Similarly to previous companions, Peri's role was often perfunctory in nature, running off and getting in trouble so that the Doctor could save her. For this purposes of enjoying the adventures, the actress was required to "sugarcoat the trauma" of the character nearly dying each episode. To avoid any suggestion of a romantic relationship, Bryant played to the Fifth Doctor as a father figure; she had devised that he was reminiscent of Peri's deceased father, a touch that was never shown on-screen but that Nathan-Turner approved of. Bryant did not like the way that Peri was written in Timelash (1985) as she felt that she bore no resemblance to the character she had started out with, and felt it was unnecessary that during her time on the show she spent "three out of four episodes" tied-up. Bryant said the story "harked back to the 60s, where basically the companion gets tied up and left somewhere to scream a lot."
