''Primeval'' is a British Science fiction on television, science-fiction television programme produced for ITV (TV network), ITV by Impossible Pictures. ''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, while simultaneously trying to stop the End of the world (fiction), end of the world. ''Primeval'' was created by Tim Haines, who previously created the ''Walking with...'' documentary series, and Adrian Hodges. It ran for five series, originally broadcast from 2007 to 2011. The idea for ''Primeval'' had originally been devised by Haines in the early 2000s, in the aftermath of the production of ''Walking with Dinosaurs''. Originally intended as a production for the BBC, ''Primeval'' was ultimately turned down in 2005 after several years of concepting due to being deemed too similar to the revived ''Doctor Who'' by executives. Haines and Hodges then approached ITV, who were enthusiastic about the project. Before its initial broadcast, many early commentators dismissed ''Primeval'' as a ''Doctor Who'' ripoff. Despite this, the Primeval (series 1), first series of ''Primeval'' met with an enthusiastic response, becoming both a critical and an audience hit. Also successful with international audiences, ''Primeval'' overcame its early dismissals and became recognised by critics as something unique in its own right. Though the Primeval (series 2), second series met with a somewhat more lukewarm reception, ''Primeval'''s Primeval (series 3), third series received high praise from critics as its strongest outing yet. Despite maintaining good ratings, ''Primeval'' was cancelled by ITV following the third series due to financial issues. After a few months in hiatus the programme was brought back through a co-production deal with UKTV, allowing for the production of a Primeval (series 4), fourth and Primeval (series 5), fifth series. Reception to the fourth series was mixed but the fifth series again garnered praise from critics. Though the fifth series was a success during its initial broadcast on the channel W (British TV channel), Watch in 2011, its disappointing ratings when it was broadcast on ITV the following year led to ''Primeval'' being cancelled again. The success of ''Primeval'' spawned an accompanying franchise of merchandise, including novels, games and toy lines. An American film adaptation was announced to be in production in 2009 but languished in development and was ultimately never made. A Canadian spinoff series, ''Primeval: New World'', aired in 2013 but was cancelled after a single 13-episode season.

Production

Conception

Tim Haines, who studied zoology and had a background in science journalism, made his first television breakthrough in the late 1990s when he as a television producer at the BBC envisioned and created the nature documentary series ''Walking with Dinosaurs'' (1999). ''Walking with Dinosaurs'' was the first ever natural history series on dinosaurs to make use of extensive special effects to depict them as animals in their natural environments and was a massive success, becoming the most watched science programme in British television history. While working on ''Walking with Dinosaurs'', Haines came up with the idea of using the technology of the series to produce a science fiction drama. Although the BBC were receptive to the idea, they wanted a recognisable property rather than a new idea, leading Haines to produce ''The Lost World (2001 film), The Lost World'' (2001), an adaptation of the Arthur Conan Doyle The Lost World (Doyle novel), novel of the same name. According to Haines, the success of ''The Lost World'' showed that it was possible to take the technology of ''Walking with Dinosaurs'' and create "very entertaining Hollywood-esque stories". The successes of his programmes allowed Haines to co-found his own high-end television production company in 2002, Impossible Pictures. After the production of ''The Lost World'', Haines came up with the idea of ''Primeval'', though he at this point called it ''Cutter's Bestiary''. Among the inspirations for the idea were the old science fiction films of Ray Harryhausen, which Haines felt had a "certain charm". Another inspiration were fossil Ghost lineage, ghost lineages, which Haines imagined could be explained by animals "swapping times".''The Making of Primeval'' (behind-the-scenes featurette from the DVD of ''Primeval'' series 1) Other influences included ''Jurassic Park'' and ''King Kong (franchise), King Kong''. Commentators unassociated with the production team have also suggested that ''Primeval'' was partly inspired by series such as ''Doctor Who'', ''Lost (TV series), Lost'', ''Stargate'' and ''Quatermass (TV serial), Quatermass''. Haines wrote a script together with another writer though it ultimately led to nothing. Adrian Hodges, a television writer who at this point had recently won a British Academy of Film and Television Arts, BAFTA for ''Charles II: The Power and the Passion'' (2003), met with Laura Mackie, the BBC Head of Drama to discuss possibilities of future work. Hodges turned down working on ''Bleak House (2005 TV serial), Bleak House'' (2005) due to wanting to do "something that's fun" in the vein of ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer''. Mackie then suggested ''Cutter's Bestiary''; although Hodges thought the title was "terrible" he thought the concept of dinosaurs in the modern day was brilliant. Hodges came up with the title ''Primeval'' and he wrote several scripts for the BBC with the concept going through several different iterations, at first envisioned only as a 90-minute television film. When Haines and Hodges began working on the concept they had strived to create something that was also akin to ''Doctor Who'', which at the time had not yet been revived. Once ''Doctor Who'' was revived by Russell T Davies in 2005, ''Primeval'' was deemed to be too similar by the BBC and was turned down, four or five years after Haines had first pitched ''Cutter's Bestiary''. After being turned down by the BBC, Haines and Hodges pitched ''Primeval'' to ITV (TV network), ITV commissioner Nick Elliott (TV executive), 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''. Additional funding for ''Primeval'' was also secured from the German ProSieben and the French M6 (TV channel), M6.

