PRIMEVAL: 5 Series, 5 Forgotten Characters

With the finale of Primeval having been over a week ago and no prospect of a sixth series in sight, we take a look back through the last five series at five characters who you may have forgotten, but were key players in the story of Primeval and the ARC.

Series 1: Claudia Brown/Jenny Lewis  (Lucy Brown)

Claudia Brown arrived on our screens in Series 1, Episode 1 as a Civil Servant working for the Home Office. After joining the ARC team she became a liaison between the Home Office, Lester and Cutter, but still got involved in many of the missions to prevent the creatures coming through the anomaly causing too much trouble. By mid way through series 1 Claudia had begun to fall for Cutter, making her suspicious of Helen Cutter and her motives when the wanderer returned through the anomaly.

After she and Cutter had admitted their feelings for each other, sealed by a kiss, he followed Helen through an anomaly to the Permian era, returning to find that Claudia Brown had disappeared without trace and the rest of the team had no memory of her – a consequence of his meddling in prehistoric times.

In episode 1 of series 2, Jenny Lewis appears as a new PR assistant for the ARC team. She looks identical to Claudia Brown although has a contrasting personality to her and seemingly has no recollection of her doppelgänger. After discovering the real nature of the ARC team’s work, Jenny became a key part of the team, keeping the press away from the areas of the anomalies and providing cover stories for the havoc caused by the creatures.

Jenny supported Cutter through the death of Stephen, admitting she was attracted to him mid way through series3. His subsequent death devastated her and she left the ARC team soon after. Our final episode with Jenny was at her wedding in series 4, when Hyaenodons and the team interrupted her wedding. However, she finally got her happy ever after when Lester married her and her fiancé via video link.

Series 2: Stephen Hart (James Murray)

The former sportsman acted as a lab assistant to Cutter having had long friendship with him and Helen for many years. The seemingly cold character proved his bravery and loyalty, saving countless lives over the 2 series he played a part in.

In the 2^nd episode of series 1, Stephen was left for dead by a venomous Arthropleura and was visited by Helen Cutter asking him to pass a message on to Cutter, but she also left him for dead, leaving Cutter with a race against time to get Stephen the antidote he needed.

At the end of series 1, it was revealed that Stephen had had an affair with Helen many years previously, a fact she used to try and persuade Stephen to leave the ARC to travel with her. However, Stephen resisted, realising Helen’s true colours. Stephen was also known to be the object of Abby’s affections although no 

relationship developed from this, aside from the offer of a couple of dinner dates.

In series 2 episode 7, Stephen showed his true dedication to the ARC by sacrificing himself for the good of the team by shutting himself in a room, full of dangerous prehistoric creatures, with a door which only locked from the inside to prevent the creatures escaping. His death devastated the ARC team.

Series 3: Sarah Page (Laila Rouass)

Sarah Page joined the team at the start of series 3 after an anomaly appeared at The British Museum, her workplace at the time. She was assigned to find out if there was any link between the anomalies and mythology but later joined the team on their missions. Sarah seems to become the confidante of Jenny Lewis as she tells her all about her apparent dual persona and Claudia Brown.

When most of the team are stranded in different eras at the end of series 3, Sarah helps Becker lead rescue missions to find them. She is not seen again and it is implied that she died on one of these rescue missions.

Series 4: Patrick Quinn (Jonathan Byrne)

Patrick Quinn disappeared through an anomaly as a teenager. He spent time travelling through eras alone, including appearing in 1902 Russia and murdering many people before joining the Time Tribe. His appetite for killing sprang from having to fend for himself by killing beasts to survive.

As part of the Time Tribe he met Emily and Charlotte, who he fell in love with. When Charlotte falls sick with smallpox, Patrick (known as Ethan) and Emily return through an anomaly to the present time to get her medical care. Unfortunately Charlotte died, leaving Ethan heartbroken and he blames Emily. Emily allies with Matt, the new leader of the ARC as Ethan is trying to kill her. He also wants to get revenge on his family for leaving him through the anomaly – including ARC member Danny Quinn. After being captured by the team, Patrick is reunited with his brother and the two hug. Patrick escapes the ARC after a fight and escapes through an anomaly. Danny follows him to make sure Patrick doesn’t kill anyone else.

Series 5: April Leonard (Janice Byrne)

The research assistant, hired by Philip Burton, turned into a weapon wielding fighter by the end of series 5. She was hired to help Connor with the New Dawn project. She seems cold and calculating by not getting on with the rest of the team, mainly as she refuses to tell them exactly what she and Connor are up to.

April helped Connor create the first lab born anomaly but, unknown to Connor, she is also working on a secret project with Burton. When Philip’s project comes to fruition in series 5 episode 5, April comes head to head with Abby. Their fight ends when April is killed by a flock of Anurognathus.

