Primeval is a British science fiction television programme produced for ITV by Impossible Pictures. Created by Adrian Hodges and Tim Haines, who previously created the Walking with... documentary series, Primeval follows a team of five scientists tasked with investigating the appearance of temporal anomalies across Great Britain and containing prehistoric and futuristic creatures which enter the present.

First broadcast in the UK on 10 February, 2007, it has since expanded to an international audience. Overall reception of the programme was positive during the first and second series, maintaining a 25 percent audience share in the United Kingdom during both series to date. Prior to its 9 August 2008 broadcast on BBC America, the programme received generally positive reaction from American critics as well. on Metacritic. Retrieved 8-10-2008. The third series, which ITV announced on 30 January 2008, began on 28 March 2009 and has now finished. In the US, series 3 premièred on 16 May 2009 on BBC America and has finished airing.

On 15 June 2009, ITV announced that they had cancelled the show and that there would not be a fourth series. At the same time, it was suggested that the production team would attempt to keep "Primeval alive in other ways."

On 29 September 2009, it was announced that a deal had been struck between ITV, Watch, Impossible Pictures, German broadcaster Pro7 and BBC Worldwide to produce two new series of the show for transmission in 2011.

Development

Production

The first series was filmed partly at Pinewood Studios, Black Park, Buckinghamshire, London Underground, New Den Stadium (home of Millwall FC, although apparently the Matchroom Stadium, home of Leyton Orient F.C. according to the official website) and CEME (the Centre for Engineering and Manufacturing Excellence near Ford's Dagenham) Whipsnade Zoo, London Zoo, the Canary Islands, Thorpe Park and Bournemouth beach.

The Duke of Kent building at the University of Surrey, Guildford is used as the back-drop for the team's HQ, the ARC (Anomaly Research Centre).

Filming of the second series completed on 1 October 2007, and was broadcast in early 2008.. Digital Spy. Caroline Steel and Oliver Leek, portrayed by Naomi Bentley and Karl Theobald respectively, were two new characters for the second series, both of whom conspired with Helen Cutter.
The penultimate episode of the second series was written by Doctor Who scriptwriter Paul Cornell.
In May 2009, The Sun had reported that Primeval was to be axed owing to ITV's recent admission of a £2.7 billion loss (though not solely as a result of Primeval's budget). ITV strongly denied this claim, with a spokesperson stating "It's not true, it's not going to be axed, it just hasn't been recommissioned and it is not unusual to wait for a series to run before considering recommission." However, by June 2009, ITV confirmed the show was axed.
In September 2009 it was announced ITV and UKTV had worked out a deal and that Primeval would be returning for two new seasons, begining in 2011.

Advertising

Primeval billboards and banners are often erected around London shortly before the airdate. Series 1 has several posters, most of which had exaggerated creatures from the show (the Arthropleura was depicted as being roughly human-sized in the show but was shown as being as large as a house in the billboards). Series 2 and 3 have also had prominent advertising campaigns.

Episodes

Primevals first series in 2007 comprised six episodes. Each instalment contributed to a story arc which continued into the second series. The following series in 2008 was slightly longer with seven episodes. The third season began broadcasting on 28 March 2009, and had ten episodes. The fourth and fifth series will have 13 episodes between them.

Behind the scenes

After the end of the each series a behind-the-scenes documentary, Through the Anomaly, was released.

Cast

Initial Third series cast: (left to right:) Hannah Spearritt, Andrew-Lee Potts, Lucy Brown, Douglas Henshall, Ben Mansfield and Laila Rouass (not including Ben Miller, Jason Flemyng and Juliet Aubrey).

The series originally featured a cast of five main characters plus supporting cast who investigate time anomalies for the British government:Current cast

• Danny Quinn (Jason Flemyng) - former policeman who becomes involved after an incident with two teenagers. His brother was killed by a camouflaging creature. He later becomes the new team leader, appointed by Lester, following Jenny's exit.

• Connor Temple (Andrew-Lee Potts) — Cutter's one-time student, becoming the research, equipment and logistics specialist.

• Abby Maitland (Hannah Spearritt) — herpetologist and assistant zookeeper. She joins Cutter's team at the beginning of Series 1.

• James Lester (Ben Miller) — a senior Home Office official and administrator of the team.

• Sarah Page (Laila Rouass) - An Egyptologist, Cutter recruits her into the team at the beginning of series 3. Her job is to investigate ancient myths and legends involving creatures to see whether any of them can be explained by anomalies..

• Captain Becker (Ben Mansfield) — a Special Forces soldier who is assigned to help protect the team from potential danger.