Development history

With the production of the series secured and several scripts already written, the producers in January 2006 moved on to casting the lead actors. Hodges and Haines personally approached Douglas Henshall, who played lead character Nick Cutter, for the role but the other actors were cast through regular auditions. Henshall was joined in the main cast by James Murray (English actor), James Murray, Andrew-Lee Potts, Hannah Spearritt, Lucy Brown, Juliet Aubrey, Ben Miller and Mark Wakeling. ''Primeval'' was envisioned as a family series that did not take itself too seriously and appealed to both adults and kids. The producers sought to ensure that it would not just be a children's programme by also making the drama work on its own, working towards a "PG-13 feel". The production team also made the deliberate choice to set many of the episodes in familiar environments for the audience and give the series a "modern feel" with the intent that viewers would feel as if they could find "dinosaurs in their kitchen". In addition to following a "Monster-of-the-Week, monster-of-the-week" format, ''Primeval'' also sought to touch on deeper themes such as environmental preservation and ecological disaster. When choosing directors for ''Primeval'', Haines and Hodges wished to hire people with good track records. The directors approached for the Primeval (series 1), first series were Cilla Ware and Jamie Payne. Neither director had much background with action scenes but both were experienced with directing drama. The visual style of the series got some inspiration from Errol Flynn films such as ''Captain Blood (1935 film), Captain Blood'' (1935) and ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' (1938). During production of the first series, the title was initially spelt ''Primaeval''. The production of the first series was announced by ITV on 27 December 2005, touted as a "six-part epic about scientists who travel into prehistoric times through black holes". Following the success of the first series, ''Primeval'' was recommissioned for a Primeval (series 2), second series in March 2007, announced on 8 June. The entire first series main cast returned for the second series, with the exception of Wakeling. The second series also introduced the further main cast members Karl Theobald and Naomi Bentley. The Primeval (series 3), third series of ''Primeval'' was announced on 30 January 2008. Henshall had felt during the second series that ''Primeval'' had become "simplified in its ambitions" and left the series during the third series, which necessitated extensive rewrites to the intended plot of the third series, also impacting the storylines of Jenny Lewis (Lucy Brown) and Helen Cutter (Juliet Aubrey); Henshall was replaced as the main lead of the series by Jason Flemyng as Danny Quinn. Further new characters were introduced in the third series, played by Laila Rouass, Ben Mansfield and Belinda Stewart-Wilson.

