Primeval (series 1)

The first series of the British science fiction programme '' Primeval'' began on 10 February 2007 and concluded on 17 March 2007 after airing six episodes. ''Primeval'' follows a team of scientists tasked with investigating the appearance of temporal anomalies across the United Kingdom through which prehistoric and futuristic creatures enter the present. The first series stars Douglas Henshall, James Murray, Andrew-Lee Potts, Lucy Brown, Hannah Spearritt, Juliet Aubrey, Ben Miller and Mark Wakeling.

Originally conceived by Tim Haines in the aftermath of the production of ''Walking with Dinosaurs'' (1999), ''Primeval'' was worked on as a concept by both Haines and Adrian Hodges for a lengthy period of time, intended as a BBC production. The BBC ultimately turned down the project after the revival of ''Doctor Who'' in 2005 due to deeming ''Primeval'' to be too similar, whereafter ITV was approached. ITV enthusiastically commissioned the series, which received a £6 million budget. Haines and Hodges thereafter approached directors Cilla Ware and Jamie Payne, each of whom directed three episodes each. Every episode of the first series of ''Primeval'' were intended to be unique in both the creatures featured and the atmosphere of the episode.

Though commissioned as a contender for ''Doctor Who'' by ITV and dismissed before its release by some commentators as a "''Doctor Who'' ripoff", ''Primeval'' became both a critical and an audience hit upon its release, with the first episode being viewed by over seven million viewers. Critics praised ''Primeval'' for its overarching story arc, its feel and atmosphere, and its choice of creatures. Most critics also felt that the series overcame its early dismissals and succeeded in becoming something unique in its own right. Other than Nick Cutter, played by Henshall, the characters and their development throughout the series were met with a more mixed response from some critics.

Episodes

Cast

Main cast

Guest cast

Production

Development and writing

''Primeval'' was the idea of Tim Haines, the television producer behind the hit nature documentary series ''Walking with Dinosaurs'' (1999). Haines came up with the idea of producing a television drama with prehistoric creatures created with the same techniques used for ''Walking with Dinosaurs''; his first attempt was the successful ''The Lost World'' (2001), an adaptation of the Arthur Conan Doyle novel of the same name. After ''The Lost World'', Haines then came up with the idea of ''Primeval'', initially provisionally titled ''Cutter's Bestiary''. Among the influences for ''Cutter's Bestiary'' were the old science fiction films of Ray Harryhausen, fossil ghost lineages, ''Jurassic Park'' and ''King Kong''. Haines was joined on the project in 2004 by Adrian Hodges, who devised the new title ''Primeval'' and produced some scripts for the BBC, the first of which envisioned it as merely a 90-minute television film. After several years of working on the concept, the BBC turned down ''Primeval'' in 2005 due to the revival of ''Doctor Who'', which ''Primeval'' was now dubbed to be too similar to.

After being turned down by the BBC, Haines and Hodges pitched ''Primeval'' to ITV commissioner Nick Elliott. Elliott greenlit the series on account of liking the scripts produced by Hodges and out of a wish to replicate the success of the revived ''Doctor Who''. With production secured, Haines and Hodges then moved on to recruiting directors and casting characters. Haines and Hodges hired the two directors Cilla Ware and Jamie Payne; though neither was much experienced with action, both were experienced with drama. The first series of ''Primeval'' had a budget of £6 million, a million per episode.

Every episode of the first series was envisioned as being stylistically and conceptually different from the others, with unique creatures and atmospheres. As a result, the directors made the decision to approach each episode as if they were "unique film in heirown right".

Casting

Casting for ''Primeval'' took place during January 2006 and actors were sent the scripts of the first three episodes. Lead actor Douglas Henshall did not audition for the role of Nick Cutter but was approached personally by Haines and Hodges, who explained the premise of the series to him. Haines and Hodges approached Henshall due to finding him talented, looking "like an action hero" and thinking that he brought a "kind of credibility".''The Making of Primeval'' (behind-the-scenes featurette from the DVD of ''Primeval'' series 1) Henshall liked the writing and the premise, especially the idea of creating a series that was not only fun but also smart and educational. Henshall had at the time a choice between ''Primeval'' or a gritty drama, a type of project he had long been involved with, and "though it might be nice to go and chase dinosaurs for a while". He also stated that he was drawn to ''Primeval'' on account of his childhood fascination with dinosaurs and monsters. Henshall was given free rein to essentially play Cutter the way he wanted to, and decided to play him seriously to offer believability to the premise of the series. He deliberately played Cutter in the first series as uncomfortable with guns since he was a member of the public thrust into an extraordinary situation. Much like Henshall, James Murray saw the opportunity to play Stephen Hart as a chance to live out his childhood dreams and found the series to be "very new and very ambitious". Murray did some trekking in Belize for a few weeks to prepare for the role.

