| The only way that I tried to think about it is when I was playing the part is it’s such an enormous idea. It’s like discovering that there is actually life on other planets out there and it’s just a matter of time before we actually manage to get the thing together to be able to fly and go there and visit. It’s that kind of thing and you kinda go "How would you react to that as a person?" Er, I don't know is the answer. (laughs) . It’s difficult to try and imagine how you would, how you, how one would deal with something like that kind of enormity. I just kinda tried to play it that this should be one of the most exciting things that's ever happened in his life. It’s an opportunity to study science in a whole 'nother way. It should be like every single Christmas that you ever had if you're a scientist all rolled into one. And also it’s, it’s quite frightening because you've got to think, "Well, why are they happening?" and "Have they happened before and we just missed them?" or "What does this say about the future for this planet? Is it some kind of warning about something that’s going to happen to us in the future?" So there's also a kind of real need, intellectual need to find out why they're happening and what the impact's going to be for all of us. |
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| On Anomalies |
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I think it was born, first of all, of an idea that if you kill these creatures then we don't know what impact killing them may have on the future. If you disturb things from the past, I mean, you know, its such a fragile thing - I mean I think that’s one of the most terrifying things, is like we have to make sure we try and leave everything as it was because we don't know what could happen in the future if we impact something on the past, you know I think there's, there's that - plus I think he's a fairly passive man in that regard. I think, y'know, if he possibly could he'd just want to be able to take a creature and put it back where it came from rather than just taking out a gun and shooting it. I also think it makes it far more interesting for the series because if we all just took out guns and shot them then the episodes wouldn't last very long. (laughs) Do you know what I mean, it'd be a little too easy. I think it’s more interesting to find a peaceful way to get them back. y'know, that makes for better drama, I think |
| Nick Cutter's non-violent stand against the creatures in Primeval |
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| Douglas Henshall talks about Primeval Series 1: Behind the Scenes on BBC America |
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Helen. Yeah. Yeah, my wonderful wife. The woman who disappeared for eight years through to the distant past where there are no human beings in order to avoid me. Yeah, (laughs) we could have talked, we could have had counseling, I don't know why she had to do that. But um, yeah, I think they both still love one another and they both still hate one another. I think when it was good between the two of them? it was great. And I think when it starts to go bad, it gets real bad. I think they're both very competitive spirits. I don't think that when I find out that she's still alive and she's, not only is she not apologetic in any way, shape or form. uh, she doesn't even feel the need to explain herself. I think there's a little bit of me that, that of the character, Nick Cutter, that can't really forgive her for that. For no explanation, no nothing. To leave somebody to wonder about what happened to the person that they loved for eight years with no closure on it at all, I think there's a little bit of "How could you do that?" Y'know, and with such a smile on your face like she don't care. |
| Nick Cutter's feelings towards his wife |
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Well, it was such a great idea with the dodos because, you know, up until the fourth episode, every creature that had come through was a threat in an, in an obvious way, you know. You've got a 30 foot long gorgonopsid in the first one, you've got um, you know, an arthropleurid that’s just poisonous and will you kill you like (clicks fingers) that in the second one. In the third one you've got these underwater creatures that are enormous, like prehistoric sharks. And then in the fourth one, you get dodos and you kinda think well (puffs air from his mouth as if in relief) well, they're harmless and they're funny and it was such a great idea that they were just a bit daft. It kinda made you realise why (laughs delightedly) they became extinct in the first place - they weren't really cut out for it, d'ya know what I mean? Um, and, and of course one of them is carrying a parasite that’s, um, invaded its body and turned its nature to be a little bit more savage 'cause it’s looking for another host. And it’s not actually the dodos that are the problem, it’s the parasite that’s inside that's dangerous and I thought that was just a great conceit for, for an episode. And, um, and there’s something funny. I mean, it’s sometimes, a lot of kids have said that that’s one of the scariest episodes that they've done because, I think, I think because it was something that you couldn't see. And its because it was inside you - and I think the idea of something being inside you... there was a couple of great shots of this thing just kinda pulsing in the actors' neck and you could see that. I think that really freaked kids out. There was, uh, a friend of mine who lives out in Croatia whose little boy started off watching the show. And he started off on the settee and then he ended up out the door. And then he would only come back in and he would watch the rest of it from the table so that he was near enough the door that he could get out if he saw something that he didn't like. But it was episode four that did it, y'know? Um, its, I think that’s one of the best episodes. And I think also because, um, y'know, a young guy dies who's a friend of Connor's character, that I think, y'know, a lot of people have said that its one of the most touching episodes in the series as well. You know, the human relations in it are great there as well. |
| Impressions of the Dodos |
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(pauses, really considering his reply) I think its partially because he really wants to... I think its partially that you've got somebody who is partially blinded, um, there's an enormous kind of flock of things outside that wanna eat the both of us, um, I'm gonna leave her alone for a little while and there's a little bit of I don't quite know what else to do. So I hope this kind of, I don't know it’s, might at least make you feel a little better before i come back. I think it’s a little bit of that and a little bit like suddenly he just can't quite help himself. I think it’s a little, y'know what I mean, I think if you ask him, I’m not quite sure he'd be able to give you a good answer. |
| Why Cutter kisses Claudia |
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| Transcripts by Debbie Seed of dodocentral |
The idea that rats and bats might, would probably be two of the things that would survive pretty much anything and if those two creatures kind of evolved together in some way, what would you end up with? And you end up with this killer that operates with sonar that moves quicker, that thinks (he snaps his fingers) faster than human beings. You’ve got a real kind of dangerous character on your hands and I think it leads to something really exciting. It’s such an exciting episode. Um, the scene in the forest where it starts to attack the security forces is great and I think Jamie Payne made a great job of that. He also made....I also think the CGI works incredibly well with that and a lot of that is down to Jamie Payne , the director. The fight between the gorgonopsid and the future predator at the end of the episode, I think it’s great. I think it kind of ranks up there with the fight that Peter Jackson had between the tyrannosaurus Rex and King Kong, you know what I mean, which is an all time great, but considering the budget that we had and the budget that he had, you know I think Jaimie made a great fest of that. We also unfortunately lost one of the best characters in the show in that particular episode, who was Mark Wakeling, who played Captain Ryan. His character was only supposed to survive for one episode but what he was so good and what he was doing was so great that they kept him through all the first series. I always thought we should have had him like Kenny in South Park, you can kill him in every series, but we have to find a way to bring him back every time, but unfortunately they didn’t, but um yeah, he bites the dust in a particularly nasty way at the end of the series. |
| The Future Predator |
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