Revenge 1.09

'Remember, inside the viper's nest, you must be a viper too'

We've all got accustomed to the viciousness of the senior Grayson members and the ruthlessness of Emily Thorne (Emily VanCamp). However this week, several other protagonists revealed their real colours.

Daniel’s friend Tyler (Ashton Holmes) has been slowly becoming more villainous over the past few weeks, but this episode saw him rise to whole new level by conning young entrepreneur Nolan Ross (Gabriel Mann). His attempt to get Nolan on his side whilst beating Daniel to a spot in the Grayson’s company was devious yet Tyler hadn’t counted on the strong alliance between Emily and Nolan to outwit him. By also persuading Ashley (Ashley Madekwe) to ‘raise her game’ in order to climb the social ladder, Tyler incensed some of his own desire for social reign in his girlfriend and surely set up things to come.

Cara (Margarita Levieva) as she’s known to the Hamptons also showed more of her scheming nature by not taking Emily’s money or flight to Paris. Instead she chose to toy with Jack Porter (Nick Weschler), seducing him and then revealing her ‘real’ name as being Amanda. The moment that Jack told of ‘Amanda’s return’ was clearly devastating for Emily, yet due to her dual persona she had to keep a unaffected expression – VanCamp highlighted her talent by showing Emily’s despair whilst maintaining the fake front. Amanda’s deception surely makes a romance between him and Emily completely off the cards, yet makes us frustratingly root for them all the more.

Charlotte and Declan’s deception of Mrs Grayson as well as Conrad’s removal of Lydia from the manor behind Victoria’s back put the finishing touches to an episode full of deceit, mystery and aptly titled ‘Suspicion’. This episode seemed like a stepping stone to the rest of the series, setting up more plot twists and leaving many questions unanswered, the main one being: who exactly is the mysterious Satoshi Takeda?

Aired 23/07/12

Actor of the Week: Martin Compston

After being tortured at the end of last week’s episode and with the series finale tomorrow night, the future doesn’t look good for DS Steve Arnott in BBC2’s ‘Line of Duty’. However, the same cannot be said for rising star Martin Compston.

The Inverclyde native first shot to stardom in ‘Sweet Sixteen’, a movie shot locally to where Compston grew up. After successfully campaigning with his local council for the certificate to be lowered to enable local youngsters to learn from the mistakes of his character Liam, the actor next hit our screens as ladies man Ewan Brodie in ‘Monarch of the Glen’. Enabling Compston to use his native Scottish accent (unlike in Line of Duty) this cheeky character clearly suited the emerging actor.

Having many other TV and movie credits under his belt as well as several others lined up in post-production, the 28 year old is currently finding fame in the BBC’s new drama ‘Line of Duty’, with Arnott being one of the biggest roles Compston has had so far in his career. The brash DS has stirred up trouble within the police force, attempting to expose a corrupt cop. Despite the doubt over Arnott’s survival, the future seems bright for this talented actor and he is clearly an actor to watch out for in the next few years.

Picture from IMDB

Once Upon A Time 1.17

'Ready or not, here we come'

We all know that meeting a stranger in the woods and going off with them is never a good idea, and Emma’s encounter with Jefferson proved just that. Episode 17 gave Once Upon A Time a distinctly darker feel this week - the dark forest, predominantly black clothing, sharpening of scissors and hostage like situation gave a sinister atmosphere to the episode. The atmosphere was made even more effective by the music contrasting with the periods of deafening silence. As always the music was suitably chosen for the mood and never came across as overpowering or interfered with the storyline.

Similarly, contrasts were also effectively used with the juxtaposition of Jefferson as an evil character and as a kindly father, just wanting to provide the best for his daughter - both characters Sebastian Stan acted equally successfully.

We also saw Emma (Jennifer Morrison) giving a feminist aspect to the programme by showing her heroic side in saving both herself and Mary Margaret (Ginnifer Goodwin). Both actresses ensured that their reactions to their predicament were not over exaggerated and Morrison depicted a distressed version of her character particularly well. The tension was palpable as the two were escaping yet it was predictable that Jefferson would be behind them as they exited the room where Mary Margret was tied up. However, the strengthening friendship between the two female leads was lovely to see and provided some tender and more sensitive moments in an unexpectedly action packed episode.

It is frustrating how long Emma’s disbelief in her true identity is lasting – the producers are really keeping the audience waiting. However, it seems, with Emma’s shocked facial expression in the closing moments of the show that something is around the corner to really propel the show forwards.

Aired 22/07/12 Channel 5

Primeval 5.06

‘This is what New Dawn did to the Earth, turned it into hell’

And hell was what the ARC team faced this week. After last week’s intense episode and dramatic cliff-hanger, we were expecting a lot from the series finale of Primeval and we definitely got it.

