Primeval is a British science fiction television series created by Adrian Hodges and Tim Haines and produced for ITV by Impossible Pictures which follows a team of five scientists tasked with investigating the appearance of temporal anomalies across Great Britain and containing prehistoric and futuristic creatures which enter the present.
The series originally aired in the UK on ITV from 10 February, 2007 to 6 June, 2009. It was officially cancelled by ITV in June 2009 but a deal was struck between ITV, Watch, Impossible Pictures, German broadcaster Pro7 and BBC Worldwide to produce two new seasons of the show for transmission in 2011.
Primeval premiered in South Africa on DStv's BBC Entertainment channel on Tuesday 14 October 2008, at 20h30. See "Seasons" below for seasonal broadcast dates and times.
Season 4 premiered on BBC Entertainment on Saturday 7 January 2012, at 19h00. Thereafter new episodes broadcast weekly at 19h30. There are seven episodes in the fourth season.
Season 1
When evolutionary zoologist Nick Cutter (Douglas Henshall) discovers prehistoric creatures alive and well in the present-day, the natural world is turned on its head, and humanity faces a threat to its very existence.
Unexplained anomalies are ripping holes in the fabric of time, allowing creatures from the very earliest stages of Earth's development to roam the modern world.
Whether it's a prehistoric predator Gorgonopsid rampaging through a quiet suburban neighborhood or a swarm of super-sized spiders in the subway, Cutter and his team find themselves up against some seriously beastly opponents.
These puzzling creatures all have the same simple fact in common - they don't belong here.
While Cutter and his team struggle to keep the looming disaster under wraps, Cutter also has to deal the fact that his wife, Helen, a fellow scientist who disappeared eight years ago, is not dead as he believed.
In fact, she's been traveling through time.
However, now she's back and she holds the key to the riddle of the anomalies. But is it something she's willing to share? If not, what does she really want? Why did she come back?
Cutter, his research assistant Stephen Hart, zoologist Abby Maitland and student paleontologist Connor Temple race to understand what's happening, while government bureaucrats James Lester and Claudia Brown insist they have to keep the danger secret from the public.
As the past threatens to invade the present and destroy the future, Cutter's crew faces a life-and-death race against time.
Season 2
Primeval's evolutionary zoologist Nick Cutter (Douglas Henshall) and his team return for a second season to do battle with more savage dinosaurs and other deadly foes, as unexplained anomalies continue to rip through the fabric of time, causing havoc in the present day.
In the second season: Claudia reappears, looking exactly the same, but with no memory of the past, or Nick. It seems he altered the present when he went back in time, but how?
Also, bizarre creatures from the future materialise. Connor (Andrew Lee Potts) still has a penchant for Abby (Hannah Spearritt), but will they ever get it together?
Meanwhile Helen (Juliet Aubrey) is acting suspiciously, and Stephen (James Murray) doesn't know whom to trust.
One thing everyone's certain of is that there is definitely a traitor in their midst.
Season 3
Primeval roars back onto the screens for a third season and the action continues to evolve with more new faces joining the team.
Still reeling from Stephen's death, and with the depth of Helen's betrayal now revealed, Nick Cutter must fight to re-focus his embattled team in order to continue the work they started.
But as the anomalies continue to present an unrelenting series of threats, the task at hand seems almost insurmountable.
With events getting even wilder, creatures steeped in ancient folklore begin to appear, and it becomes clear that the origins of myths and legends are linked with the mysterious anomalies.
From a Pristichampus, a creature which bears a striking resemblance to the ancient Egyptian crocodile demon Ammut, to a Dracorex being hunted by a deranged Knight who is convinced it's a dragon he must slay, it seems there's no limit to the dangers spilling through the anomalies.
But it's not just the creatures the team has to contend with...
The cloak of secrecy behind which they have been working is beginning to slip - as deadlier creatures continue to rampage through the anomalies, questions are being asked as the conspiracy spreads its net ever wider.
Season 4
Multi-award winning monster hit Primeval returns, and one year on from the traumatic events of the previous season, the team faces fresh questions, a new boss, new recruits, a new ARC base and even more terrifying creatures.
Following the death of Johnson and the disappearance of three key ARC personnel - Danny, Connor and Abby – the government has lost faith in Lester's abilities to manage the operation on his own.
The ARC is now in the hands of a public/private partnership; part-owned by the government, and partly by entrepreneurial scientist Philip Burton. But who's really in charge?
A new team has been recruited to replace the missing trio; team leader Matt is more than an ex-soldier – he's an ethologist, with an uncanny ability to understand animals, but there's mystery surrounding his background.
Jess now facilitates the team's operations from the ARC Control Centre and, having resigned from the military, Becker now works as a private soldier for Philip's organisation.
Meanwhile, in the year they spent stranded in the Cretaceous, Connor and Abby have become closer in every sense and are now very much in love.
Danny, however, remains missing in action, and when he does eventually return, the information he has about Helen Cutter is to have a profound effect on the team.
With all the action, thrills and dazzling special effects audiences have come to expect from this blockbuster franchise, this season of Primeval is the most thrilling yet.
Primeval was created by Adrian Hodges (screenwriter of the film Tom & Viv) and Tim Haines (writer/director of Walking with Dinosaurs).
Seasons
The series is exclusive to BBC Entertainment
Season 1 (6 episodes)
Premiere: 14 October 2008 | Finale: 18 November 2008 | Tuesdays, 20h30
Season 2 (7 episodes)
Premiere: 26 July 2009 | Finale: 6 September 2009 | Sundays, 18h40
Season 3 (10 episodes)
Premiere: 15 November 2010 | Finale: 17 January 2011 | Mondays, 21h20
Season 4 (7 episodes)
Premiere: 7 January 2012 | Finale: 18 February 2012 | Saturdays, 19h30