James Peregrine Lester

This is a list of characters in the ITV science fiction television series ''Primeval'', including supporting characters.

The series originally features a cast of five main characters plus supporting cast who investigate time anomalies for the British government. The series 1 cast is made up of Douglas Henshall as Professor Nick Cutter, James Murray as Stephen Hart, Andrew-Lee Potts as Connor Temple, Lucy Brown as Claudia Brown and Hannah Spearritt as Abby Maitland, with Juliet Aubrey as Helen Cutter, Ben Miller as James Lester and Mark Wakeling as Captain Tom Ryan.

In the final episode of Series 1, Captain Tom Ryan is killed off, and Claudia Brown disappears. The rest of the cast carries over into Series 2. Lucy Brown plays a new character, Jenny Lewis, a savvy PR person and a doppelgänger of Claudia, but unlike her, she has no romantic attachment to Cutter and resents him referring to her as "Claudia". Karl Theobald as Oliver Leek, Naomi Bentley as Caroline Steel and Tim Faraday as "The Cleaner" support.

Stephen Hart and Oliver Leek are killed off in the final episode of Series 2, and Caroline Steel leaves. Series 3 sees the introduction of Laila Rouass as Sarah Page, Ben Mansfield as Captain Becker and Jason Flemyng as Danny Quinn. In the third episode Nick Cutter is killed, with Danny Quinn replacing him as team leader. Jenny Lewis leaves two episodes later (returning for the penultimate episode of Series 4); and in the finale of Series 3, Helen Cutter is knocked off a cliff by a Raptor.

Sarah Page was killed offscreen prior to Series 4, and Danny Quinn returned only in the finale of Series 4. Joining the cast was Ciarán McMenamin as Matt Anderson, the new team leader, Ruth Kearney as Jess Parker, team coordinator, Alexander Siddig as Philip Burton, an industrialist who is put in charge of the ARC, Anton Lesser as Gideon, Ruth Bradley as Emily Merchant and Jonathyn Byrne as Ethan Dobrowski.

The Series 4 line-up returned for Series 5 with the exception of Gideon and Ethan Dobrowski. They were joined by Janice Byrne as April Leonard, Philip Burton's assistant. At the end of Series 5, the only original cast members remaining were Andrew-Lee Potts, Hannah Spearritt and Ben Miller.

Character appearances

Character Appearances

A

Matt Anderson

Matthew "Matt" Anderson is portrayed by Ciarán McMenamin. He is a private man who guards the secrets of his past and the reason he has joined the ARC team. He is an ex-soldier and a zoologist, and can understand animal behaviour, demonstrating this ability in his first appearance by securing the escaped ''Dracorex'' inside of James Lester's (Ben Miller) office by luring it with a water dispenser, as the dinosaur was thirsty.

He and Captain Becker (Ben Mansfield) get along well enough, but neither misses the opportunity to make remarks of the other. In episode 4.2, Matt is unsure of Abby Maitland (Hannah Spearritt) and Connor Temple (Andrew-Lee Potts) when they first return, and follows Abby out of suspicion, but this brings him to save both of their lives from a ''Kaprosuchus'' before he comes to accept them. In episode 4.3, a mysterious woman goes through an Anomaly, Matt went after her because he assumed she was from the present, but upon returning her learnt that Emily Merchant (Ruth Bradley) was from the Victorian era and had been living with other people throughout time. He was sympathetic towards her and kept her in his flat because he believed the ARC would treat her like a criminal and agrees to help her find her companion Ethan Dobrowski (Jonathan Byrne). But while he is dealing with another Anomaly she is kidnapped by Ethan so he goes to Lester, who helps him track her down and saves her life when she was trapped inside a coffin. In episode 4.6 he takes Emily to the anomaly site and admits to her that a disaster is going to happen because of the anomalies. He later saw Gideon (Anton Lesser), who was on the verge of death, and promised to use Emily as bait to catch Ethan since they suspected he was involved. As he died Matt wept and told Emily that Gideon was his father. In episode 4.7, he realises Ethan, in fact Danny Quinn's (Jason Flemyng) brother Patrick, is not involved as he and Gideon suspected. In the end he tells Emily that he is from the future, explaining that in his time everyone lives underground because the Earth is sterile and cannot support life. He and his father, Gideon, were sent back in time to help prevent that future from happening. At some point between the present time and Matt's time, an "event" happened which changed the way Anomalies appear and their effect on the Earth, making it a barren wasteland. At the end of the episode, he convinces Emily to return to 1867 so that he can focus on stopping "the event".

