Primeval

A crack team of scientists, headed up by world-renowned evolutionary scientist Professor Nick Cutter, is recruited by the British Government to investigate a series of dinosaur sightings. From a Gorgonopsid rampaging through the Forest of Dean to a swarm of giant spiders in the tunnels of the London Underground, they find themselves doing the monster mash with some seriously beastly opponents.
Long-extinct creatures are tearing through a series of rips in time, and as the seemingly impossible becomes a terrifying reality, Cutter and his research assistant Stephen Hart struggle to find answers. Enlisting the help of zoologist Abby Maitland and student palaeontologist Connor Temple, the four work to uncover the secrets of the temporal anomalies.
In doing so, it swiftly becomes clear that all traditional methods of research have become extinct. Aided and abetted in equal measures by shadowy Government officials James Lester and Claudia Brown, who have instructed them to keep the danger secret from the public, Cutter and his team find themselves heading into previously uncharted territory. As the past threatens to invade the present and destroy the future, Cutter's crew faces a life-and-death race against time.
As the team struggles to stem the invasion of the monsters, Cutter is also struggling with another, intensely private dilemma. His wife Helen has been missing for eight years, but he never gave up hope of finding her alive. Now she is back, with possible answers to the riddle of warping time. But is it a secret she is willing to share? And if not, what has she come back for?
Combining the dazzling special effects of Walking With Dinosaurs with Jurassic Park-style action and thrills, plus a haunting love story, Primeval asks a terrifying question - has mankind come to the end of the evolutionary road?

Series 1
When the past and the present collide
When evolutionary zoologist Nick Cutter discovers prehistoric creatures alive and well in the present day the natural world is turned on its head and humanity faces a threat to its very existence. Unexplained anomalies are ripping holes in the fabric of time, allowing creatures from the very earliest stages of Earth's development to roam the modern world. Cutter and his team struggle to keep the looming disaster secret while dealing with savage dinosaurs and other deadly foes. Cutter also has to deal with a deeply personal dilemma - he discovers that his wife Helen, missing believed dead for eight years, has actually been travelling in the past; now she is back with possible answers to the riddle of the anomalies, but is it an answer she is willing to share? Primeval combines the dazzling special effects of Walking With Dinosaurs with a haunting love story, and asks a terrifying question - has mankind come to the end of the evolutionary road?

Series 2
Get ready for more monsters, more action, more thrills and more adventure! Evolutionary zoologist Nick Cutter and his team are back to do battle with more savage dinosaurs and other deadly foes, as unexplained anomalies continue to rip through the fabric of time, causing havoc in the present day. Claudia reappears, looking exactly the same, but with no memory of the past, or Nick. It seems he altered the present when he went back in time, but how? And now, bizarre creatures from the future are materialising too. Connor still has a penchant for Abby, but will they ever get it together? Meanwhile Helen is acting suspiciously, and Stephen doesn't know whom to trust. One thing's for sure, there is definitely a traitor in their midst...

Series 3
The Primeval team are back and Nick Cutter is fighting to re-focus his embattled team who are still reeling from Stephen's death and the scale of Helen's betrayal.
Cutter's crew are joined by some new recruits in the form of maverick policeman Danny Quinn (Jason Flemyng), sparky Egyptologist Sarah Page (Laila Rouass), and the new leader of the ARC's security forces Captain Becker (Ben Mansfield). But as the anomalies continue to present an unrelenting series of threats, the task in hand seems almost impossible.
With events getting even wilder, creatures steeped in ancient folklore begin to make an appearance and it becomes clear that the origins of myths and legends are linked with the mysterious anomalies. But it's not just deadly creatures the team has to contend with; the cloak of secrecy behind which they have been working is beginning to slip, and questions are being asked as the conspiracy spreads its net wide.
And as deadlier creatures continue to rampage through the anomalies - the team faces a threat to the future of not just the ARC but of mankind itself..

Series 1
Episode 1 - Prehistoric creatures burst through a rip in time and our team find themselves running for their lives from the hungry jaws of a flesh-eating Gorgonopsid.

Episode 2 - Mammoth spiders attack London's Underground, but in the darkness of the tunnels lies something more sinister still.

Episode 3 - An ancient sea monster attacks two lifeguards in a municipal swimming pool while a mother makes a terrifying discovery when her utility room starts to flood.

Episode 4 - When a flock of comical-looking dodos appear through the anomaly, no one realises that they have brought with them a dangerous parasite.

