Primeval is a British family tea time show, airing on a Saturday at 7pm on ITV. If you're British, you'll know exactly what I mean. If not, let me introduce you to the wonders of family entertainment, Brit TV style.
There is a certain genre of British TV that tends to air between 6pm and 7pm, generally on a Saturday before small people are put to bed, and Primeval fits very nicely into that category. It's vaguely SciFi, kiddie friendly but not necessarily for kids, and fits in nicely with the standard six to seven week run that consists of episodes that can be appreciated as standalone but still manage to fit into an overall series theme. We have a long tradition of doing shows like this, ones that really are for all the family, and this particular show also has the added advantage that it features lots of scenes of people running from dinosaurs. ♥
In short, it is to love. Particularly as the creatures are created by the guys who were behind the hit BBC documentary show Walking with Dinosaurs, meaning that the CGI is really good for Saturday afternoon TV fare ::g::
Plot Overview
The plot centres around the discovery of 'anomalies', holes in the fabric of time that allow the past and present (and, as it becomes clear later in series 1, the future) to collide. Our intrepid team of heroes, led by Professor Nick Cutter (and more on them anon), end up with the thankless task of trying to figure out what is causing the anomalies, and hopefully prevent them occurring, while at the same time trying to minimise the havoc caused by prehistoric creatures coming through to modern times. All this and keeping it from the general public, too!
Cutter, at least, has his own reasons for being desperate to investigate the anomalies. The first one discovered is in the Forest of Dean, where his wife, Helen - like Nick, an evolutionary zoologist/palaeontologist - disappeared 8 years previously. Could the two be related?
Tune in next week to find out...
To date, three series have aired in the UK - the first, consisting of six episodes, in early 2007; the second, consisting of seven episodes, in early 2008; and the third, consisting of ten episodes, in 2009. A fourth series has just been commissioned, resurrecting the show after its demise due to budget constraints, and will be airing in two tranches in early and late 2010 through a unique partnership and funding agreement reached between a number of broadcasters. Both series one and series two were combined into a run of 13 episodes, which aired in the States in summer 2008, and the 10 episode series three was aired in the summer of 2009 over there.
This overview will therefore contain some spoilers for the episodes that have aired, although I will try to keep those to a minimum. Unfortunately, given some of the things that did happen, you may wish to stop after the overview for series one if you're very spoiler averse, as there will be some casting spoilers after that.
Series 1
Nick Cutter is a Professor in the Department of Evolutionary Zoology at the fictional Central Metropolitan University. When we first meet him, he's busy with general Professory type things, including dealing with his students, among whom is Connor Temple. However, following Connor bringing him an article about a strange creature sighting in the Forest of Dean, close to where his wife, Helen Cutter, disappeared eight years previously, Cutter is persuaded to investigate. Along with his lab tech, Stephen, Cutter and the aforementioned Connor head to the Forest. Along the way, they manage to run into both Abby Maitland, a young zookeeper who is investigating creature sightings of her own, and Claudia Brown - a civil servant employed in the Home Office who is determined to debunk the sightings.
At least at first.
When it turns out that the 'anomalies' are here to stay and pose a threat to the public, the Home Office reluctantly recruit our team to investigate. Their first priority is to ensure public safety, but also to figure out why the anomalies are occurring and to stop them.
Cast - Series One
Nick Cutter
Cutter is the erstwhile leader of the team that forms, and he also serves as one of the series' everymen characters, the ones with whom the viewer can emphasise and who provides a gateway. He's got a strong moral compass, and manages the strange feat of being both pragmatic and idealistic at the same time. The one thing that shines through clearly is his love of the past and the creatures that inhabit it. The immense joy he takes whenever they come across a new creature, and the enthusiasm he finds in both learning about new things and imparting that knowledge to others, is just as enjoyable to watch.
In fanfiction, Nick is usually paired with Stephen in slashfic, or Claudia in het fic, but if there's one thing this fandom isn't shy of it's exploring new pairings. Consequently, if you feel like reading about him with anyone, the fic will be out there somewhere.
Stephen Hart
Stephen is the more reserved of the Cutter and Hart double act. He's the quiet one, the 'mysterious' one. The one who is the action hero and knows how to use weaponry. Cutter comments early on in the show that he once watched Stephen track an injured animal for ten days through the rainforest. Stephen's not someone who quits easily and he's usually the first one in if there is anything dangerous that needs to be done.