Cancellation and a revival

Despite the third series being successful, ''Primeval'' was cancelled after its run on 15 June 2009 for financial reasons, ITV having come very close to bankruptcy in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis. ITV declined to recommission ''Primeval'' for a fourth series despite Impossible Pictures, the production company behind the series, proposing numerous different options, such as producing the series cheaper (for £600,000 per episode) or offering first-run rights to a rival channel. The cancellation was likely primarily motivated by the effects budget; ''Primeval'' cost around millions of pounds per series and ITV could not claim all of the money earned by the series due to it being produced independently by Impossible Pictures. During the production of the third series, the producers had at no point expected that ''Primeval'' would not return for a fourth series, stating in subsequent interviews that they would not have left as many of character's fates up in the air had they known of the threat of cancellation. ''Primeval'' was recommissioned three months after being cancelled. The "resurrection" of the series was made possible through a new deal made by Impossible Pictures, in which the series would be co-produced by both ITV and UKTV (with the costs shared), with additional funding also being provided by BBC Worldwide and ProSieben. The deal secured the making of thirteen new episodes, split into a Primeval (series 4), fourth and Primeval (series 5), fifth series. The fourth series would air on ITV and then on the UKTV-owned channel W (British TV channel), Watch whereas the fifth series would air first on Watch. The production team were thrilled to be able to produce two additional series since it would allow them to resolve the plotlines of the previous series and move ''Primeval'' further. The fourth and fifth series had a combined budget of £15 million. Although most of the cast of the third season were announced as returning for the fourth and fifth series, the production needed to cast several new characters, due to the departures of several actors and the third series leaving several characters stranded in the past. New main cast members Laila Rouass and Jason Flemyng were also unable to commit to an entire further series. As a result, the fourth and fifth series brought in several new main characters, played by Ciarán McMenamin, Ruth Kearney, Ruth Bradley and Alexander Siddig. Ultimately, poor ratings for the fifth series when it aired on ITV in 2012 caused ''Primeval'' not to be renewed for a sixth series, despite both the production team and the cast being interested in continuing the series.

Production schedule

Special effects

The visual effects of the first three series of ''Primeval'' were created by the London-based visual effects company Framestore, who were brought in due to being long-time collaborators with Haines and Impossible Pictures, previously having worked on ''Walking with Dinosaurs'' and the other ''Walking with...'' series. Christian Manz was 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. Compositing was the most expensive portion, taking up about half of the budget. Usually multiple episodes were worked on at the same time. Framestore employed a crew of 60 people for ''Primeval'', including fifteen animators and fifteen compositors, about the same number of people as the crew that shot the series. The large crew was necessary in order to be able to produce the effects on time since production of ''Primeval'' was often very fast; the effects work on the first series began during filming in April 2006 and was finished in September. The producers did not initially have a clear idea for how the anomalies were supposed to look; in his scripts, Hodges simply described them as "shimmering in the air". The design was created by Haines and the effects team, with the goal to make it quite beautiful. The crushed glass-like final design drew on the idea that they were a fragmented version of what was on the other side―in scenes where people are depicted as going through them, the fragments gradually get bigger until they finally step into the world on the other side. Framestore were initially announced as also working on the fourth series, but ended up not partaking in its production. In their place, the visual effects of the fourth and fifth series were created by the visual effects company The Mill (company), The Mill. According to Haines, the production team opted to work with The Mill due to shooting in High-definition television, HD, an area in which The Mill had a "superb track record". The pratical effects of ''Primeval'', including puppets and animatronics, were created by Crawley Creatures, a company which had previously worked with Impossible Pictures on both the ''Walking with...'' programmes and on ''Prehistoric Park''.

Music

Dominik Scherrer was the lead composer for the first three series of ''Primeval''. Scherrer spent ten days composing tracks and an additional three days to record and mix them for each episode. He opted to create music that was a hybrid between Electronic music, electronic and traditional orchestra, noting that the urban nature of the setting and the attitudes of the characters were an influence. Scherrer said that the CGI nature of the show was a creative challenge, as the themes he scored for the creatures were often based on incomplete images. He noted "sometimes a drawing of the creature, or just a description from the director may help me get a feel for the creature. The final look and texture can be very influential on the music". On creating the theme song of ''Primeval'', Scherrer stated that "the central feel is that of majesty and adventure, reflecting the momentous occasion of mankind linking up with the pre-historic past and also the majesty of the creatures themselves – they are dangerous and wonderful." 75 minutes of Scherrer's original score for the first three series was released by MovieScore Media both digitally and on CD on 20 September 2011 under the title ''Primeval: Original Television Soundtrack''. For the third series, composer James Hannigan also wrote new music to accompany Scherrer's themes. Angus Moncrieff worked as orchestrator, synth programmer and trumpet player for the first two series and also composed, produced and mixed 35-40 minutes of new music for four episodes of the third series. Stephen McKeon was the lead composer for the fourth and fifth series.

