Episode 6 (Primeval)
Encyclopedia
Episode Six of the ITV
sci-fi drama Primeval
was broadcast in the UK on 17 March 2007. The storyline involves the opening of a new anomaly, when the team find themselves in an intense battle with a highly evolved predator, not from the past, but the future.
) is practicing putting
in his office using a thin animal femur
a little over 3 feet long as a club. Claudia Brown (Lucy Brown
) visits him, wanting to talk about Helen Cutter (Juliet Aubrey
) and why she might have saved her (in episode 5). She also remembers that Nick kissed her (although she does not appear to be angry about it), causing Nick to miss his shot. Elsewhere Abby Maitland (Hannah Spearritt
) helps Connor Temple (Andrew-Lee Potts
) practise chat-up lines for prospective nights out, although he is clearly more interested in her.
Another anomaly has appeared in the Forest of Dean
in the same place as the Episode One anomaly, bringing with it a terrible predator that possesses human-like intelligence and amazing agility, and tracks its prey using sonar
-like abilities, much like a bat. It breaks through the perimeter surrounding the Forest of Dean, and makes its way to Wellington Zoo. Here, it breaks into the lion
den and kills a lion. It leaves no trace of itself or the lion, except a smear of blood on a leaf.
Abby has been called to the zoo because of the lions's disappearance, bringing Connor along. Connor takes a sample of this blood and has it tested, which shows it to be partly lion blood, and partly bat
blood but with some weird differences in the DNA
. The creature goes on to kill three people, including Abby's boss.
Meanwhile, Helen returns, taking Stephen Hart (James Murray
) aside in the university grounds. She reveals that there has been another creature incursion, but refuses to say more until she meets Nick and Lester. However, she does indicate she was pleased to see Stephen again, and kisses him on the lips as she departs. Lester agrees to the meeting (reluctantly). He, Claudia, Nick and Stephen meet her, and she tells Nick and the others that it is a highly developed predator from the future, that came through an anomaly into the Permian
period and then through another anomaly into our period. Helen insists she has no idea how the creature found its way through, and that she just came back to help, having learned it was on the rampage, and decides to stay at her old house - Nick's house.
At the house, Nick quizzes Helen as to her real motives. She reveals that the creature didn't come through on its own - she was observing it and it sensed her presence: in her haste to escape, she fled through the anomaly, and the creature followed her through to the present day. When Nick accuses her of causing the situation, Helen defends herself by saying she does still care enough to want to help stop it...and that she does still care about Nick.
Stephen and Connor puzzle on the creature in Nick's office. Connor mentions the disappearance of Abby's boss and the lion. Stephen realises that the Predator must be hunting in that area and leaves to find Abby, telling Connor to bring backup. Abby is safe at the zoo, but at that moment the creature appears. It is unable to detect them due to the seals in the tank next to them, and flees when Ryan's men arrive.
Realising the danger, Nick and Ryan's men hunt the creature in a search-and-destroy mission, using dogs to track it. The creature attacks them again, killing a soldier, then escapes into the trees. Connor notices that the dogs picked it up before they did, and concludes that it hunts by sound. The team concludes it is hunting by echolocation
, and when Stephen and Connor mention the bat blood, they conclude it is a futuristic species of bat. Helen agrees to this, saying that 75% of all mammal species are bats or rats, and that possibly they are the species that becomes dominant.
Nick sends Connor to the pickup for a laptop oscilloscope
that picks up and displays the sound waves caused by the creature. While Connor is in the pickup, the creature jumps on the pickup and tries to break into it, but Abby distracts the creature. As it prepares to attack her, Stephen shoots and wounds the creature; it escapes into the forest. Despite being unnerved, Connor refuses to give up, reasoning Han Solo
would never give up: Nick agrees, although noting he always saw Connor as R2-D2
himself. Connor thanks Abby for saving him.