Stephen was also Helen Cutter's student before she disappeared, and he's now not only Cutter's lab tech and side kick but also, probably, his best friend. But does he have his own reasons for wanting to find out what happened to Helen?
In terms of the fandom, Stephen Hart is definitely the little black dress, especially when it comes to slash.
Claudia Brown
Claudia is the link between the academic Anomaly team and the Home Office bureaucracy that's overseeing their actions. She's also the link into the military team used as backup - more than once, she's seen giving them their orders. It's also established early in series 1 that she's the 'romantic interest' for Cutter, with them sharing a kiss in the very first episode when she claims she's trying to put off a guy in a hotel bar who is hitting on her. But, thankfully, the romance isn't shoved into anyone's faces, and there's genuine affection between Claudia and the rest of the team over the course of the series, which grows over time.
In het fic, Claudia is paired largely with Nick and it's probably the most popular het pairing. There is, however, Stephen/Claudia and Ryan/Claudia fic to be found, and fairly easily at that.
Connor Temple
Connor is the stereoptypical geek, at least in series 1, but he's a fun, endearing character in spite of that. He's a lot younger than either Nick or Stephen, being Nick's student, and is obviously supposed to be in his early twenties. He's never met a conspiracy theory he didn't like, he quotes Star Wars at every opportunity and he's a comic book fan with a rather... eclectic dress sense. He's also got a not so secret crush on Abby, which is obvious to everyone even if Abby, in series 1 at least, has her eye on Stephen.
Connor is smart, brave when he has to be and loyal and determined when needed. He never quite crosses over into annoying, although in series 2, thankfully, the stereotypical geek thing is calmed down and Connor comes into his own, doing a lot of growing up as the series progress. But without Connor, it's unlikely that the Anomaly project would ever have got off the ground, even if he almost screws everything up early in the first series and risks being cut-off from the project entirely.
Like Stephen, Connor is a little black dress in fandom - goes with everything, but often Ryan in slash and Abby in het.
Abby Maitland
Abby is more or less the same age as Connor, even if she's quite a bit more mature. She's a strong character, having (per her bio on the official site) left University early on, choosing working with animals on a more hands on basis over academia. She's therefore the go to girl when it comes to dealing with the animals that come through the anomaly. Like Stephen, she tends more to the practical and, although she clearly loves the animals, her love of them is tempered with pragmatism. She's also kick ass and, after Stephen, the one most likely to be handed a weapon or to head into danger, which makes Connor a little jealous of her.
She's a lizard girl, having a particular love of that family. She owns several reptiles and, in fact, becomes involved in the anomalies when following up a letter that's submitted to the zoo where she works with an accompanying picture of a lizard she doesn't recognise. It turns out to be a Coelurosauravus, a creature she christens Rex and takes care of when the anomaly he came through closes, stranding him on the other side.
In series 1, Abby has a bit of a crush in canon on Stephen, but following the events of the series, it seems that in series 2 that her feelings have turned cooler, although she, like Connor, still considers Stephen a friend.
Rex
Rex is a Coelurosauravus, who Abby rescues in the first episode in series 1 and who ends up living with Abby and her pet lizards in her flat, along with (from mid series 1) Connor.
All you need to know about Rex is that Rex is ♥.
Helen Cutter
Helen is Nick's wife, who disappeared eight years previously while investigating something in the Forest of Dean and, at the start of the series, is presumed dead. Nick is wracked with guilt about her disappearance, because he'd refused to go with her on the day she vanished.
However, the past in Primeval has a habit of breaking through to the present again, and Helen has her own agenda, which isn't yet clear. What is clear is that Helen isn't the only one who has secrets, and Nick isn't the only one who grieved for her.
James Lester
James Lester is placed in charge of handling the anomaly situation by the Home Office. He's less than thrilled at having to deal with what he terms as 'civilians'. He's hardnosed and pragmatic, and well used to playing the Government's game, making references to being the 'troubleshooter in the PM's office, without portfolio' and failing to disagree when Nick Cutter categorises him as a 'hatchet man'.
The buck stops with Lester although, in series 1, he seems fairly content to let Claudia handle the day to day, dirty parts of the job. He has no time for sentimentality, his main focus being on how to keep the public both safe and completely ignorant of the anomalies.
