“…it’s wonderful to play someone who is downright bad! I mean she’s really bad, and she’s going to get worse.”
For the first part of series one Helen Cutter was one of Primeval’s greatest mysteries. Nick’s eight year search for his missing wife had offered no answers to her disappearance; yet the moment he is confronted with the anomalies, the spectre of Helen returns to haunt him.
He became increasingly sure that the extraordinary events in his life were linked in some way; sure that his wife was alive and calling to him from the past. When she reappeared her intentions were always unclear. Whose side was she on?
At the close of the series, the answer was quite simple - she was on Team Helen and tried to recruit her husband’s best friend Stephen. In short, Helen Cutter is bad news, for everyone except for the actress who plays her. In fact, Juliet Aubrey is gleeful about her villain status.
“I LOVE playing Helen! It’s just been so good to get back to her as she’s such a great release. It’s such fun getting to play someone who really genuinely doesn’t care about anyone other than herself. I was known for so long as someone who was playing rather more saintly characters so it’s wonderful to play someone who is downright bad! I mean she’s really bad, and she’s going to get worse.”
Explaining where we left her character at the end of series one, Juliet says:
“We left her rather enjoying the fact that Cutter was grappling with two startling emotional bombshells; the realisation that Claudia has never been born, and that his loving wife has been conducting an affair with his best friend. He wasn’t having a good time of it all, but she was quite clearly revelling in his devastation and popped back through the anomaly positively rubbing her hands in delight!”
It’s fair to say that the revelation of Helen’s affair with Stephen is not the end of the matter, and Helen soon returns to pursue her old flame. But to what end? Is she in love with him?
“They messed around when she was a lecturer and he was a student, and they still obviously have a desire for each other, but she’s out of that game really. Stephen is a means for her to get to Cutter; and to get a hot shower! But mainly to get to Nick” she laughs “He enables her to get access to Nick as he provides her with a cover. She isn’t able to just turn up at Nick’s as he’d most likely have her arrested, but by being with Stephen she can learn what’s going on and manipulate the situations through him to her advantage. All she wants is to get to Cutter. Together, in her eyes, they could really change things – they could change the present and the future. She doesn’t believe she is evil as she is removed from everyday life as we know it.”
Despite all evidence to the contrary, does Juliet think Helen still loves her husband?
“I think she loves him; but she is quite callous and ultimately it’s all about her. If she thinks even for one moment that he is going to get in the way of her plans, then she will drop him like a hot potato. Helen feels herself above all of that. She likes to think that love and romance are petty distractions and are for the weak minded.
However, I like to think she loves him, deep down somewhere, even though she might deny it to herself. They are great together; she’s a top scientist in her field and so is he. Though they have different approaches she believes that together, they could really make things happen. Without wishing to sound trite they have great chemistry!”
As we move into the second series a new look Claudia arrives on the scene in the form of the shapely Jenny Lewis, who in every physical way resembles the object of Nick Cutter’s affection. How does Helen react to this rather interesting development?
“She’s intrigued by it, and by the possibility of what that means. For Nick, the Claudia situation is horrendous and he wants to fix it, to put it right somehow. But for Helen it represents something entirely different. For her the fact that we changed things so that people’s identities were no longer the same opens up a whole world of new possibilities to her.
While the first change was an accident, Helen realises she can affect the future, can change it in someway. She is far more into the idea of experimenting, whereas Cutter wants very much to leave things as he feels nature intended. Nick is horrified by the realisation of what he may have done but Helen feels as though he is being incredibly short sighted.
She accuses him of being narrow minded and stuck in the world of the present. Helen is very interested in the future and in working out what is going to happen; she views humanity as insignificant, really. She thinks big and knows things that no-one else knows. She has got hidden information and ultimate power! Not to be messed with. Or so she thinks!”
Does Helen feel threatened by Jenny? After all, Claudia and Nick were becoming very close.
“Oh, I don’t think she really cares. She sees Jenny as an interesting by-product of an unplanned experiment. Helen is utterly untouched by all that, to her Jenny is not a threat; simply a happy accident. She certainly doesn’t believe that they will be together or that there is or was anything very significant between them.
Given the physical nature of the character and the environments she lives in, did Juliet have many stunts?
“Not huge stunts as such, but she is always running around which I love. It was great when we were filming in Fuerteventura, as one of the sequences is of Helen trekking across this incredible landscape. I really enjoyed shooting that. Because of the nature of the wide, panoramic shots, the director had me walking for miles to get to the start point before coming back towards camera.
We were there for about 10 days and the people were fantastic and the Spanish crew were lovely. I had come straight from making a film in Wales where it was pouring with rain nearly every day. I finished that on the Saturday night in Cardiff, and flew out on Sunday night to this blazing heat. It was good to get warm again.
Apparently when we were there, the weather was the hottest it had been in years. At the time we were filming there were winds called the Sirocco coming in which is Mediterranean wind that comes in from the Sahara. Normally, there is a cool breeze blowing, but it the Sirocco wind is hot; basically it’s like being under a hairdryer. So there was me wandering around with my makeup sliding off my face in my leather costume.
I remember thinking ‘Okay, so this seemed like a good idea back in the dressing room in cold wet rainy London’ I still loved it though.”
And with regards to Helen’s look this series, it’s fair to say she’s gone all Lara Croft! The boiler suit has gone, and has been replaced by something rather more edgy. Not only that, but Juliet’s hair has all been chopped off.
“Its great gear isn’t it? We wanted to make her more practical but also didn’t want to make her look too frumpy. She’s all straps, packs and knives with some strategically placed tears in her clothing!! I love it!
As for the hair, in between filming the first and second series of Primeval I was playing a French-Iranian assassin in a film, so I had it cut for that. The producers really liked it and said they wanted me to keep it for Helen. I was really happy to keep it too; I like having it short, and I think is suits the part too. It’s more practical. I can imagine her sitting by some pre-historic lagoon, cutting her hair with that big old knife.”
And what does Juliet feel about being the model for a Helen Cutter action figure?
“It’s a moment, isn’t it? It’s a defining moment in one’s career; a Helen doll! Someone gets an Oscar and I get a doll. It just makes me giggle. It’s great, and quite exciting, really. Apparently each figure comes with a weapon or a creature. I am not sure what I’ve got on my doll. It was bizarre enough when I went into stores when the DVD was out and there was these big cardboard cut out of me costume. That’s also really strange.
Following the success of the first series Juliet finds she is being approached more in public. However, despite her role as the baddest girl on the pre-historic block, it seems that everyone loves a villain.
“Since Primeval went out, I am definitely being recognised by children in a way that I haven’t been before. It’s sweet. The kids are always so lovely and just so excited.
I’ve never been mobbed by children before, it’s quite fun when I go out! I think they like Helen because she is a woman, and you don’t get many bad girl characters in this kind of television. It’s a really innocent and genuine interest that they take. There is no agenda at all and are just trying to get to get to grips with the story.”
From Primeval Press