Former cast

• Professor Nick Cutter (Douglas Henshall) — Professor of evolutionary biology and team leader. Cutter is killed by his wife, Helen in Series 3, Episode 3, after the ARC (Anomaly Research Centre) is attacked by Helen and her army of Cleaner replicas. He was also romantically involved with both Claudia Brown, and more recently, before his death, Jenny Lewis was beginning to feel romantically attached to him.

• Stephen Hart (James Murray) — Cutter's lab technician and "bodyguard". Stephen sacrificed himself for Nick, Helen and the team in the last episode of Series 2.

• Claudia Brown/Jennifer Lewis (Lucy Brown) — In the first series, Claudia Brown was a Home Office official and the team's government liaison, but disappeared at the end of Episode 6 due to a timeline change. Jenny Lewis, an identical woman, was introduced at the end of Episode 7, serving as the new Public Relations officer for the A.R.C. She resigns at the end of Series 3, Episode 5.

• Captain Tom Ryan (Mark Wakeling) — special forces leader and former SAS operative. He is killed at the end of Series 1.

• Oliver Leek (Karl Theobald) — Lester's assistant, who appears suddenly at the beginning of Series 2, replacing Claudia Brown. It is later revealed that Leek is in league with Helen Cutter. This character dies at the end of Series 2.

• Caroline Steel (Naomi Bentley) — Connor's former girlfriend who was secretly working for Leek during the majority of the second season.

• Helen Cutter (Juliet Aubrey) — palaeontologist, villainess and Cutter's estranged wife. Killed by a raptor at the end of series 3

• Christine Johnson (Belinda Stewart-Wilson) - Arrives at the beginning of series 3, and is Lester's new boss. Killed by a Future Predator in 3.9

• Captain Wilder (Alex McSweeney) - Johnson's bodyguard who arrives in the majority of Series 3. He is killed by a Megopteran in 3.10

The series also uses several minor characters, some of whom appear in several episodes.

Spin-offs

Plans for a feature film version of Primeval have been revealed by ITV with Warner Bros. reportedly having acquired the screen rights with Akiva Goldsman and Kerry Foster named as the producers. In addition to the movie, Jonathan Drake and Tim Haines are rumoured to be working on plans for a spin-off series, possibly based in the US.

Plot

Universe

The series takes place in, and is just a small section of an extensive alternate universe, nicknamed the Primeverse by fans. The universe shares some features of the times covered in other Impossible Pictures shows such as Prehistoric Park and the Walking with... series. Tim Haines and Adrian Hodges have added places and characters not covered there.

There is also the possibility that the Primeverse will be featured in future Impossible Pictures productions as writer Adrian Hodges has stated that he'd like to take the Primeverse "in another direction one day".

Timeline

This is a chronological list of the events and episodes of the show, although due to the time travel element of the show, many events take place on dates across a wide-spanning timeline. Not all of these events have a definite date, however, and as such there is some noted controversy over their placement; testament to the significance of the series' continuity and the chronology within its fandom. Similarly, Helen Cutter's stories, set during her eight subjective years of travelling through time, have no distinctly recognisable chronological place within the series' timeline.

Creatures

Primeval's most recurring monsters, known only as future predators, are a future evolution of a bat.

This is a list of species featured in Primeval. The list includes some imaginary species which are not prehistoric, but are nonetheless not native to the present era. For the first series, various creatures were designed with some artistic license, for dramatic effect. However there is one exception in Season 1, the Dodo. The series also features creatures from the future.

Merchandise

Toys and action figures

The master toy licence for Primeval was given to Character Options, the same company that created the Doctor Who toy line. Jon Diver, joint MD at Character Group, stated that the series one toy line will be "extensive" and was scheduled for release in October 2007, followed by a series two toy line released in January 2008 to correspond with the second series. The toy line includes all of the main characters and a few of the creatures. A large plush toy version of Rex was also put into production. It is unknown if the toys will be shipped over to America. The Primeval Toy line includes:

• Main Characters (Nick Cutter, Helen Cutter, Stephen Hart, Connor Temple, Abby Maitland, James Lester, Claudia Brown, Jenny Lewis, Captain Tom Ryan)

• Creatures (Rex, Giant Arachnids, Hesperonis, Dodo & Parasite, Agnurognathus, Future Predator, Raptor, Sabre-Tooth, Mer-Creature, Giant Scorpion)

• Sets (Anomaly Incursion Set, Creature Incursion Set, Anomaly Detector Build-A-Figure)