He softens a little towards the team in Series 2, becoming a little more humanised, but thankfully retains the acid and ascerbic tongue that fandom loves him for, and remains, to a large extent, an enigma.
Captain Tom Ryan
Ryan is a Special Forces Captain assigned to the project to keep the scientists safe. He's a minor character in series 1, although he does appear in many of the episodes as the strong, sensible presence watching over them, and in series 1, at least, it's the soldiers who are sent into danger first.
Despite his minor status in the show, Ryan has been taken to heart by many writers, and there are lots and lots of Ryan stories. In terms of pairings, Ryan/Stephen is almost as popular as Nick/Stephen, although Ryan also gets paired with the other characters, usually Connor in slash and, occasionally, Claudia in het. In some fanfiction, he also comes alongside more than one full team of original character (OC) soldiers, many of whom have their own fanon and are now written by more than one author.
There were a number of changes in series 2, as a result of the events of series 1. I don't want to go into too much detail, but unfortunately some are inevitable because they involve cast changes.
Please be aware that spoilers are under the cut.
Series 2
Returning through the anomaly with Helen at the end of Series 1, Nick came back to a world that had changed. The team are now based in a purpose built centre, called The Anomaly Research Centre (ARC), and no one remembers Claudia Brown. Instead, Lester's right hand person is an individual called Oliver Leek, and it seems as though no one but Connor is willing to entertain the idea that things have changed for Nick and that Claudia was real.
But then Lester decides that The ARC needs to employ a high flying media person to deal with the inevitable press cover ups and when the woman, Jenny Lewis, arrives, she's the spitting image of Claudia.
Additional Cast - Series 2
Jenny Lewis
Jenny is a very different character from Claudia at the start of the series, including in terms of her look - darker hair and more vibrant, dressy clothes than Claudia's subdued casual look. She's also very different in personality, being strident where Claudia wasn't, and rubbing Nick in particular up the wrong way.
Over the course of the series, however, Jenny begins to realise that Lester wasn't pulling her leg about what they did at the ARC, and there really are anomalies and creatures. And slowly, her outlook on life - and maybe her feelings towards Nick - start to change.
Like Claudia, Jenny is frequently paired with Nick in fic but as with all characters,
Oliver Leek
Where Claudia was willing to argue the team's case with Lester, Leek is much more of a yes man, being obsequious in demeanour and a bit - a lot - of a crawler. Lester's contempt for him isn't very well hidden.
But does Leek have an agenda of his own, nothing to do with the ARC?
Caroline Steel
Caroline picks Connor up in a video store after Abby gets frustrated with him and leaves him to his own devices to pick whatever DVD he wants for them to watch. She seems perfect - she's beautiful, well dressed, and seems absolutely smitten with Connor. But is she too good to be true? Abby certainly thinks so, and she's a constant source of friction between Abby and Connor. And she seems to hate Rex, so there's obviously something dodgy about her.
And what is her connection to Leek?
Series 3
Following Stephen's death at the end of Series 2, Nick is a changed man and the rest of the team are reeling, trying to pick up the slack. As part of that, Lester has appointed a new head of the military contingent, Captain Becker (no first name in canon yet although rumour has it that it's 'Hilary') to the ARC, telling him that his role is to prevent another death like Stephen Hart's. There are other changes, too. Following an anomaly at the British Museum, Sarah Page, an Egyptologist, links the creature that comes through the anomaly - Pristichampsus - with the ancient Egyptian God, Ammut. It appears as though the anomalies are not a recent happening at all, but have been occurring throughout history, forming the basis of many of our myths and legends.
Sarah is invited to join the team and help Nick to map nodes where anomalies form by using the records that exist of myths to spot trends. However, she's not the only addition to the team. When Connor, Abby and Jenny vist the first predicted anomaly site, to test out Cutter's theory, they run into Danny Quinn, a police officer with a connection to the house they visit. Many years before, his younger brother disappeared from that location. Could it have something to do with the anomalies?
Additional Cast - Series 3
Captain Becker
Becker was brought on board to replace Captain Tom Ryan and although he doesn't have an official name yet - just one bandied around by ITV Customer Liaison in the wake of the cancellation of Primeval earlier this year before it was eventually saved - he has a lot more screen time than Ryan did. Even so, little is known of his past. His role, however, combines that of Ryan and Stephen previously. Becker's now the one with the gun, the action hero who often rushes to the rescue or keeps the team safe, the one whose pragmatism is often at odds with the team's stated desire to protect the creatures that come through the anomaly at all costs. And while that often puts him at odds with Abby in particular, he has a rather developed sense of sarcastic humour as well as a sense of the absurd and gets on well with Connor, willing to indulge him.