The opening wasteland Connor found himself in at the start of the episode painted a dramatic picture for what was to come; an intense and gripping theme was continued by Philip’s (Alexander Siddig) slimy persona continuing to execute his and Helen’s evil plan. The rapid camera movements throughout the episode also increased the tension and the frequent shaking of the shots increased the feeling of panic that the team were experiencing.

Abi’s (Hannah Spearitt) rescue of Connor (Andrew Lee Potts) and Matt (Ciaran McMenamin) gave a nice reference to last week’s episode and the development of their romance nicely rounded off their relationship which we have followed right from series 1. The romance aspects of the episode gave a nice respite from the thrilling action and gave the episode greater depth and emotion.

Similarly, the witty retorts which we have come to love from Primeval were in full flow tonight, despite the ongoing catastrophes. The humour of Connor’s analysis of the impact of merging the two anomalies and Lester’s ‘could Philip not afford to pay the electricity bill?’ was needed to maintain Primeval’s spirit and gratefully reduced the gravity of the predicament. The allying of Jess (Ruth Kearney) and Lester (Ben Miller) also provided some humour, with their father-daughteresque relationship quite a surprise yet the continuation of it from last week was nicely played out. The tension of the discovery of the monster in the ARC with a long, drawn out camera shot was heart stopping and Miller’s serious facial expressions provided a more serious side to his mainly comic character. However, between this pair, certain lines could have been delivered more convincingly – Kearney’s ‘anyone?’ for example.

For long time fans of the series, there were many recalls to earlier episodes. References to Helen Cutter reminded the audience of the origins of the ARC and Philip’s sacrifice was reminiscent of Stephen’s in an earlier series whilst providing the villain with a sense of redemption.

The ending gave a sense that the team could continue with their work by not giving a satisfying answer to the anomaly conundrum and frustratingly the appearance of another Matt provided the series end with a cliff-hanger which could provide a foundation for another series with the same team, one which we now know unfortunately won’t happen. However, after this sensational finale it seems that the spinoff Primeval: New World may well be worth tuning in for.

Will you be giving the new Primeval: New World a chance? Let me know in the comments box below.

Aired 21/07/2012

Primeval 5.04

'I hate insects, worse than spiders, worse than dinosaurs'

It was predictable that something was going to wrong with the Connor’s new found ability to spontaneously generate anomalies, and our predictions were quickly fulfilled.

This week, Primeval changed tact, moving from ferocious beasts to skin crawling insects. The sounds this episode’s creatures, being prehistoric beetles, made you squirm as did the CGI effects of millions of the beetles which were as good as always. Of course since insects seem relatively harmless it just so happened that one of the team was allergic to insect bites.

However, Jess’ (Ruth Kearney) new found insect bite allergy allowed the budding romance between her and Becker (Ben Mansfield), which seemed to have been forgotten about since last series, to develop. His protectiveness over the computer genius quickly revealed his true feelings and his choice to leave quickly after providing her with an adrenalin shot showed a more emotional, human and vulnerable side to the macho hero we’re used to.

Despite Connor’s (Andrew Lee Potts) irritating faith in Philip, this week Connor stepped up, realising his mistakes and becoming a bit of a hero. In the process he began to mend his relationship with Abi – something i’m sure we’ve all been waiting for. It was Abi’s (Hannah Spearitt) partnership with Matt which stood out this week though with the pairing becoming quite a force. Despite a few slip ups towards the beginning with her accent, Spearitt showed her growth as an actress with her delivery of the line ‘we had to, you wouldn’t listen to me’ and her harsh glare afterwards.

This episode was one in which many characters surprised and grew, providing Primeval with a stronger footing than simply a programme about dinosaurs.

Aired 7/07/12 ITV

Revenge 1.06

‘I was just thinking how it’s one of the loneliest places on Earth’

The programme which has replaced One Tree Hill as our Monday night viewing has been an enthralling watch so far and tonight was no different.

This week’s episode began where last week’s left off –Daniel (Joshua Bowman) in Emily’s (Emily VanCamp) bed and the fallout of Frank’s attack on Lydia yet to be played out. Emily’s plans for revenge seemed to be spiralling out of control, emphasised by Nolan’s (Gabriel Mann) panicking over the previous night’s events. Yet Emily smoothly managed to bring the situation back under control and manipulate it to her benefit, something that she always seems to manage to do. A skill which Jack (Nick Wechsler) needs to grasp. Whilst we all are aching for the Jack to discover Emily’s real persona, Jack’s constant moping and aggressiveness towards Daniel, as well as Nolan’s constant persuasion is becoming a little played out, although Jack’s offer to fix the swing-seat was a perfect reminder of their shared history.