• Plush Rex with sound

• Flying Rex & Agnurognathus

• Handheld Anomaly Detector with lights & sound

Books

Ladybird Books has so far published 2 sticker books (one of which is a glow in the dark sticker book) a poster book, a tattoo activity title, a wipe-clean activity book, and a summer annual for children from 5–8 years old. They will also publish additional activity titles for February 2009.
Puffin Books are also publishing four Primeval paperback books named A Rip in Time, Dangerous Dimension, The Lost Predator and Fight for Survival.
Several original novels have also been published by Titan Books, to behave more like extra episodes than novelizations. The first is Shadow of the Jaguar by Steven Savile, which revealed that anomalies do appear overseas. A second novel, written by acclaimed fantasy writer Paul Kearney, is entitled The Lost Island. A third one was released entitled Extiction Event written by Dan Abnett who has also written one of the Torchwood books, and a fourth book entitled Fire and Water.

DVD releases

A box set for Series 1 and 2 was released by Warner Home Video on 17 March, 2008 in Region 2 and on 4 November, 2008, in Region 1. These sets were composed of four DVDs with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The series were also released individually (not in the US). Series 3 was released in Region 2 on 1 June, 2009, with the finale included before it was aired on television, Series 3 was released in Region 1 on 15 September, 2009.

Viewing statistics

The first episode gained a final viewing figure of 7.09 million people. The series averaged 6.39 million viewers. When shown in Germany it gained a total audience of 2.78 million viewers. These figures do not take into account the viewing figures for repeats of the programme.http://www.barb.co.uk/report/weeklyTopProgrammesOverview/?Requesttimeout=500&report=weeklyterrestrial After all 7 episodes, series 2 averaged 6.29 million viewers making a very slight drop of 100,000 from the series 1 average.

Although episode 3.3 received low viewer ratings in the UK, the second half of the show was aired during the opposing BBC transmission of a special edition of Doctor Who. Season 3 was also broadcast much later in the year than previous seasons so warmer weather could be a factor to explain a small decrease in viewership but little change in the percentage of audience share. Nevertheless, Primeval remains in the Top 30 most viewed programmes for ITV per week, beating many of the Top 30 for other stations as well.

Series 1

Series 2

Series 3

Reception

TV critic Charlie Brooker reviewed Primeval in the final episode of his BBC Four show Screenwipe, and gave it a rave review saying that it was "far better than Torchwood for instance" commenting "I hope you're listening, Russell T Davies". "Unashamedly Saturday night populist viewing for the masses" with "some of the best special effects I've ever seen... in a British TV show" he went on.

First broadcast on BBC America on August 9, 2008, Primeval met with generally favourable reviews among American critics, earning 73 out of 100 on the aggregate review site Metacritic. Calling the show both child-friendly and entertaining for adults, Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune noted the unusual date of the American première, stating that "most networks...have shied away from launching shows during August, when the Beijing Olympics are expected to dominate the TV landscape." Rob Owen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette praised Primevals special effects and sense of humor. Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times criticized the music and emotional direction of the narrative, saying of protagonist Nick Cutter "I know your wife has been missing for years, but ye gods, man, that's a bloody dinosaur."

Comparisons have been made between Primeval and the popular BBC series Doctor Who, which is famous for its use of time travel. The producers of Primeval have consistently resisted comparison of the series with Doctor Who, calling Primeval more "reality-based." Actor Douglas Henshall instead compared the series to The A-Team, calling Primeval an ensemble piece featuring characters with different backgrounds who must work together. Torchwood creator and Doctor Who head writer Russell T Davies commented on the show in 2007, criticizing Primeval's lack of ethnic casting as "shameful," but then adding "apart from that, I think it's excellent". The show has since introduced Sarah Page, played by the Moroccan-Indian actress Laila Rouass, as a permanent member of the team.

Cancellation and revival

In June 2009, ITV announced that Primeval would not be returning for a fourth series. An ITV spokesman is quoted as saying:

"After three very successful series of Primeval there are no plans at the present time for it to return to ITV. High-quality drama remains a key part of the ITV schedule although our current focus is on post-watershed productions."

A likely contributing factor to the show's cancellation was ITV suffering severe financial troubles during 2009, reporting a £105 million pound half-year loss. As a result some of its other popular shows including Heartbeat were axed. On 29 September 2009, it was announced that two new series of the show will be produced for transmission in 2011, retaining all the cast of series 3. The new deal means a seven-part season four will air on ITV1 before being repeated on UKTV’s Watch channel, while the six-part season five gets its debut on Watch before showing on ITV1. Filming is due to begin in Ireland in March 2010.

International broadcasts