Creature designs

Though the prehistoric creatures featured in ''Primeval'' were fundamentally rooted in science they were intentionally not fully scientifically accurate, often being exaggerated in size and made to look scarier. They were also often for cinematic purposes made more intelligent than their real-life counterparts to give them more character, such as predators deciding who and how to attack. The decision to not adhere to strict scientific rigour but to rather use science as an "inspiration for creative thought" was made by Haines, who after working on the ''Walking with...'' programmes (which had to adhere more strongly to scientific fact) wanted to be free of such restrictions. Fictional design details included decisions such as giving Gorgonopsia, gorgonopsids four rather than two saberteeth. In addition to featuring real prehistoric creatures, ''Primeval'' also introduced several fictional creatures, some from the future. The decision to include future animals was made during pre-production of the first series, with the idea being that if anomalies connected the past to the present they could logically also connect the present to the future. The most iconic of ''Primeval'''s future creatures are the recurring Future predator (Primeval), future predators, giant flightless predatory bats. Though fictionalised, prehistoric creatures in most cases still greatly resembled their real counterparts, not only a design decision but also a decision made to make it easier for animators; real creatures were always easier to animate since their biomechanics could often be figured out and animated convincingly more easily than fictional designs. Scientific theories on the animals featured were also often used for deciding the behaviour and abilities of creatures. As an example, certain genera of Therocephalia, therocephalians might have been venomous, a theory which was used as the basis for also making the therocephalians featured in ''Primeval'' venomous. The process of creating the creature models involved first creating concept artwork; many of the creatures were designed by Daren Horley. Horley was involved with the project very early on, before it was commissioned by ITV, and had produced some concept sketches for Haines's initial pitch of ''Cutter's Bestiary'' to the BBC. Horley also designed the texture maps for the finished models. Though his designs continued to be used, Horley ceased to work on ''Primeval'' after the third series. After Horley had created concept artwork, sculptors made maquettes out of clay based on his designs. These were then scanned into the computer using a very high resolution laser scanner.

Main cast and characters

Episodes

Series 1 (2007)

The first series follows the efforts of List of Primeval characters#Nick%20Cutter, Professor Nick Cutter (Douglas Henshall) and his associates, friend and colleague List of Primeval characters#Stephen%20Hart, Stephen Hart (James Murray (English actor), James Murray), student List of Primeval characters#Connor%20Temple, Connor Temple (Andrew-Lee Potts) and a zookeeper List of Primeval characters#Abby%20Maitland, Abby Maitland (Hannah Spearritt) as they investigate the appearance of anomalies that allow the passage to other times and places, allowing often-dangerous creatures from the distant past or future to threaten the lives of citizens. The Government of the United Kingdom, British government's Home Office, under the supervision of List of Primeval characters#James%20Lester, James Lester (Ben Miller) and List of Primeval characters#Claudia%20Brown, Claudia Brown (Lucy Brown), becomes involved after a Gorgonopsia, gorgonopsid travels through one such anomaly and wreaks havoc in the Forest of Dean. Professor Cutter's wife, List of Primeval characters#Helen%20Cutter, Helen Cutter (Juliet Aubrey), presumed dead for eight years, is revealed to have been travelling in time through the anomalies.

Series 2 (2008)

After returning from the past at the end of the first series, Cutter discovers that Claudia Brown has been erased from time and that the team now operates out of a large structure called the Anomaly Research Centre (ARC). In Claudia's place an assertive and quite different Public relations, PR agent named List of Primeval characters#Jenny%20Lewis, Jenny Lewis (also played by Lucy Brown) joined the team. Though Abby and Connor are drawn closer to each other, Abby is also forced to contend with Connor's new girlfriend List of Primeval characters#Caroline%20Steel, Caroline Steel (Naomi Bentley), a woman with a hidden agenda. Claudia's former position has been taken by List of Primeval characters#Oliver%20Leek, Oliver Leek (Karl Theobald), who secretly works with Helen and plans to use creatures from the anomalies, particularly future predators, to gain political power.