Using the oscilloscope, they find the den in an abandoned storage hut, and enter it. Inside they find that the creature has given birth to at least 5 young. Then the oscilloscope starts to react loudly, and the creature attacks, killing a soldier
. Nick, thinking quickly, grabs an infant and runs into a nearby greenhouse
. The creature follows and Nick shoots the glass above it, causing a shower of broken glass which reflects the creature's sound waves back at it, confusing its sonar sense. Taking advantage of the distraction, he shoots it in the head, killing it.
Realising the creatures are too dangerous to stay in the present, Helen and Nick suggest using the infants to guide them to the anomaly leading from the Permian to the future: once they have found the anomaly into the future and make sure it closes, they will kill the infants, as they are too dangerous to be allowed to live, as well as stationing a permanent guard at the site of the future anomaly in case it reopens. Just before they enter the anomaly, Claudia kisses Cutter right in front of Helen, much to her surprise and to the disapproval of Lester. After Cutter and Helen have departed with the infants, Connor learns that an autopsy has shown that the creature was male: thus there is likely a female creature still at large. Almost immediately after, the female leaps through the anomaly, although the team in the present don't realise due to its speed.
The landscape is conifer forest on hilly lava. A herd of Scutosaurus
are on a hill opposite beyond a valley. Nick takes a picture
of Helen as a souvenir. He then realizes that they were creating their own past and that that picture is the picture that they found in Episode One. Then he remembers the skeleton they found, and works out what is going to happen. Nick then realises Helen has been using him - she didn't care about him, she just wanted to find the future anomaly.
The female creature catches up with them and attacks them. It attacks and kills all of Ryan's soldiers. Captain Ryan runs after the creature and shoots it twice but fails to deliver a fatal kill-shot to the creature. With his position now exposed, the predator attacks and mortally wounds Ryan. The predator turns towards the others but before it can attack Nick, a gorgonopsid
appears, charging and briefly stunning the adult creature. Nick attends to Ryan, as the adult creature recovers - to see its young being eaten by the gorgonopsid. The two predators battle; the gorgonopsid loses an eye and suffers wounds in the process. Despite this, the gorgonopsid emerges victorious as it rears and falls over backwards, crushing the creature beneath its weight. The gorgonopsid roars in victory and then retreats with the creature's body.
Nick aids Captain Tom Ryan (Mark Wakeling), who had also worked out that the skeleton in Episode One was his own, before dying. Helen confirms that none of the creature's young have survived, and she and Nick bury the dead men in the Permian
and return through the anomaly, despite Helen's pleas that they could stay in the past and find the future anomaly. Unseen by the group, two of the baby future predators are left climbing a tree as the group retreats to the present.
Helen and Nick sadly tell the others that Captain Ryan didn't make it and that all his soldiers died as well. Nick then says that no-one else is to go through the anomaly. Helen immediately reveals she is not staying. Trying to avoid going back alone, Helen reveals that before she disappeared she had an affair
with Stephen, much to Nick's fury. However, Stephen refuses to go with her. Helen then walks back through the anomaly.
Nick asks where Claudia is, and to his shock finds that no-one there knows of any Claudia Brown. He realizes that the last time-jump has changed the past and thus changed the evolution of the earth causing some modern end-results. As he tries to take this in, the anomaly begins to fluctuate behind him...
- Nick Cutter
James Murray
- Stephen Hart
Andrew-Lee Potts
- Connor Temple
Lucy Brown
- Claudia Brown
Hannah Spearritt
- Abby Maitland
Mark Wakeling
- Tom Ryan
Juliet Aubrey
- Helen Cutter
Ben Miller
- James Lester
gave this episode 4 stars in their review. This episode was also reviewed by TV critic Charlie Brooker
in the final episode of his BBC Four
show Screenwipe, and gave it a rave review saying that it was "far better than Torchwood for instance." "Unashamedly Saturday night populist viewing for the masses" with "some of the best special effects I've ever seen in a British TV Show". Some fans complained that there were too many Star Wars
references in this episode and the creators have claimed that they were fine with that.
