Can it really be ten years since Nicola Bryant first appeared at a Chicago
convention? She barely had "Planet of Fire" under her belt when she came to
this hotel Thanksgiving weekend, 1983. Nicola had no idea what to expect from
the fans; the fans (most of whom had just learned she was the new companion)
had no idea what to expect from her. Now, however, we all know Peri and all
love Nicola. Nicola joined Doctor Who straight out of drama school
-- her year
in a U.S. school and her ability to do a decent American accent making her a
natural for the part of American college student Perpugilliam Brown. She stayed
with the show for two years (although it really was only a little more than one
season of episodes, thanks to Michael Grade's famous 1985 cancellation). Since
leaving the show, she has spent most of her time on stage, appearing in such
productions as Killing Jessica, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Twelfth
Night,
Come on Jeeves, So Long on Lonely Street, and The Great
Gatsby. She has appeared
in all four Stranger videos and in Black Adder's Christmas Carol.
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's best-known work
in the States remains Doctor Who, and it's her wonderful portrayal
that made
Peri either a favorite companion or a least-favorite companion (depending on
whom you ask). Peri typified the average American college woman; the very
qualities that endeared Peri to many -- her straightforwardness, her constant
nagging of the sixth Doctor, her weird American slang -- annoyed other fans who
preferred the agreeability of, say, the second Romana. Still, many people
talked about the character, and as Oscar Wilde said, "The only thing worse than
being talked about is not being talked about." -- Contributed by Jennifer
Adams Kelley
Visions '93 biography of
Nicola Bryant, copyright 1995 by Her Majesty's
Entertainment, Hoffman Estates, IL, USA. Used with permission.
Observations
Nicola Bryant was not high on my initial list of "Doctor Who celebrities I'd most like to meet." Though I thought Peri was second only to Sarah Jane in pulchritude (look it up) among the Companions, I'd never much appreciated her character. But then came Visions '92, and my first close encounter with Nicola. And close was right: at the first photo session, I asked her "how friendly can I get?" She replied, "As friendly as you like!" So we were hugging when the photograph was taken. (No one has ever accused me of shyness where beautiful British actresses were concerned.)
On top of that, there was the Variety Show--quite possibly the best one Visions has ever done, which is saying a lot. The centerpiece for the evening was an amateur production of the British comedy improvisational game show Whose Line Is It Anyway? For those of you who haven't seen it, it places an enormous premium on thinking quickly on one's feet. Contestants this evening included Chris Jury (from Lovejoy), Robert Llewellyn (from Red Dwarf), Frank Conniff (Mystery Science Theater) , and Nicola. To make a long story short, Nicola wiped the floor with everyone else. I left hugely entertained but also feeling that I do not want to get into a battle of wits with this woman.
The tragedy is that so little of Nicola's character seeped into Peri, perhaps due to Nicola's inexperience at the time. If Peri had only shown a fraction of Nicola's character, she would be a popular Companion indeed.
Back to the TARDIS.