Series 3 (2009)

The third series sees Cutter continuing to investigate the anomalies, hoping to find ways to predict their appearance. Following the death of Stephen at the end of the second series, the team is expanded with List of Primeval characters#Captain%20Becker, Captain Becker (Ben Mansfield) and List of Primeval characters#Sarah%20Page, Sarah Page (Laila Rouass), a professor employed at the British Museum. James Lester has to deal with his old government rival List of Primeval characters#Christine%20Johnson, Christine Johnson (Belinda Stewart-Wilson), who aspires to use the anomalies and future predators for military purposes. Helen invades the ARC with an army of clones and kills Cutter, whereafter he is replaced as team leader by List of Primeval characters#Danny%20Quinn, Danny Quinn (Jason Flemyng), a former police detective who became involved after discovering his brother had been killed by a creature from the future.

Series 4 (2011)

The fourth series takes place around a year after the third, and features many new team members following the deaths and disappearances of large parts of the team in the third series. The updated ARC includes, alongside Captain Becker, new team members List of Primeval characters#Matt%20Anderson, Matt Anderson (Ciarán McMenamin), a man with a hidden agenda with the ARC and the anomalies, List of Primeval characters#Jess%20Parker, Jess Parker (Ruth Kearney), a coordinator for the field team and List of Primeval characters#Philip%20Burton, Philip Burton (Alexander Siddig), an entrepreneur funding the ARC in a public/private partnership with the government. Connor and Abby also return to the team after having spent a year stranded in the Cretaceous. The fourth series also sees the appearance of a group of time travelers, including the mysterious List of Primeval characters#Ethan%20Dobrowski, Ethan Dobrowski (Jonathon Byrne), who is a serial killer, and List of Primeval characters#Emily%20Merchant, Emily Merchant (Ruth Bradley), who is from the Victorian era.

Series 5 (2011)

The fifth series sees Connor recruited by Philip for his new secret project "New Dawn", which aims to extract energy from the anomalies and use it to solve the world's energy crisis. Matt, knowing New Dawn will lead to the end of the world, recruits Abby to attempt to learn what Connor and his new assistant List of Primeval characters#April%20Leonard, April Leonard (Janice Byrne) are researching, all the while they are forced to deal with new anomalies and creature incursions.

Reception and legacy

Critical reception

''Primeval'' met with enthusiastic reactions during its original broadcast, becoming both a critical and an audience hit. The series was also successful with international audiences, airing in over 30 countries worldwide and for instance becoming very popular with audiences in both the United States and South Korea. ''Primeval'' has repeatedly been commended for not pretending to be something it is not and for its homages to classic science fiction.'''' On the review aggregator website Metacritic (using a scale of 0–100), ''Primeval'' scored 72, indicating generally favourable reviews. Though some later commentators saw ''Primeval'' as never fully realising its potential, the series remains fondly remembered as one of the greatest British science fiction series. It has often been described as a cult series. Though some reviewers found the characters of the first series to be insufficiently developed and some of the scripts to be "clichéd", ''Primeval'' succeeded in overcoming early dismissals of being a "''Doctor Who'' ripoff", with critics agreeing that the series was something unique in its own right. The first series garnered praise for its overall story arc and not being repetitive. Opinions differed on the quality of the special effects. Rob Hunter of ''Film School Rejects'' gave the series high praise as the "best monster-of-the-week show since ''The X-Files''". Reception for the second series was more lukewarm, with opinions differing on whether the effects were superior or inferior to those of the first series and on the quality of the writing and character development. Reception of the later episodes of the second series, in particular the two-part finale, was more universally positive. The third series of ''Primeval'' met with high praise, with reviewers concluding that its greater number of episodes allowed for more extensive characterisation and character development, that it had a greater sense of thrill and suspense, that the actions of characters had consequences, and that its expanded central story was good. Several reviewers favourably compared the third series to the Jon Pertwee era of ''Doctor Who'' (1970–1974), owing to its altered team dynamic,'''' and several considered it the strongest year of ''Primeval'' yet. In contrast, the fourth series received a more mixed response, with reviewers criticising the introduction of the new characters, the speed of the central story arc, and its resolution. The effects of the fourth series received praise as the best of ''Primeval'' so far. The fifth and final series was praised by critics as ''Primeval'' "going out on a high"; particular praise was given to the final two episodes.