Andrew-Lee Potts auditioned for the role of Connor Temple and was eager to play the role due to finding the script to be very unique, stating in later interviews that he had "never seen anything like it". His first audition took place the morning after he had done a night shoot for another project, which he believes helped make him "a little euphoric". Potts was also drawn to the role since he had previously mostly played "psychopaths" and Connor was a more nice character. Connor's characterisation in ''Primeval'' was developed by both Hodges and Potts together. Potts prepared for the role through searching for the creatures featured in the scripts on the internet. Hannah Spearritt also auditioned for the role of Abby Maitland; in later interviews Spearritt explained that the making of the series came at a perfect time when she was "ready to come back into TV" after being a part of the pop group S Club 7. Her audition involved a scene with Rex, a ''Coelurosauravus'' who was envisioned as a massive part of Abby's character. Spearritt was driven to the role of Abby since she saw it as an inspirational "swashbuckling female role". Spearritt stated in later interviews that she only dared to audition for the role due to Billie Piper, also with a pop music background, successfully landing the role of Rose Tyler in ''Doctor Who'' in 2005.

Lucy Brown was driven to the role of Claudia Brown both because ''Primeval'' had prehistoric creatures and because it was a "very character driven piece and it deals with real human relationships". Juliet Aubrey, who plays Helen Cutter, also cited the interesting relationships and their development as what made her want to play the part, as well as how Helen was "such a mystery figure". Aubrey was also interested in working together with Henshall, who she had nearly worked together with on several previous projects.

Visual effects

The visual effects of the first series of ''Primeval'' (as well as the subsequent second and third series) were created by the London-based visual effects company Framestore. Framestore had previously collaborated with Haines and his production team Impossible Pictures on ''Walking with Dinosaurs'' and other productions. In addition to the existing Framestore team, Christian Manz was also hired as a visual effects supervisor due to the highly ambitious effects required for ''Primeval''. Each episode required about thirteen weeks of effects work, with eight weeks of animation, six weeks of compositing and three weeks of lighting. Usually multiple episodes were worked on at the same time. Framestore required a large crew, about 60 people, in order to complete the series on time; effects work on the first series began during filming in April 2006 and was finished in September.

Filming

The first series was shot on location over the course of about four and a half months, from March to August 2006. The series was filmed in two blocks, with Cilla Ware's episodes being shot first and then going into post-production as Jamie Payne's episodes began filming. Each block lasted for about nine weeks and was followed by nine weeks of post-production. The first series of ''Primeval'' was filmed mostly in and around London, alongside location shooting at the Forest of Dean and the Canary Islands.

Release

Broadcast and ratings

The production of the first series was announced by ITV on 27 December 2005. The first promotional trailer for the series was released on 2 February 2007. The premiere of the first episode on 10 February was seen by over seven million viewersWeekly top 30 programmes on TV sets (July 1998 – Sept 2018)
''Broadcasters' Audience Research Board''. Retrieved 13 May 2022. with an audience share of 29%, seen as a promising start to the series. The premiere was more than a million viewers up on the average audience of its slot on ITV and beat the simultaneous airing of ''Shrek'' on BBC One (which received 6.2 million viewers).

Viewing figures dropped over the course of the series; the second episode started with 6.8 million viewers but dropped a few hundred thousand over the course of its broadcast, though it still beat ITV's slot average of 5.7 million. After reaching a low point for the fourth episode (5.81 million viewers), viewership increased again and the series finished with the sixth episode being seen by 6.52 million viewers.

Home media

The DVD release of the first series included the 45-minute behind-the-scenes documentary ''The Making of Primeval''.

