Primeval (series 2)

The second series of the British science fiction programme ''Primeval'' began on 12 January 2008 and concluded on 23 February 2008 after airing seven 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. Most of the main cast from the first series returned for the second; the cast was also expanded with the additions of characters played by Karl Theobald and Naomi Bentley.

Following the success of the first series, the second series of ''Primeval'' was commissioned in March 2007, with storylines and scripts being worked on for three months before shooting began in June. The second series was envisioned as more ambitious than the first, with more creatures and more action sequences, and was also written to be rougher, with more people being killed by the various creatures. The second series also introduced the Anomaly Research Centre (ARC), created using a massive set in a building formerly for military use at Longcross Film Studios in Chertsey.

The second series replicated the success of the first in terms of ratings, being seen by over six million viewers in the United Kingdom. Reception was overall positive; critics enjoyed that it did not take itself too seriously and found the second series to be both entertaining and overall an improvement over the first in terms of its central story arc. The last two episodes of the series received particular praise as a hard-edged and surprisingly good series finale. The visual effects received a more mixed response than in the previous series; some critics found them to be an improvement whereas others considered them worse than in the first series.

Episodes

Cast

Main cast

Guest cast

Production

Development and writing

Following the success of the first series, ''Primeval'' was recommissioned for a second series in March 2007. The second series was written to be more ambitious than the first, with more creatures and more action sequences.''Through the Anomaly'' (behind-the-scenes featurette from the ''Primeval'' series 2 DVD) The series was also written with a rougher attitude, with more people being killed by creatures than in the first. The first series of ''Primeval'' had not used any dinosaurs at all but dinosaurs were introduced in the second, beginning with dromaeosaurs in the first episode. Nearly all of the main cast of the first series of ''Primeval'' returned for the second. Given that the production team saw it as important to also introduce new characters to keep the series fresh and exciting, they were joined by new additions Karl Theobald and Naomi Bentley. The writing of the second series was also intended to emphasise a stronger team feel between the different characters. Naomi Bentley, who plays Caroline Steel, a romantic interest of Connor Temple (Andrew-Lee Potts), was cast as someone who was "out of Connor's league". Karl Theobald's Oliver Leek was envisioned as James Lester's (Ben Miller) ambitious and sinister assistant.

James Murray's Stephan Hart was written to be subtlely alienated from the rest of the team following the revelation early in the second series that he has had an affair with Nick Cutter's (Douglas Henshall) wife Helen (Juliet Aubrey). In later interviews, Murray suggested that the affair may not have happened in the original timeline, only existing as a result of the inadvertent changes to the timeline at the end of the first series.

In order for Lucy Brown to portray Jenny Lewis, she had to be made to look quite different from the character she played in the first series (Claudia Brown); Jenny wore more contrasting colors, had her hair up and had more full-on makeup. To portray Lewis, Brown spoke with some of her old friends who worked in PR. Given that Jenny was higher up in the hierarchy, Brown also portrayed her as more confident and more in her element.

Visual effects

As for the first series, the visual effects of the second series of ''Primeval'' were produced by the London-based visual effects company Framestore. Following lessons learnt during the production of the first series, the effects team for the second series made an effort to match the creatures better with the reactions and eyelines of the actors better. The second series also used much fewer animatronics than the first, with nearly everything being CGI.

Filming

The second series of ''Primeval'' was filmed mostly in and around London. Shooting began in June 2007 and wrapped in September. The second series introduced the Anomaly Research Centre (ARC). The interior shots of the ARC were shot at the Building 64/63 at Longcross Film Studios in Chertsey. The building, originally used for military testing purposes, was seen by production designer Paul Cross, who thought it would be great to shoot in. In order to be able to use the whole building and to leave the impression that it was sunk into the ground, its windows were covered up. The first episode, featuring dromaeosaurs in a shopping mall, was filmed primarily in Bentall Centre, Kingston upon Thames. There was also location shooting at Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands for the future world seen in the fourth episode and for the desert seen in the fifth episode. The fourth episode was partly filmed in Canary Wharf. Footage was also shot at the Battersea Power Station.

Release

Broadcast and ratings

The production of the second series was announced by ITV on 8 June 2007. The second series had a much larger pre-publicity campaign, both by ITV and by unaffilited TV magazines. The series consistently received more than six million viewers, roughly on par with the first series,Weekly top 30 programmes on TV sets (July 1998 – Sept 2018)
''Broadcasters' Audience Research Board''. Retrieved 13 May 2022. and had an audience share of over 25 %. The least viewed episode was the second episode, with 6.05 million viewers, and the most viewed episode was the penultimate episode, with 6.44 million viewers.

Home media

The DVD release of the second series included the 40-minute behind-the-scenes documentary ''Through the Anomaly'', presented and created by Andrew-Lee Potts.

Critical reception

Eamonn McCusker of ''The Digital Fix'' gave the second series of ''Primeval'' a cautiously positive review, finding some of the situations to require suspension of disbelief but overall finding the series to be enjoyable and its story arc to be an improvement over the first series. McCusker praised the final two episodes as an entertaining and satisfying conclusion to the series. McCusker felt that although Juliet Aubrey, Lucy Brown and Ben Miller all " idtheir part", it was Douglas Henshall who carried the series and that he was perhaps "too good for this material". McCusker was also positive towards the CGI of the series, finding most of it to be "slightly better" than the first series, in particular the ''Smilodon'', but finding the Mer-creatures of the fourth episodes to be "the least well-realised" creatues of the series.

Robert McLaughlin of ''Den of Geek'' reviewed each episode individually; although he found the scripts to be "formulaic" and the CGI to be "average", looking cheaper and as if less time had been spent on them than in the previous series, he ultimately gave ''Primeval'' as a whole a positive review, noting that "it never pretends to be anything it isn't" and that it was "unashamedly entertaining". McLaughlin concluded that ''Primeval'' would never be able to compete with American science fiction series and that "it's not able to hold a candle to '' Doctor Who''" but that it was also "infinitely better" than the contemporary ''Robin Hood'' TV series. McLaughlin especially praised the final two episodes, which he found to be "surprisingly good", but gave the third episode a negative review due to the CGI of the ''Smilodon'', which he thought was "an embarrassment".

Paul Simpson of ''Sci-Fi Bulletin'' also reviewed each episode individually and praised the second series, giving all episodes a score of 8/10, except for the fourth episode, which he gave 9/10 as the "best of the show to date". Simpson found the script of the second series to be "as sharp" as in the first series and praised ''Primeval'''s ability to take "other genre ideas and give them its own spin", noticing homages to films such as '' Tremors'' and ''Jaws''. Simpson also praised the character interactions and character development of the second series, finding many of the characters to have been more fleshed out and finding them to be "well played" by the actors.

Another episode-by-episode reviewer was Rob Buckley of ''The Medium is not Enough'', who thought that ''Primeval'' overall "wasn't bad" and "far less up its own arse than most of the new 'Doctor''''Who'' has been" and "more mature than new ''Who'' and ''Torchwood''". Buckley did not enjoy the second episode, although he felt it was "not a complete waste of an hour". After finding the first four episodes to be "threading water", Buckley thought the series improved with the fifth episode, which he found to be "very good", and he enjoyed the two-part finale, stating that it was "certainly a bit harder edged than your normal ''Primeval''". Buckley criticised the CGI of the ''Smilodon'' in the third episode' and also complained that Caroline Steel, ''Primeval'''s first non-white main character, turned out to be a spy and an antagonist.

References

{{Primeval
Primeval (TV series)
2008 British television seasons