Nicola Bryant was born and raised in a small village near Guildford in Surrey, the older of two daughters of Denis and Sheila Bryant. She has a younger sister named Tracy.[3] She began taking dance classes at the age of three, and also took piano lessons. At the age of ten she auditioned to go to ballet schools, but was unable to take up places offered because of asthma. Upset by this development, she joined a local amateur dramatic group.
On leaving school she auditioned for all of the London drama schools, and took up a scholarship to the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. In her final year there, she played the part of Nanette in a production of the musical No, No, Nanette.[4]
Career
Bryant's first professional part was as Peri Brown in Doctor Who.[3] She played the part from 1984 to 1986, first with Peter Davison, and then with Colin Baker as the Doctor.[5] Bryant's tenure on the show was met with raised eyebrows in some quarters as series producer John Nathan-Turner admitted (in his book Doctor Who: The Companions and elsewhere) that his intention was to pump up the sex appeal of the ageing series by casting the young actress who was often seen wearing low-cut outfits in the show. As the Doctor Who production team were only auditioning American actors for the role of Peri, Bryant's agent encouraged her to use an American accent until contracted for the role, and backtracked on a promise to inform the production of her nationality before any public appearances as herself. Bryant therefore continued to speak in an American accent throughout her time in the role, including in interviews and rehearsals, with only Baker becoming aware of her true nationality and accent.[6]
Bryant appeared in the Doctor Who serial The Two Doctors (1985), and she enjoyed working with Patrick Troughton, who returned as the Second Doctor. During the programme's hiatus during 1985 and 1986, Bryant reprised the role of Peri in a BBC radio production entitled Slipback alongside Baker. As a consequence of the hiatus, Bryant's three-year contract expired half way through season 23; Nathan-Turner did not renew her contract as he did not wish for a companion to be part of the series for more years than previous Doctors.[6]
After appearing in Doctor Who, Bryant spent nine months at the Savoy Theatre in the West End of London in the thriller Killing Jessica with Patrick Macnee, directed by Bryan Forbes. She was cast in other television roles, including a part in Blackadder's Christmas Carol (1988). In the early to mid-1990s, she co-starred with Baker in a series of made-for-video science fiction films entitled The Stranger for BBV, although the first few films in the series were little more than Doctor Who episodes in disguise. She also appeared alongside Baker, Davison, Sylvester McCoy and Jon Pertwee in another BBV production, The Airzone Solution, which includes a love scene between Baker and Bryant.
In February 2006, she performed in a New End Theatre production of the Carl Djerassi play Taboos, and in early 2007 appeared in a London stage production of Tom Stoppard's Rock 'n' Roll at the Duke of York's Theatre. A DVD documentary, In The Footsteps of The Two Doctors, following Bryant's return to some of the locations featured in the Doctor Who serial The Two Doctors, was released in late 2006.[7]
Bryant in 2008
She returned to the stage in 2008 in a touring production of an adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's "Don't Look Now", playing the part of Laura Baxter. This production continued into 2009.[5]
In the summer of 2009, Bryant filmed an improvised documentary-style film for Australian director Ben Briand as well as recording eight audio stories for Big Finish as a "missing season" of adventures for Doctor Who. On 2 March 2010 she appeared in Holby City as a television news reporter,[8] and in 2011 she featured in the Dark Shadows audio drama The Blind Painter. In 2013 she appeared in a Doctor Who-themed episode of the game show Pointless.[9]
Appearing in commercials, Bryant has been the face of Woolwich Building Society, National Saving, and Nurofen. Bryant was in the Ridley Scott Associates production for Axa Health Insurance.[citation needed]
Bryant's voice-over work spans more than three decades. She has been the voice behind BMW, Duchy Originals, Florida Orange Juice, Twinings Tea, Nationwide, Woolwich Building Society, medical and pharmaceutical companies and Bovis Houses. She has also voiced documentaries for the BBC and NBC.[3]
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