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
sci-fi drama Primeval
Primeval
Primeval or primæval may refer to:* Primeval, a British science fiction television series.* Primeval , a 2007 film* Primeval , a score of music from the BBC TV series Doctor Who...
was broadcast in the UK on 17 March 2007. The storyline involves the opening of a new anomaly, when the team find themselves in an intense battle with a highly evolved predator, not from the past, but the future.
Plot
Nick Cutter (Douglas HenshallDouglas Henshall
Douglas James Henshall is a Scottish actor probably best known for his role as Professor Nick Cutter in the British science fiction series Primeval.-Early life:...
) is practicing putting
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
in his office using a thin animal femur
Femur
The femur , or thigh bone, is the most proximal bone of the leg in tetrapod vertebrates capable of walking or jumping, such as most land mammals, birds, many reptiles such as lizards, and amphibians such as frogs. In vertebrates with four legs such as dogs and horses, the femur is found only in...
a little over 3 feet long as a club. Claudia Brown (Lucy Brown
Lucy Brown
Lucy Brown is an English actress best known for dual roles in the TV series Primeval.-Early life:Lucy Brown was born in Crawley, Sussex, but grew up in Cambridgeshire. She is the daughter of Christopher Brown and Helen Burleigh and has a younger brother named Mark...
) visits him, wanting to talk about Helen Cutter (Juliet Aubrey
Juliet Aubrey
Juliet Aubrey is a British actress, best known for her role as Helen Cutter on Primeval .-Career:Aubrey attended to King's College London, where she studied Classics and Archaeology...
) and why she might have saved her (in episode 5). She also remembers that Nick kissed her (although she does not appear to be angry about it), causing Nick to miss his shot. Elsewhere Abby Maitland (Hannah Spearritt
Hannah Spearritt
Hannah Louise Spearritt is an English actress and singer. She was previously a member of the pop group S Club 7. She is also known for playing the role of Abby Maitland in the British drama Primeval....
) helps Connor Temple (Andrew-Lee Potts
Andrew-Lee Potts
Andrew-Lee Potts is an English actor.He attended Intake High School Arts College and began his career in Musical Theatre. Potts is best known for his role as quirky student Connor Temple on ITV's science fiction programme Primeval, starring with his real-life fiancée, Hannah Spearritt...
) practise chat-up lines for prospective nights out, although he is clearly more interested in her.
Another anomaly has appeared in the Forest of Dean
Forest of Dean
The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the county of Gloucestershire, England. The forest is a roughly triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and north, the River Severn to the south, and the City of Gloucester to the east.The...
in the same place as the Episode One anomaly, bringing with it a terrible predator that possesses human-like intelligence and amazing agility, and tracks its prey using sonar
Sonar
Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels...
-like abilities, much like a bat. It breaks through the perimeter surrounding the Forest of Dean, and makes its way to Wellington Zoo. Here, it breaks into the lion
Lion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
den and kills a lion. It leaves no trace of itself or the lion, except a smear of blood on a leaf.
Abby has been called to the zoo because of the lions's disappearance, bringing Connor along. Connor takes a sample of this blood and has it tested, which shows it to be partly lion blood, and partly bat
Bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
blood but with some weird differences in the DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
. The creature goes on to kill three people, including Abby's boss.
Meanwhile, Helen returns, taking Stephen Hart (James Murray
James Murray (English actor)
James Murray is an English actor.-Early life :Murray was born in Greater Manchester; his great-grandfather, Richard Hollins Murray, invented the reflecting lens in 1927.-Career:...