In episode 5.1, he is caught by Abby trying to hack into Connor's computer to find out what he and Philip Burton (Alexander Siddig) are up to. After showing his knowledge of the Giant Burrowing Insects from the future, Abby realised he was from the future and he asked for her to help in his mission. In episode 5.3, he goes to Victorian London to capture a raptor they sent through the anomaly, telling Abby to steal data from Connor in the meantime, and encounters Emily again. Having earlier learned that she would end up in an asylum because of her husband Henry, he attempted to convince her to come back to the present as he regretted telling her to go, and was thankful to Abby when she handed over a copy of Connor's hard drive. He wasn't happy when Connor opened his own anomaly in the ARC during episode 5.4, and worked with Connor to eradicate a swarm of future beetles. In episode 5.5 he explains his mission to the whole team, and after bringing down a ''Tyrannosaurus'' he heads to New Dawn to stop Philip, only to be restrained as Philip activated his anomaly. In episode 5.6 he rescues Connor from the future, and risks himself to close the anomaly. He somehow manages to survive the implosion and returns to the ARC. However he is confronted by another version of himself who tells him to return to his home.

B

Captain Becker

Captain Hilary Becker is portrayed by Ben Mansfield. Prior to introduction, producer Tim Haines, made a statement about the character. "He is going to be a new military guy who comes onto the team to watch their backs so that none of them gets eaten". Becker hails from a military family and background, and is moved from special operations to the Primeval team. Mansfield himself stated that Becker would have "amiable friction" with Connor Temple (Andrew-Lee Potts) and he sees himself as the person who "looks after" the team.

James Lester (Ben Miller) assigned him to join the team in episode 3.1. Becker assisted the team in returning creatures, such as the ''Pristichampsus'' and ''Diictodon'', back home, and began to become more involved in the action when a ''Giganotosaurus'' and a fungus from the future appeared. He often questioned Danny Quinn's (Jason Flemyng) judgement, but was nevertheless loyal and obeys orders, even if he disagrees with them. In episode 3.6 he appeared to be working with Christine Johnson (Belinda Stewart-Wilson) after she took control the ARC from Lester, but this was later revealed to be a ploy between him and Lester to bring Johnson down. He helped Abby Maitland (Hannah Spearritt) rescue the ''Dracorex'' in episode 3.7, and accompanied the team into the future in episode 3.8 (almost dying in a fight against a pack of Future Predators) in order to keep them safe. In episode 3.10 he and Sarah Page (Laila Rouass) fought the Megopteran in the present day, and as a result was one of only three main cast members to be in the present at the end of Series 3 (the others being Sarah and Lester).

At the beginning of Series 4, Becker is still working for the ARC, despite wishing to resign before Lester convinced him to stay. It is shown in a prologue webisode that Becker went with Sarah to the future to try find Abby, Connor and Danny, during which Sarah was killed. This has left Becker shaken, feeling that Sarah's death was his fault. He did not get along with Matt Anderson ( Ciarán McMenamin) at first but slowly came to accept him. He is friendly with Jess Parker (Ruth Kearney), but is unaware she has feelings for him. After having one of Matt's EMD weapons used on him to test their capabilities, Becker agrees to use them. He is greatly relieved when Abby and Connor return, jokingly asking if they bought him a souvenir. In episode 4.3, he is adamant about enforcing the new policy to not allow any expeditions through the anomaly when Matt is missing and finally relents, but blames him when "tree creepers" cause trouble later. In episode 4.4, he is bitten by a ''Therocephalian'' and poisoned by its venom, but recovers and is forced to go on medical leave. In episode 4.6 he searches for the psychopath Ethan Dobrowski (Jonathan Byrne) who is causing problems for the ARC and gets caught in a trap rigged up to a bomb, but Jess saves him. In episode 4.7 he attempts to stop Ethan (Danny's brother Patrick) but is shot twice by an EMD, with his fate unrevealed.

In episode 5.1, it is shown that Becker did recover, and at one point was thrilled at the idea of being able to call in a tank if necessary. He allows Matt to go through an anomaly after accidentally sending a raptor to Victorian London, citing they had to make it right in episode 5.3. During episode 5.4 his fondness for Jess is more clearly shown when she has an allergic reaction to a future beetle bite and desperately tried to help her. He risked himself to radiation from a gamma ray after the beetles were killed, and though he found Jess some adrenaline, he made an excuse to leave. In the next episode he helped the rest of the ARC deal with several anomaly incursions, though was cut off at his last one. In the series finale he joins the others in trying to stop Philip Burton's (Alexander Siddig) anomaly.

Mansfield was spotted for the role when auditioning for the future BBC
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