Episode 5 - Connor's carelessness reveals Rex's presence, and an aerial anomaly releases a new danger thirsty for blood

Episode 6 - The team meets its most terrifying adversary yet - a predator from the future

Series 2
Episode 1 - Cutter returns to the present, to find the team based at a futuristic-looking HQ called the ARC, Claudia wiped from everyone's memories and the oily Oliver Leek in her place. Meanwhile, another anomaly has opened and a raptor is loose in a local shopping mall.

Episode 2 - The team tries to rescue trapped workers from giant, noxious carnivorous worms that have taken up residence in a skyscraper, the new PR guru bears a striking resemblance to Claudia, and Abby takes an instant dislike to Connor's latest love interest.

Episode 3 - When a young paintballer is attacked by a sabre-tooth tiger at an adventure holiday park, it seems that the new anomaly detector has failed. However, Cutter begins to suspect a conventional explanation - and Connor disgraces himself.

Episode 4 - When a disco boat comes under attack and a teenager goes missing, Cutter and the team discover weird mer-creatures from the future lurking in the canal. Abby is snatched and Connor blames Cutter. Can they rescue her, or is she dead already?

Episode 5 - Entering the latest anomaly, Stephen and Cutter discover a young girl and her dog - and a world full of giant scorpions. Trapped in the Silurian desert, they must stay alive long enough to find a new exit - but will their own world be the same one they left?

Episode 6 - When the anomaly detector is sabotaged, Cutter sets a trap to catch the traitor on the team. Helen enlists Stephen's help, but swears him to secrecy. Connor is badly injured by a future predator. Rex goes missing.

Episode 7 - Held captive at the abandoned Ministry of Defence base, the team learns of the project to breed future predators. and that the anomalies herald the imminent extinction of the human race. Can Connor and Rex help them escape, and can anything be done to avert the catastrophe?

Series 3
Episode 1 - When an exhibition of ancient Egyptian relics comes to the British Museum, an anomaly opens in a mysterious monument called the Sun Cage. A creature emerges from it - a kind of monstrous crocodile that can run on two legs. The team is joined by the ARC's new Head of Security, Captain Becker, and an archaeologist from the Museum, Sarah Page. The race is on to track the creature down before it hits the streets of London.

Episode 2 - Cutter's research leads to a prediction about where the next anomaly will appear. But when Jenny,
Connor and Abby check out the location, all they find is an abandoned house. They wait to see if an anomaly will appear, but get more than they bargained for when they discover a camouflage beast from the future is living in the house. They also have to deal with a cop, Danny Quinn, who takes an instant dislike to them. The team faces one of their hardest missions yet - how do you catch a creature you cannot even see?

Episode 3 - Some cute but surprisingly dangerous burrowing creatures called Diictodons nearly cause a disaster at a hospital when an anomaly opens from the Permian era. Calamity is averted by the team, which manages to get the creatures back to their own time whilst simultaneously delivering a (human) baby. Meanwhile, Helen and her army of ‘Cleaner Replicas' attack the ARC.

Episode 4 - The largest anomaly the team has yet encountered opens at an airport and a Giganotosaurus comes through. Affectionately (or not) known as a G-Rex, it's like a T-Rex but bigger, meaner and more dangerous. The team has their work cut out as they try to rescue a crew trapped in a 747 and get this mighty predator back through the anomaly. They are helped by Danny Quinn, who turns up unexpectedly and refuses to leave the scene.

Episode 5 - The team faces one of its most unusual and dangerous of threats - a deadly flesh-eating fungus. The fungus literally takes over any human who comes into contact with it, turning the unfortunate victim into a hideous shell of their former self, intent only on spreading the fungus further. Can the team find a way to stop it before it's too late?

Episode 6 - The team is investigating a mysterious artefact when the ARC is invaded by a Government official backed by the military, in search of it. Taking refuge in a mysterious old hut in some woods, the team finds itself besieged by birds from the Pliocene era when an anomaly opens nearby. Phorusrhacids may look like armoured ostriches in shape, but they are infinitely more dangerous.

Episode 7 - When a medieval knight comes through an anomaly chasing what he believes to be a dragon, the team don't just have another dinosaur on the loose, but also a knight intent on slaying it!

Episode 8 - When an anomaly opens at a race-car test-track, the team must draw on all its skills to capture and return a lethal, giant carnivorous insect from the future. Things become even more complicated when Abby's brother Jack inadvertently goes through an anomaly to escape the Megopteran. The team sets out on a rescue mission and find themselves in a future world filled with terrifying predators. Can they save Jack and get back alive?