) aside in the university grounds. She reveals that there has been another creature incursion, but refuses to say more until she meets Nick and Lester. However, she does indicate she was pleased to see Stephen again, and kisses him on the lips as she departs. Lester agrees to the meeting (reluctantly). He, Claudia, Nick and Stephen meet her, and she tells Nick and the others that it is a highly developed predator from the future, that came through an anomaly into the Permian
Permian
The PermianThe term "Permian" was introduced into geology in 1841 by Sir Sir R. I. Murchison, president of the Geological Society of London, who identified typical strata in extensive Russian explorations undertaken with Edouard de Verneuil; Murchison asserted in 1841 that he named his "Permian...
period and then through another anomaly into our period. Helen insists she has no idea how the creature found its way through, and that she just came back to help, having learned it was on the rampage, and decides to stay at her old house - Nick's house.
At the house, Nick quizzes Helen as to her real motives. She reveals that the creature didn't come through on its own - she was observing it and it sensed her presence: in her haste to escape, she fled through the anomaly, and the creature followed her through to the present day. When Nick accuses her of causing the situation, Helen defends herself by saying she does still care enough to want to help stop it...and that she does still care about Nick.
Stephen and Connor puzzle on the creature in Nick's office. Connor mentions the disappearance of Abby's boss and the lion. Stephen realises that the Predator must be hunting in that area and leaves to find Abby, telling Connor to bring backup. Abby is safe at the zoo, but at that moment the creature appears. It is unable to detect them due to the seals in the tank next to them, and flees when Ryan's men arrive.
Realising the danger, Nick and Ryan's men hunt the creature in a search-and-destroy mission, using dogs to track it. The creature attacks them again, killing a soldier, then escapes into the trees. Connor notices that the dogs picked it up before they did, and concludes that it hunts by sound. The team concludes it is hunting by echolocation
Animal echolocation
Echolocation, also called biosonar, is the biological sonar used by several kinds of animals.Echolocating animals emit calls out to the environment and listen to the echoes of those calls that return from various objects near them. They use these echoes to locate and identify the objects...
, and when Stephen and Connor mention the bat blood, they conclude it is a futuristic species of bat. Helen agrees to this, saying that 75% of all mammal species are bats or rats, and that possibly they are the species that becomes dominant.
Nick sends Connor to the pickup for a laptop oscilloscope
Oscilloscope
An oscilloscope is a type of electronic test instrument that allows observation of constantly varying signal voltages, usually as a two-dimensional graph of one or more electrical potential differences using the vertical or 'Y' axis, plotted as a function of time,...
that picks up and displays the sound waves caused by the creature. While Connor is in the pickup, the creature jumps on the pickup and tries to break into it, but Abby distracts the creature. As it prepares to attack her, Stephen shoots and wounds the creature; it escapes into the forest. Despite being unnerved, Connor refuses to give up, reasoning Han Solo
Han Solo
Han Solo is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise played by Harrison Ford. Introduced in the film Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope , Solo and his Wookiee co-pilot, Chewbacca , become involved in the Rebel Alliance against the Galactic Empire...
would never give up: Nick agrees, although noting he always saw Connor as R2-D2
R2-D2
R2-D2 , is a character in the Star Wars universe. An astromech droid, R2-D2 is a major character throughout all six Star Wars films. Along with his droid companion C-3PO, he joins or supports Anakin Skywalker, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Obi-Wan Kenobi in various points in the saga...
himself. Connor thanks Abby for saving him.
Using the oscilloscope, they find the den in an abandoned storage hut, and enter it. Inside they find that the creature has given birth to at least 5 young. Then the oscilloscope starts to react loudly, and the creature attacks, killing a soldier
Soldier
A soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...
. Nick, thinking quickly, grabs an infant and runs into a nearby greenhouse
Greenhouse
A greenhouse is a building in which plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings...
. The creature follows and Nick shoots the glass above it, causing a shower of broken glass which reflects the creature's sound waves back at it, confusing its sonar sense. Taking advantage of the distraction, he shoots it in the head, killing it.