Critical reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the first season of ''Primeval'' holds an approval rating of 67% based on 12 reviews, with an average rating of 5.8/10. The website's critic consensus reads, "Unbelievable characters aside, ''Primeval'' is old-fashioned, fantastical family fare with decent visuals and a sense of adventure."
The first series of ''Primeval'' was a critical hit. In addition to good reception in Britain, the series also received a positive response in the United States. Ray Richmond of ''The Hollywood Reporter'' called it "crackling-good" and praised both the effects and the storyline, a sentiment echoed by Rob Owen of the ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', who called ''Primeval'' a "rollicking adventure with decent special effects" and stated that it surpassed the series offered on the American Sci-Fi Channel in terms of story and character development. ''Primeval'' was also praised by Maureen Ryan of the ''Chicago Tribune'', Hal Boedeker of the ''Orlando Sentinel'', Matt Roush of ''TV Guide Magazine'' and Ginia Bellafante of ''The New York Times''. Brian Lowry of ''Variety'' criticised the character elements of the series, but found ''Primeval'' to improve as the series progressed. Lowry also praised the effects, especially on account of having been achieved on a TV budget. Kyle Smith of ''New York Post'' thought ''Primeval'' could qualify as a "guilty pleasure" but saw potential in the concept to evolve further. Mary McNamara of ''Los Angeles Times'' gave ''Primeval'' a mixed review, stating that there was "far more galumphing than trotting going on, and not all of it done by prehistoric feet". Though she noted that the series improved over the course of the later episodes, she felt it was "not nearly enough".

Rob Hunter of ''Film School Rejects'' gave ''Primeval'' a highly positive review, stating that it might be the "best monster-of-the-week show since ''The X-Files''". Hunter thought the series succeeded "brilliantly" at its concept and praised the effects of the series, giving particular praise to the fight between a future predator and gorgonopsid in the final episode as "one of the best CGI vs CGI fights you've ever seen". He enjoyed both the storylines and creature choices and also enjoyed the characters, concluding that the "cast has great chemistry and all of them work just as well with the effects scenes as they do with the dramatic".

Rob Buckley of ''The Medium is not Enough'' stated that although ''Primeval'' was clearly "ITV's answer to ''Doctor Who''", the series managed to be "something completely different and acceptable in its own right". Buckley was pleasantly surprised by the first episode, which although "aimed at kids" he found to be "not half bad". Although Buckley felt that ''Primeval'' had certain holes in the plot and found the characters, with the exception of Douglas Henshall's Nick Cutter, to be somewhat lacklustre, he still thought the series was enjoyable and thrilling, with an intriguing series arc. Buckley criticised the effects as "not great" but praised the music, which he thought was better than the contemporary ''Doctor Who'' soundtracks.

Iain Clark of ''Strange Horizons'' gave the first series of ''Primeval'' a slightly more mixed review, finding some of the scripts to be "clichéd" and the characters (with the exception of Nick Cutter) to be poorly developed due to there often being little breathing-room for them. Clark also criticised the female characters of the series as "strong, but only to a point", noting that the only consistently interesting and independent female character, Helen Cutter, was "unlikeable right through to the finale". He commended the pace of ''Primeval'' as "seldom wellingon any one scene or character long enough to become dull" and found all episodes other than the first to be "focused and engaging". Clark also praised the series for not being repetitive, with very different creatures used for each outing. He found the special effects to be noticeable but still convincing and concluded that the series was "solid entertainment" and that he was interested to see where it would go in the future. Though Clark did not think ''Primeval'' reached the level of ''Doctor Who'', he found it to be superior to the ''Doctor Who'' spinoff series ''Torchwood''.

Eamonn McCusker of ''The Digital Fix'' gave the first series of ''Primeval'' a cautiously positive review, stating that although it seemed to be "Saturday night television by committee", it was also enjoyable, a "rare example of ITV getting it right" and that the producers had managed to craft a "good show that stands very much apart" from series such as ''Doctor Who'' and ''Torchwood''. Like Clark, McCusker did not feel that the first episode was a strong introduction, but felt that the later episodes got better and better. Though McCusker doubted ''Primeval'' would capture the public consciousness in the same way as ''Doctor Who'', he felt that ''Primeval'' was the scarier of the two and that although "not a great show", it deserved at least a second series.

References

{{Primeval

Primeval (TV series)
2007 British television seasons