Criticism

''Torchwood Magazine, Torchwood'' creator and ''Doctor Who'' head writer Russell T Davies commented on the ''Primeval'' after the airing of its first series in 2007, stating that although he thought the series was "excellent", its "lack of ethnic casting" was "shameful". Davies's criticisms were met with some backlash as he had only recently cast Freema Agyeman as Martha Jones for ''Doctor Who'''s Doctor Who (series 3), third series; Martha was the first non-white companion in ''Doctor Who'' history and commentators pointed out that similar criticisms could be raised at previous series of ''Doctor Who''. In a review of the first episode of the fourth series of ''Primeval'' for ''WhatCulture'', Dan Owen also pointed out ''Primeval'''s "curious lack of racial diversity in its all-white cast" and worried that the antagonist Philip Burton, played by Sudanese-born Alexander Siddig, would be painted as a stereotypical "Asian villain". Siddig's performance was however later praised by critics as "avoiding too many clichés". Naomi Bentley was cast for ''Primeval'''s second series, but she was revealed half-way through the series to be a secret antagonist. ''Primeval'' then rectified its lack of non-white main protagonists in the third series with the introduction of Sarah Page, played by Laila Rouass, though Rouass could not return for the fourth or fifth series on account of their lengthy periods of filming. ''Primeval'' has also faced some criticism for its portrayal of female characters. In his review of the first series in ''Strange Horizons'', Iain Clark criticised ''Primeval'''s female characters as "strong, but only to a point" and that "when it comes to the crunch it's always the men who do the saving; even the nerdy men". Clark conceded that Helen Cutter was a strong character "who remains consistently independent and interesting" but also noted that she was also portrayed as "unlikeable right through to the finale". The first series was also criticised for contriving the plot to have numerous scenes of Hannah Spearritt in her underwear. According to Spearritt, the scenes were filmed in one block and then spread out over the series; both she and the producers were reportedly shocked when watching it back and noticing how many such scenes there ended up being; no such scenes were filmed for subsequent series. Both Spearritt's Abby Maitland and the later introduced Emily Merchant, played by Ruth Bradley, were more positively received as strong female characters in later series.

Viewership

''Primeval'' was nearly consistently met with good ratings. The first and most watched episode of the series was watched by over seven million viewers,Weekly top 30 programmes on TV sets (July 1998 – Sept 2018)
''Broadcasters' Audience Research Board''. Retrieved 13 May 2022. over a million more than the usual viewing figures of its slot on ITV. Although ''Primeval'' was commissioned by ITV due to the success of ''Doctor Who'' and several commentators saw it as ITV's attempt at creating a rival series, the cast and crew of ''Primeval'' did not envision the series as a ''Doctor Who''-competitor. Douglas Henshall stated in a 2007 interview that ''Primeval'' had a completely different format and instead compared it to ''The A-Team'', with influences from ''Jurassic Park'' and ''Indiana Jones''. In a 2021 interview, Henshall stated that it would have been impossible to seriously compete with ''Doctor Who'', a sentiment echoed by Adrian Hodges, who stated that although it would have been great if they had been able to beat ''Doctor Who'', he "just wanted to do well". Though both Henshell and Hodges believed that ''Primeval'' would have done better if it had aired a few years later, Andrew-Lee Potts believed ''Primeval'' to have aired at just the right time based on its success. ''Primeval'' was for its first two series not far behind the viewership figures of contemporary ''Doctor Who'', with the first series having an average of 6.39 million viewers (compared to ''Doctor Who'''s 7.55 million) and the second having 6.29 million (compared to ''Doctor Who'''s 8.05 million). The third series averaged about five million viewers per episode; although this was down more than a million from the previous two series, the numbers were still considered successful both by commentators and by ITV itself. The series created after ''Primeval'''s cancellation and revival saw more seriously dropping viewing statistics. The fourth series averaged around four million viewers, which was considered somewhat disappointing. The fifth series first premiered on the digital channel W (British TV channel), Watch, where it averaged around 500,000 viewers. Although much less than on the terrestrial channel ITV, the numbers were a great success in comparison with other digital channels and ''Primeval'' was Watch's biggest series of the year. When the fifth series was later broadcast on ITV it had a considerably more disappointing run, with the first episode being watched by 2.55 million viewers and the last only by 1.38 million, the lowest ratings in ''Primeval'''s history.

