cover up. Adding info from the Planet of Fire DVD commentary. What I'd like to know is whether the Doctor Who at the BBC stuff was actually released contemporaneously. I don't doubt it was recorded at the time, but I'm interested in when it was made available to the public. Also, Bryant doesn't say how long the cover-up lasted. It may not have been employed for her entire time on Doctor Who. CzechOut ☎ | ✍ 04:32, July 3, 2010 (UTC)

I added a note indicating that a BBC interview aired the day Twin Dilemma Part 1 was broadcast has Nicola speaking in her natural accent, so it mustn't have been very long at all. 68.146.64.9 20:38, February 9, 2011 (UTC)

The passport thing

I'm not so sure that we should make so much of what her passport gives as her place of residence. That is, it seems more worthy of a behind the scenes mention, than a full-throated declaration as an in-universe fact. In American passports of this era, that information was added by the holder, and wasn't, therefore, "official" information. Yes, you can see "Pasadena, California" if you freeze frame, but its narrative significance is questionable. Of greater significance, perhaps, is the fact that the passport was issued by the New York passport agency — something that would've been unlikely for someone who actually resided in Pasadena. Besides, there are many other sources which place her hometown as nearer to Baltimore than Pasadena. I guess what I'm saying is that it smells like a Rory-ID-badge production error. CzechOut ☎ | ✍ 12:00, May 15, 2010 (UTC)

It is a Rory-Id-badge production error, according to the DVD commentary. Fiona Cumming says the passport was actually recycled from a part that Dallas Adams (Howard Foster) had previously played. Indeed, if you catch it at just the right moment, you can see the official information (that is, not hand-written) has the passport belonging to a "Sydney (indistinct)", who was born 15 November 1940. No way this thing can be used as reliable information for Peri. Her name doesn't appear anywhere on it. Also, the internal number doesn't match the clear number on the front. And, the internal Pasadena address is written in a way no American address ever is. It's even got an alphanumeric postcode, as in Britain and Canada, rather than a numeric Zip Code, as was certainly in use then in the US. Moreover, though the passport does claim Pasadena as the home address of whoever this passport was issued to, it's still unreliable info. According to the "next of kin" line, it's merely Howard's address, but that doesn't actually make it hers by default. It's common advice from the passport agency to put in the address of the closest relative as your home address before you get married, because, after all, the most stable address you have until you start your own family is that of your parents. We therefore can't divine anything from this rather shoddily-made prop. The best info on it is unreliable, but the bulk of it is simply a production error. CzechOut ☎ | ✍ 15:45, July 2, 2010 (UTC)