Episode 9 - A herd of Embolotherium comes through an anomaly at an off-road motor course. The team arrives, but these seven-tonne rhinoceros-type beasts from the Eocene era do not budge easily. The pressure is on to lure the lumbering creatures back through the anomaly without causing a stampede or being crushed in the process. Danny finally arrives, with Eve, a mysterious woman from the future. To be continued...

Episode 10 - When the anomaly at Johnson's headquarters reopens, Sarah and Becker head off to check it out. Helen decides the only way to stop the destruction of life on Earth is to stop humans ever evolving and goes back in time to kill Hominids, the very first humans. The rest of the team must stop Helen at all costs. They endure a harrowing journey back through time via several anomalies, battling future predators, raptors and pterasaurs along the way. One of the team also has a life-changing encounter with the earliest humans, Hominids.

BAFTA Craft Awards 2007/8
Nominations:
Best Titles
Best Visual Effects
Visual Effects Society Awards, USA 2008
Nomination:
Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Broadcast Program or Commercial
for the predator animation in Episode 6
Broadcast Awards 2008
Nomination: International Programme Sales
Roma Fiction Fest, July 2008
Nomination:
Non-competitive Section - Noon at Night
Escape Awards 2008
Best CG in Broadcast: Framestore CFC for Primeval
(held by the London-based computer graphics and VFX school, Escape Studios, to honour the work of the UK's best CG talent)
TV Quick and TV Choice Awards 2008
Nominations:
Best Loved Drama Series
Best Actor: Douglas Henshall
National Television Awards 2008
Nominations:
Most Popular Drama
Outstanding Drama Performance: Hannah Spearritt and Andrew-Lee Potts
2008 13th Annual SATELLITE^TM Awards
Nomination: Best Television Series, Drama