Realising the creatures are too dangerous to stay in the present, Helen and Nick suggest using the infants to guide them to the anomaly leading from the Permian to the future: once they have found the anomaly into the future and make sure it closes, they will kill the infants, as they are too dangerous to be allowed to live, as well as stationing a permanent guard at the site of the future anomaly in case it reopens. Just before they enter the anomaly, Claudia kisses Cutter right in front of Helen, much to her surprise and to the disapproval of Lester. After Cutter and Helen have departed with the infants, Connor learns that an autopsy has shown that the creature was male: thus there is likely a female creature still at large. Almost immediately after, the female leaps through the anomaly, although the team in the present don't realise due to its speed.
The landscape is conifer forest on hilly lava. A herd of Scutosaurus
Scutosaurus
Scutosaurus was a genus of armor-covered pareiasaur that lived around 252-248 million years ago in Russia, in the later Permian period. Its genus name refers to large plates of armor scattered across its body...
are on a hill opposite beyond a valley. Nick takes a picture
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
of Helen as a souvenir. He then realizes that they were creating their own past and that that picture is the picture that they found in Episode One. Then he remembers the skeleton they found, and works out what is going to happen. Nick then realises Helen has been using him - she didn't care about him, she just wanted to find the future anomaly.
The female creature catches up with them and attacks them. It attacks and kills all of Ryan's soldiers. Captain Ryan runs after the creature and shoots it twice but fails to deliver a fatal kill-shot to the creature. With his position now exposed, the predator attacks and mortally wounds Ryan. The predator turns towards the others but before it can attack Nick, a gorgonopsid
Gorgonopsia
Gorgonopsia is a suborder of therapsid synapsids. Their name is a reference to the Gorgons of Greek mythology. Like other therapsids, gorgonopsians were at one time called "mammal-like reptiles"...
appears, charging and briefly stunning the adult creature. Nick attends to Ryan, as the adult creature recovers - to see its young being eaten by the gorgonopsid. The two predators battle; the gorgonopsid loses an eye and suffers wounds in the process. Despite this, the gorgonopsid emerges victorious as it rears and falls over backwards, crushing the creature beneath its weight. The gorgonopsid roars in victory and then retreats with the creature's body.
Nick aids Captain Tom Ryan (Mark Wakeling), who had also worked out that the skeleton in Episode One was his own, before dying. Helen confirms that none of the creature's young have survived, and she and Nick bury the dead men in the Permian
Permian
The PermianThe term "Permian" was introduced into geology in 1841 by Sir Sir R. I. Murchison, president of the Geological Society of London, who identified typical strata in extensive Russian explorations undertaken with Edouard de Verneuil; Murchison asserted in 1841 that he named his "Permian...
and return through the anomaly, despite Helen's pleas that they could stay in the past and find the future anomaly. Unseen by the group, two of the baby future predators are left climbing a tree as the group retreats to the present.
Helen and Nick sadly tell the others that Captain Ryan didn't make it and that all his soldiers died as well. Nick then says that no-one else is to go through the anomaly. Helen immediately reveals she is not staying. Trying to avoid going back alone, Helen reveals that before she disappeared she had an affair
Affair
Affair may refer to professional, personal, or public business matters or to a particular business or private activity of a temporary duration, as in family affair, a private affair, or a romantic affair.-Political affair:...
with Stephen, much to Nick's fury. However, Stephen refuses to go with her. Helen then walks back through the anomaly.
Nick asks where Claudia is, and to his shock finds that no-one there knows of any Claudia Brown. He realizes that the last time-jump has changed the past and thus changed the evolution of the earth causing some modern end-results. As he tries to take this in, the anomaly begins to fluctuate behind him...
Cast
Douglas HenshallDouglas Henshall
Douglas James Henshall is a Scottish actor probably best known for his role as Professor Nick Cutter in the British science fiction series Primeval.-Early life:...