Award nominations

Other media

Books

''Primeval'' was accompanied by both novelisations of episodes of the series and by original novels with new stories. The original novels took the team from the series and placed them in new locations and situations and were in many cases stories the producers had wished to do for the TV series but which would not have been achievable with their budget. The book ''Extinction Event'' by Dan Abnett was in particular a storyline that they had wished to film but which would not be possible without a feature film-level budget. The storylines explored in the novels were created through a combination of the producers telling writers stories they had wanted to do and the writers pitching storylines themselves. Although the novels were written to not have any large-scale impacts on the plotlines of the TV series, the writers made an effort to keep them within the overall continuity.

''Primeval: New World''

A Canadian spinoff series of ''Primeval'', ''Primeval: New World'', was announced on 15 September 2011 as being in development for the Canadian television channel Space (Canadian TV channel), Space. ''New World'' was a co-production between Omni Film productions, Impossible Pictures, and Bell Media. Production began in Vancouver, British Columbia, in the winter of 2011. ''New World'' was not a continuation of the original series, though it continued its mythology and saw some cameo appearances, and was envisioned as an "older, darker and scarier" version of the programme. ''New World'' was cancelled after only a single thirteen-episode season due to poor ratings.

Film adaptation

Plans for an American feature film adaptation of ''Primeval'' were announced on 15 May 2009, with Warner Bros. reported to have acquired the screen rights in a "six-figure deal". The film was announced as combining the "dinosaur element of ''Jurassic Park'' and the time travel element of ''Lost (TV series), Lost''" and slated to be produced by Akiva Goldsman and Kerry Foster. The script was to be written by Jeff Pinkner; Haines and Hodges reserved the right to cancel the deal if they did not approve of the treatment. Unlike the TV series, the film was to be set in the United States and it would not be part of the same continuity, instead "start[ing] its own mythology" based on the themes and ideas of the series. All of the characters would be new but they would have similar roles and responsibilities to the characters of the series. Although Warner Bros. reportedly planned production of the film to begin in 2010 its script was still being revised in 2011. Ultimately, a film adaptation remains as of yet unproduced.

Other merchandise

The first and second series of ''Primeval'' were accompanied by a line of action figures, created by Character Group PLC and Design Works. The actors were all photographed from various angles to ensure that the figures were faithful depictions.''Through the Anomaly'' (behind-the-scenes featurette from the ''Primeval'' series 2 DVD) The toy line included all main characters and some of the creatures. Cubicle 7 released a role-playing game based on the first three ''Primeval'' series on 11 May 2011, with a 288-page rulebook written by Gareth Hanrahan. The expansion ''Companion'', based on the fourth series, was released on 18 December 2013 with a 128-page book. ''Companion'' was followed by a second expansion, ''Evolution'', based on the fifth series. ''Evolution'' was released on 2 July 2014, also with a 128-page book. A line of greeting cards based on ''Primeval'' were released by Gemma International in January 2009.

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{Impossible Pictures 2000s British drama television series 2010s British drama television series 2007 British television series debuts 2011 British television series endings British science fiction television shows ITV television dramas Primeval (TV series), Television series about dinosaurs British television series revived after cancellation 2000s British science fiction television series 2010s British science fiction television series Television shows filmed in Vancouver British time travel television series