The revengeful looks, or ‘the croc’, as the cast likes to call them were once again in full flow and perfectly executed by VanCamp and the sniping argument between Tyler (Ashton Holmes) illustrated Emily’s real character and the reason she became a neighbour to the Graysons.

Tyler, once again, was putting a spanner in the works of Emily’s plan of revenge by inviting himself on a double date with the couple. Despite the fact his constant interference is incredibly frustrating, it makes the way Emily has to deal with it and the repercussions it throws out all the more riveting.

This episode was also the one that truly made the senior Grayson’s relationship more absorbing. The breakdown of their marriage and the toll the revelations of Conrad’s affair are taking became more evident. Madeleine Stowe flawlessly portrayed the cold wife and her fading fake smile in the balcony scene demonstrated the growing differences between her public and personal appearances. The contrasts between the formerly strong Grayson couple and the new, developing couple underlined Victoria’s loneliness, again shown by the balcony scene in the isolation of Grayson manner.

The ending of the episode, although not as explosive (despite the atmospheric 4^th of July fireworks) as many of the others, as always, ensured the audience would return for episode seven to watch Emily’s deception apparently be discovered by the Grayson’s wayward security guard.

Aired 2/07/12 E4

Once Upon A Time 1.14

‘You’ve got your reasons for being here, i’ve got mine’

From the start, this episode of Once Upon A Time appeared to be the episode in which the concept went too far –the sickly sweet fairies and Dwarves hatching from eggs? Really? Yet despite such flaws the audience’s enchantment with Once Upon A Time continues.

This week’s episode focused on ‘Dreamy’, the dwarf (Lee Arenberg), seemingly a subsidiary character, meaning that from the outset this episode seemed to be just a filler for continuing the series. Arenberg did a brilliant job of portraying the character in both worlds and the storyline allowed him to show a wide range of emotions – we disliked him as the ungrateful labourer to start with, before sympathising with him as the Blue Fairy was scuppering his plans for an adventurous journey with Astrid. Having the dwarf and Snow White work together was a master stroke, providing an interesting storyline whilst showing the problems each character was facing individually and giving the link between Snow White and her dwarfs which has seemingly been lacking.

The sickly sweet nature of both Astrid and Nova (Amy Acker) was one area where this episode faulted. Although the character was played fittingly by the actress, the over the top sweet nature of the fairy gradually became more and more irritating, especially in the fairytale world. The fairies’ costumes divulged from the stereotypical fairy apparel by being more frilly, bright and revealing but worked well in the warped worlds the programme is set in.

However, the producers also worked their magic by making the dwarf’s story a footing for the exploration and development of the storyline between Snow White and Prince Charming - the plot we are all eager to see. Kathryn’s (Anastasia Griffith) disappearance was the thread that ensured this episode did not just an also-ran episode. The confusion of David (Josh Dallas) and Mary Margaret (Ginnifer Goodwin) over the mystery as well as Emma’s (Jennifer Morrison) investigation was gripping  and the closing scenes made sure that the audience would be tuning in once again next week.

Aired 1/07/12 Channel 5

Primeval 5.03

'This is not what you think'

After last week’s very different episode of Primeval - being unusually stationed in one location rather than having the characters running around - we were expecting a lot from this week’s episode. Once again Primeval didn’t disappoint.

The opening scenes set up a much darker version of the show, with the dark skyline and eerie Victorian streets providing an intriguing backdrop for the episode. Unusually this episode revolved around the Victorian era – a time surprisingly human for such a show. The tension was further increased by the return of an unsettling face in Emily (Ruth Bradley) who was accompanied by her husband and his Alistair McGowan look-a-like of a sidekick. Bradley’s portrayal of a feminist living in an era before her time was very convincing, clearly illustrating her anguish between being a faithful wife and a monster hunter. However, the Victorian era aspect of the show could have been further exploited to greater effect, with the potential for more of a murder mystery quality.

The tension from through the anomaly was let down by the dealings in the ARC this week. The lack of Connor’s (Andrew Lee Potts) usual comedic role was evident, leaving the character in a position where he simply became grating, with his delusions about Philip and his team overly mentioned. Equally, if not more irksome was April (Janice Byrne), his assistant. Her annoying over protectiveness, wariness and cold stares were only added to by her irritating voice. The darker tone of the episode was still continued though, as the underhand dealings and whisperings that took place between many of the characters emphasised. Despite the yearning to return to the Victorian era, the recurrent, yet often seemingly unnecessary ARC scenes provided a decent pay off with the final revelation of the programme.

The departure from the norm was very welcome this week and continued the run of gripping and surprising episodes which have provided a strong first half of the series. Despite such a move for the programme, the continuing story arc was still rapidly moved forwards this episode providing anticipation for next week and the rest of the series.

Aired 30/06/12 ITV1