	Nick Cutter (played by Douglas Henshall) Age: 36 Height: 6' Place of Birth: Edinburgh, Scotland Hobbies: Collecting records, playing pool, wind-surfing, online chess Cutter graduated from his university with a first-class Honours degree. He then went on to research and lecture in Evolutionary Zoology at Central Metropolitan University, where he works closely with his friend and colleague, Stephen Hart. Cutter's wife Helen, also an Evolutionary Zoologist, disappeared mysteriously eight years ago and was presumed dead. He always believed that he would see her again, and his intuition was not wrong. Cutter is recognised as one of the top minds in his field. Whilst he believes that there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, he feels quite differently about the intelligence in the Government. He has always preferred fossils to live animals, including his students, which doesn't bode well for Connor. Cutter likes to relax by supping single malt whisky and listening to Joy Division.
	Stephen Hart (played by James Murray) Age: 32 Height: 6' Place of Birth: Torquay, Devon Hobbies: Surfing, rock-climbing, squash, boxing Stephen works at the Central Metropolitan University, alongside Nick Cutter. He is passionately committed to wildlife conservation and believes humanity is destroying its own environment through unchecked industrialisation. Stephen was a junior fencing and shooting champion, an Olympic prospect, but he gave it all up to study natural history. He does, however, still manage to run about 30 miles a week. He had his heart broken when he fell in love with a student and has never really got over it. Although he claims to have no interest in fashion, he does have a suspiciously large collection of GQ magazines in his bathroom.
	Connor Temple (played by Andrew Lee Potts) Age: 23 Height: 5'9 Place of birth: Blackburn, Lancanshire, England Hobbies: Playstation, movies, vintage comic-book collecting, model-making Connor is the epitome of Geek Chic. He has a secret crush on Abby Maitland, which everyone knows about, including Abby. Connor Temple loves pizza; in fact he rarely eats anything else. He hates exercise and loves TV. He prefers not to go out in case he misses something which may never be repeated, so he really is quite happy with a night in and a pizza. Connor believes that George Lucas is a god. His favourite films are the original Star Wars, but not the later three. He has always rather fancied himself as a crime-buster and wanted to be part of the Scooby Doo gang as a kid. Connor believes that UFOs are real and that Governments have hidden the evidence. He secretly wishes he could be abducted by aliens. Connor once did the Vampire ride at Alton Towers 12 times in succession. It made him sick, but he didn't mind.
	Abby Maitland (played by Hannah Spearritt) Age: 22 Height: 5'2" Place of birth: Brighton, Sussex Hobbies: bird-watching, yoga, martial arts, dog-training, lizards Quirky Abby visited the Galapagos Islands when she was a child, and has had a love affair with lizards ever since. She has happily adopted Rex as her new pet. Abby left university after only a month because she found a job as a zoo keeper. At the zoo, Abby worked closely with lizards until her funding was cut. Abby always falls for the wrong man; she definitely likes them moody and a bit dangerous. Her hobbies include yoga (ashtanga), karate and kick-boxing. She is also rather fond of karaoke. Most of the time Abby prefers animals to people. This does not include spiders though; she has a chronic fear of them!
	James Lester (played by Ben Miller) Age: 40 Height:5'10" Place of birth: Aldershot, Surrey, England Hobbies: Golf, bridge, shooting, tennis, garden design James hates mess and disorder, particularly when it is caused by dinosaurs. He believes the Government knows best and the public have no right to know anything. Politically, he has no strong allegiance, but he is extremely good at office politics. You wouldn't know this, but Lester is married with three children. He never talks about his family, nor in fact anything to do with his personal life. His middle name is Peregrine, which is his most closely guarded secret. He went to a comprehensive school and hates public-school boys. Actually, he pretty much hates everybody. He plays squash and tennis, both very aggressively. He owns 50 suits, all of similar design and colour, He does wear brightly coloured ties, but this is only because someone once told him it was trendy.
	Helen Cutter (played by Juliet Aubrey) Age: 35 Height: 5'8" Place of birth: Ipswich, Suffolk, England Hobbies: Formerly: archaeology, travelling, sailing, photography, trekking. No known hobbies for the past eight years.After graduating from university (where she met and fell in love with Nick Cutter), Helen had her first book on genetic mutation published when she was in her early 20s. She believes the theory of natural selection fails to explain everything and has made it her life's mission to improve the theory. To say she is passionate about her cause is an understatement. Helen believes that human reliance on machines and technology has fatally weakened our animal instincts. She likes to keep her own instincts honed with frequent sessions of white-water rafting, abseiling and rock-climbing. Eight years ago, Helen went missing mysteriously and was presumed dead. However, Nick discovered that she has been living on the other side of the anomalies.
	Danny Quinn (Jason Flemyng) Age: 40 Height: 6'1" Birthplace: London Strong, brave and street smart, Danny is quick to pick things up, but clever enough to know when he doesn't know something. He will always be the first to hurl himself into the breech when things get rough, and earns the respect of the team through his smart decision-making, courage and instinctive ability to assess danger quickly and then act on it. He may not know the creatures, but he certainly knows people.
	Jenny Lewis (Lucy Brown) Age: 28 Height: 5'7" Birthplace: Oxford, Oxfordshire The spitting image of Claudia Brown, Cutter's love interest from Season 1, Jenny is a ruthless PR professional. She and Cutter get off to a shaky start, with an adversarial and often sparky relationship. Her job is damage control, covering up creature sightings. But anomalies and exploding worms weren't in her job description, and she takes a little while to settle. If things weren't complicated enough, she is also starting to fall for Cutter.
	Captain Becker (Ben Mansfield) Age: 25 Height: 6' Birthplace: Romsey, Hampshire Lester forces Captain Becker onto Cutter's ARC team, informing him that Becker has been appointed to keep the team safe. They can't afford to lose another high-profile member like Stephen. Becker has a distinguished military record. His M.O. is "shoot first, ask questions later" - so it takes a little adjustment for him to accept the team's strategy of saving the creatures and moving them back through the anomalies.
	Sarah Page (Laila Rouass) Age: 28 Height: 5'5" Birthplace: Brighton, Sussex With a PhD in Egyptology and Archeology, Sarah Page has worked on digs throughout the Middle East. She shares her knowledge with children at the British Museum. Sarah plunges into the world of anomalies when she comes face to face with what she believes is Ammut, an Egyptian god of the underworld. Moved by her courage, intelligence and sense of humor throughout the ordeal, Cutter makes her an offer she can't refuse.
	Christine Johnson (Belinda Stewart-Wilson) Age: 35 Height: 5'7" Birthplace: Grantham, Lincolnshire After Oxford University, Christine enlisted in MI-6. Her ambition and competitiveness ensured her friends were few and far between, and she became the perfect "spook." Now Christine is back in London and is somehow linked to the anomalies. Lester, in particular, is in for a shock: "Christine Johnson is like a velociraptor," he observes, "only better dressed."