- Nick Cutter
James Murray
James Murray
-Politicians:* Lord James Murray , MP for Perthshire* James Murray, 2nd Duke of Atholl , Whig MP and lord of the Isle of Man from 1736–1764* Hon. James Murray -Politicians:* Lord James Murray (1663–1719), MP for Perthshire* James Murray, 2nd Duke of Atholl (1690–1764), Whig MP and lord of the Isle...
- Stephen Hart
Stephen Hart
Stephen Hart may refer to:* Stephen Hart , Australian Anglican bishop* Stephen Hart , Canadian soccer coach* Stephen R...
Andrew-Lee Potts
Andrew-Lee Potts
Andrew-Lee Potts is an English actor.He attended Intake High School Arts College and began his career in Musical Theatre. Potts is best known for his role as quirky student Connor Temple on ITV's science fiction programme Primeval, starring with his real-life fiancée, Hannah Spearritt...
- Connor Temple
Lucy Brown
Lucy Brown
Lucy Brown is an English actress best known for dual roles in the TV series Primeval.-Early life:Lucy Brown was born in Crawley, Sussex, but grew up in Cambridgeshire. She is the daughter of Christopher Brown and Helen Burleigh and has a younger brother named Mark...
- Claudia Brown
Hannah Spearritt
Hannah Spearritt
Hannah Louise Spearritt is an English actress and singer. She was previously a member of the pop group S Club 7. She is also known for playing the role of Abby Maitland in the British drama Primeval....
- Abby Maitland
Mark Wakeling
Mark Wakeling
Mark Wakeling is a British actor and founder of The Actors Temple in London.-Biography:After serving as an officer in the Coldstream Guards Wakeling trained as an actor and became a professional actor in 1998. He founded The Actors' Temple in 2003 and has since trained under Tom Radcliffe...
- Tom Ryan
Tom Ryan
Thomas M. Ryan is the current President and Chief Executive Officer of CVS/Caremark Corporation. Ryan began working for CVS in 1978 and holds a degree in Pharmacy from the University of Rhode Island...
Juliet Aubrey
Juliet Aubrey
Juliet Aubrey is a British actress, best known for her role as Helen Cutter on Primeval .-Career:Aubrey attended to King's College London, where she studied Classics and Archaeology...
- Helen Cutter
Ben Miller
Ben Miller
Bennet Evan "Ben" Miller is an English comedian, actor and director. He is perhaps best known as one half of comedy double act Armstrong and Miller, along with Alexander Armstrong. Together the pair wrote and starred in Channel 4 sketch show Armstrong and Miller, and the more recent BBC television...
- James Lester
Production
The battle between the gorgonopsid and the Predator (which was designed by Digital Textures Lead Daren Horley) was completely "created in a digital environment, we were able to go down to the cutting room and decide where we were going to put the cameras and essentially direct it ourselves as if we were on location. It was great to be able to offer that flexibility to the director. The result is some of the best television work we've ever done." The directors stated "We thought it would be fun to have it so just as he (Nick) started to like her (Claudia) she would disappear into thin air."Reception
This episode gained a final viewing figures of 6.52 million. TV TimesTV Times
TVTimes is a television listings magazine published in the United Kingdom by IPC Media, a subsidiary of Time Warner. It is known for its access to television actors and their programmes. In 2006 it was refreshed for a more modern look, increasing its emphasis on big star interviews and soaps...
gave this episode 4 stars in their review. This episode was also reviewed by TV critic Charlie Brooker
Charlie Brooker
Charlton "Charlie" Brooker is a British journalist, comic writer and broadcaster. His style of humour is savage and profane, with surreal elements and a consistent satirical pessimism...
in the final episode of his BBC Four
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
show Screenwipe, and gave it a rave review saying that it was "far better than Torchwood for instance." "Unashamedly Saturday night populist viewing for the masses" with "some of the best special effects I've ever seen in a British TV Show". Some fans complained that there were too many Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
references in this episode and the creators have claimed that they were fine with that.