User:Coin945/Peri

Getting the part
Nicola's Doctor Who "agent" had spotted her in a drama school production - an American version of No No Nannete, and he wrote down "one American...". Almost a week after she left drama school, he phoned her up and secured her a Doctor Who audition.

Bryant thought it was "extraordinary" and "surreal" to be called up out of the blue for a part. The actress did a series of auditions with John Nathan Turner and Eric Sayward. Initially thinking "I have nothing to lose", enjoying the experience and expecting to be offered an extra part, she became nervous as she got closer to securing the role of Peri.

The accent
The production was only auditioning Americans, and the British actress had to feign an American accent during the process. (The agent had thought Nicola was American when watching the production, and had promised to tell the production if she was successful - which was ultimately unfulfilled).

As part of her contract, Nicola was required to use her American accent at all public events, barring the local pop to the supermarket; this included BBC canteens and rehearsal rooms.

The young actress "got on with it" throughout her entire run on the show and later described it as the longest role she ever played.

Nicola revealed her British accent to Colin Baker at a dinner party; after his departure, Colin Baker revealed Nicola's non-American origins to the newspapers, which he described as "doing [her] a favour". Decades after departing, Nicola's American's accent subconsciously slips into conversation. She noted that fans are still surprised to discover than she is not American.

Makeup and costume
Nicola derided the costume that she wore on Doctor Who. She remember consistently having her bottom tapped while walking through the BBC lot, and that she would have to laugh and say "thank you" in response then walk a little faster or duck into the bathroom. Nicola recalled a 4-5 hours makeup process for Mindwap being artificially sped up by the makeup department, leading to the prosthetic being ripped from her face; while shooting in the sun the following days, her face was unbrearably sore. Also, her skimpy outfit while appropriate in the Meditteranean weather where Planet of Fire was shot, was inappropriate for British winter and caused her to get frostbite and pneumonia.

The character sheet
As her first job after drama school, Nicola expected to receive a character sheet to give her a window into her Peri's backstory. After not receiving one, Nicola opted to write one herself, expecting John Nathan Turner to have it incorporated into the scripts, which he did not do. Nicola felt that it would be difficult to play a companion who isn't either an adrenaline junky or someone running from their past, as if they were to play each scene as a human being finding themselves in this situation, they would have a nervous breakdown early on. Noting the motivation of other companions, Nicola reasoned that otherwise, once a companion realises how dangerous it is, all they would want to do it go back. Taking this in consideration, Nicola felt that it was Peri's choice to join the Doctor - that she was so miserable in the life she had on Earth that she wanted to do it, and that she would take on some of the Doctor's strength and courage throughout their adventures. Similar to previous companions, Peri's role was often perfunctory in nature, running off and getting in trouble so the Doctor could save her. For this purposes of enjoying the adventures, the actress was required to "sugarcoat the trauma" of her character nearly dying each episode. To avoid any suggestion of a romantic relationship, Nicola played to the 5th Doctor as a father figure; she devised that the 5th Doctor was reminiscent of Peri's father, a touch that was never added in the script but that John Nathan Turner approved of. Nicola did not like Timelash due to feeling the character she started out with bore no resemblance to the person she was playing, and felt it was unnecesary that in the mid 80's she spent 3 out of 4 episodes tied up.

Time on the show
Peri was Nicola's first acting job. She started filming in September 1983. The director of her first story Planet of Fire, Fiona Cumming, encouraged Nicola to observe and learn from Peter Davidson. Nicola had the possibility of a three year contract and expected to be working with Davidson during that time, so she was shocked that she would be working with a new actor after only two stories, and particularly shocked at learning this over the news. Nicola noted that this abrupt change meant she was never able to "settle in".

Nicola found out about the show being put on hiatus through a phone call after retuning home from Venice. A Daily Mirror journalist asked her thoughts on the "death of Doctor Who", to which she mistakenly thought referred to Colin.

Leaving the show
When Nicola's contract was coming to an end, John Nathan Turner asked her how she would like to go. Nicola advised she didn't want to shake hands and say a generic line like "Bye Doctor, I'll send you a postcard", and that she wanted a dramatic storyline to "go out with a bang". She was pleased with Philip Martin's "powerful" Mindwarp storyline involving a mind transplant and a bald head sequence. However, she was displeased by the character's retcon later in the Trial of a Timelord story, which suggested she was married to King Yrcanos despite her and Brian Blessed having not played the scene like that.

Legacy
Nicola's first convention was in November 1983 - just a few months after she started shooting, despite having no footage to show; she later described the experience as a hysteria on par with Beatlemania. She required a bodyguard and stayed in a huge hotel suite. A man fainted after noticing her. At a later convention, she recalls a disabled man giving her a stuffed dog as a gift and describing Peri as his best friend. Nicola would quasi-reprise her role as Miss Brown in the series The Stranger costarring with Colin Baker as the titlular Doctor-inspired role. She later noted she understood that her character's death in Doctor Who upset many fans of the show due to its bluntless.

In 2017, Nicola noted the positive impact her character of Peri has had - she has been able to travel the world and made close friendships - and that she never expected it to be so much a part of her life. She said that there is not one of her stories that she doesn't wish to reshoot, although she respects Caves of Androzani as a whole piece, and believes Vengance on Varos still has relevance today. Nicole felt that Rose's backstory in New Who was very reminiscent of the backstory she had constructed for Peri.