I had a real Nine Perfect Strangers experience and this is what I learned

Ahead of the new series of Nine Perfect Strangers which premieres tomorrow, Prime Video invited their own nine perfect strangers to a wellness retreat and I was one of them. Four years ago we met Masha, a cold and eccentric wellness guru played by Nicole Kidman. She hosted a group of guests for a week of healing practises, and we watched them navigate loss, grief and anxiety.

To mirror the itinerary of the guests in the new series, we headed to the Beaverbrook spa in Surrey and succumbed to the power of nature. We talked, listened, foraged, ate, and got to see the first two episodes with our new-found friends.

What started as an opportunity to animate the storyline ended up being a truly insightful experience and I learned a lot. Here are five things I’ll be taking away from my time in the countryside…

Not all ‘drugs’ are made equal. Studies in psychedelic medicine show that their effects are worlds apart from recreational substances

In series one of Strangers, Kidman is secretly microdosing her guests with psychedelic medicine so that they can achieve a stronger breakthrough in their therapy. Before this retreat, I thought of drugs as scary things that people took to party.

During our stay we spoke to Professor David Nutt, a leading expert in the study of psychedelic medicine, and the man who founded the world’s first psychedelic research centre. He explained that prior to being banned in 1971, there had been over 1,000 studies conducted to explore the impact of using psychedelic medicine in various illnesses. Though largely positive in outcome, these medicines were declared illegal and study results largely censored. (He said this decision was impacted by the political landscape at the time, and that politics continues to be a factor in this ongoing discussion.)

Professor Nutt explained that studies into how psychedelic medicine can treat things like PTSD, OCD or depression are still underway in a clinical environment. Many experts, himself included, are currently appealing for the legalisation of psychedelic medicine so that some mental health concerns can be treated with them.

It’s such a fascinating topic. If you’re interested on learning more about the relationship between psychedelic medicine and mental health, I’d really recommend listening to his discussion with Fearne Cotton on her Happy Place podcast.

There are parts of our brain that we don’t use as often, and something as simple as light can activate them

Given we were delving deep into a subject at the heart of the show, using psychedelics, the Prime Video team were keen to open our minds in an appropriate way.

As part of our wellness itinerary, we experienced a RoXiva light therapy which is almost like a tamer, synthetic (and entirely legal) version of a psychedelic trip. This involves lying on a yoga mat with eyes closed, underneath a special lamp and listening to gentle sounds. As your brain interprets the light and sound, you see a pattern of colour, shape and movement that is personal to you.

To ease us in gently, our leader Rowan gave us a short 4-minute burst of the treatment. He didn’t want to tell us much about what was going to happen lest he influenced the outcome in any way, so instead we surrendered our trust and lay back. I experienced a very busy, fast-moving kaleidoscope of colour, all very vivid and in small, angry shapes. At the beginning it made me feel anxious and I wasn’t sure I was enjoying it. But I reasoned with myself that I was in safe, idyllic setting, surrounded by experts, and tried to ease into it. What I found then was that my colours began to take larger, more fluid shape, with softer tones and a comforting motion.

Pausing after this to check in on us, Rowan explained that the only thing coming out of the lamp was white light. Any shapes, colours or motion we were seeing was entirely the work of our brain digesting the stimuli. How crazy is that! Do you remember those magic eye books we read when we were little? It was like seeing one of those jump and move right before your eyes.

Nature responds when you ask for permission

Stretched out in a cosy cinema room, we watched the first two episodes of Strangers series two. In contrast to the sunny and bright Tranquillum House of series one, our new scene was set in a bleak, snowy manor, secluded from the world and all the more eerie.

Dosed with a couple of potent truffles from Masha, former TV host Brian (Murray Bartlett) leads the group in a snowy day of foraging. He is my favourite character so far, involved in a Shakespearean level mix-up that made my toes curl. I loved Bartlett as the passive aggressive resort manager in series one of The White Lotus, and his naturally zany persona has also permeated Brian.

In our own morning of foraging, Carolina who led us on our trail shared that she always asks the plants permission to be picked. With a gentle ‘may I?’ before she pulled a leaf or flower, she explained that it’s a gesture of respect and that the plant will always pull more freely when asked. It was a small touch that made total sense to me, and I vowed to be mindful of it in future.

Nicole Kidman is kind of just being herself these days…

As the star of the show, Nicole Kidman naturally came up in conversation. She’s one of my favourite actresses and I explained that I’m beside myself about the Practical Magic sequel. One of our group said that they loved that she’s kind of leaning into the affluence her real life these days, and it got me to thinking about her last few roles.

In 2025, Kidman is a film and TV powerhouse. I saw a red-carpet interview with her at Cannes the other day where she pledged an ongoing alliance to a promise she made in 2017, vowing she would work with a female director at least every 18 months. Not only is she taking on as many acting roles as ever, but she actively produces too – she’s even on the credits for Practical Magic.

This in mind, there’s something quite fitting when we consider the money and power that her leading ladies have wielded in recent years. We had Romy, the high powered CEO in Babygirl, Grace, the affluent therapist in the Undoing, Celeste, the bougie lawyer from Big Little Lies… Though wildly different, all of these characters have something in common with Kidman, as does Masha. She’s living a life of tremendous success, and can draw from that power when she embodies them.

Just this week, Mastercard shared the results of a survey they conducted across women in film. In the UK, 48% of respondents felt that progress for women in film was reversing, and 58% said there was a rise in more subtle barriers to getting into film within the last 5 years. I read it and thought how important it is to see someone like Kidman, thriving during a time where women in film clearly feel more challenged than ever. You can’t be what you can’t see, and Kidman’s reign sends a determined message – keep going.

It can be so much easier to talk to strangers

Talking to strangers is something that comes naturally to me. Most of my friends have partners and/or children, and in the last few years I’ve massively lent into being in my different life cycle and just solo travelled galore. I can easily get chatting to people wherever I go. Sometimes I don’t even mean to, I think I just have one of those faces! But one thing is for sure, I often find it easier to open up to strangers.

A big part of my life involves caring for family. My care commitments are ongoing, and depending on how things are they can take up smaller or much larger quantities of my time.

Often when you see someone you know, you ‘catch up’. The meeting is more having a recap of where you left off, filling them in on the latest, and depending on what’s going on it can actually be quite draining. I’ve found since my care responsibilities have increased, I don’t look forward to ‘catching up’ like I used to because my contributions just feel heavier.

The joy of talking to a brand-new person is that there’s no backstory. There’s nothing to ‘catch up’ on – it’s all fresh. You find yourself searching for things to strike a common ground over, and before you know it you’ve delved into music, TV, how many siblings you have, what your favourite M&S picky bits are… it’s just all the fun stuff. I can totally see why the Strangers need to be in an unknown group to experience authentic transformation, because I think you get a better sense of yourself when you’re laying down the groundwork with a stranger. I came away from my trip feeling like I’d met lovely people, enjoyed asking questions and felt like they asked about me too. The joy of being away with a naturally inquisitive group of journalists!

I went away this week expecting to be totally overwhelmed by the subject matter, and found myself down a rabbit hole, ordering Professor Nutt’s book. I think the biggest thing I took away was the importance of always keeping an open mind and asking questions, so I guess I really did have a Tranquillum House experience.

Nine Perfect Strangers premieres on Prime Video tomorrow. If you miss the people watching fun of The White Lotus, and want to see Kidman naturally taking command of a group like her character Greer in The Perfect Couple, it’s worth a watch for sure. There are new episodes each Thursday, so it will keep us going for a couple of months and be something to look forward to.