In fic, Becker tends to be paired with Connor in slash and Sarah in het, but there are all sorts of pairings out there as well as some gen.
Sarah Page
Sarah is voluble, enthusiastic about what she does and frequently has flashes of brilliance, whether that's linking the appearance of Prisitichampsus with the worshipping of Ammut in Ancient Egypt, or coming up with solutions to more recent and technical problems. While she spends a lot of her time in the ARC, carrying on Cutter's work, she appears to itch to get into the field, utilising her skills as far as she can.
In fic, Sarah is often paired with Becker although there is a small amount of femslash, either with Jenny or, more rarely, Abby.
Danny Quinn
Danny is an ex-copper by trade, one who entered the police force to find out what happened to his younger brother, who disappeared as a teenager when Danny wasn't much older. When it turns out that something that came through an anomaly was responsible, and not, as Danny suspected, one of his brother's friends, Danny makes it his new job to hound the heels of the ARC team, angling to get involved in a more official capacity.
Danny is pragmatic and, while he doesn't have any knowledge of the creatures they deal with on a daily basis, he does have leadership skills and is more than willing to listen to his team and to learn from them. He's a little reckless on occasion, but with a good heart.
There isn't as much Danny fic out there as there is for other characters yet, and what there is tends to be gen, but with Series 4 now greenlit, it's only a matter of time.
Christine Johnson
Christine Johnson is the Home Office's new military liaison with the ARC, and she enjoys the power that gives her. There appears to be some history between Johnson and Lester, which leads to some tension between the two of them, and Johnson certainly seems to enjoy being the one calling the shots and engaging in little power games, just to demonstrate that she - at the moment - holds the upper hand over Lester. But what exactly is her agenda, and how is she linked to the Artefact that Helen Cutter appears to be interested in?
Fandom
Resources
The official ITV site, while difficult to navigate, does have guides to the characters and creatures. And more importantly, if you're in the UK (or have a proxy that can convince the site that you are) then you can watch the episodes online for up to a month after their airdate and, as the series is being repeated in advance of Series 3, you should be able to watch some of the eps now.
You can find the ITV site
here.
Fanfiction
There is a lot more slash in the fandom than gen or het, with the main pairings being Nick/Stephen or Ryan/Stephen. But they are far from the only pairings - pretty much every combination is available, including some of the fanon OCs mentioned earlier. In fact, there's even fanon OC/fanon OC, if that's your particular poison ::g:: However, there is very little in the way of femslash at the moment.
In terms of het, Claudia/Nick and Abby/Connor are the most popular pairings. There's also a reasonable amount of Abby/Stephen and Jenny/Nick, but again you can also find stories for any combination, as well as for threesomes.
There are two main off-livejournal places for fanfiction:
The ARC Primeval Archive - the main archive, holding all pairings, ratings and genres. They have challenges and even chatrooms now, and this is probably your first point of call for fic. There is also an rss feed set up on livejournal -
thearc_rss Fanfiction.net - don't mock. Like many small fandoms, fanfiction.net is a reasonable place to find stories, some of which are very well written and haven't yet been posted to The ARC. Again, there is an rss feed set up on livejournal -
primeval_ffnet On livejournal, the first place to start is the newsletter -
anomaly_news. It's a fabulous resource, which picks up most things posted to LJ. I'd recommend starting here, but in case you wish to dive straight on in, the other main communities are:
primeval_fanfic - the main fanfic comm
primeval_itv - fanfiction and discussion, pg rated.
In terms of other communities, there are quite a few even for a small fandom. There are communities for everything - from fans of particular pairings, to actor comms, to drabble comms, to comms for people who would prefer to pretend certain things didn't happen in canon and everything in between. Rather than listing them all here, when they might change in future, I'm going to point you to three key places that list them and are updated fairly frequently:
Newbie's Guide to Primeval on LJ (the most comprehensive list)
The Links Page on The ARC The Watch List of
anomaly_news.
Have fun!
[Last Updated: November 2009]