| Douglas Henshall discussed Primeval for BBCAmerica at the Television Critics Association Press Conference Day 1 at the Beverley Hills, Hilton, Los Angeles on July 8th 2008. More pictures in 2008 gallery When asked about comparisons between Primeval and Doctor Who Douglas Henshall told Scifi.com: "It's the one question I've been getting asked about the most: people comparing the show to that Doctor," Instead he has been comparing the show to The A-Team. "I was mainly trying to avoid the comparison of the show we don't want to mention, and so I picked something very different, and our show is more of an ensemble like that show was." Dougie said he remembered how much he enjoyed scary shows when he was a child. "I remember that they killed Bambi's mother and how much I was scared of Jaws, so kids like to be scared, as long as there is a balance." He said a friend and his family in Croatia have watched the show since it began airing in that country. "He has an 8-year-old boy who was watching one scary episode where a pod was taking over this guy's body," Henshall said. "He was a little scared, so he watched it from under a table where he felt safe. He didn't want to leave the room, but he watched the whole thing from under a table." When asked about younger fans of the series he told premiumhollywood.com: “I always kind of ask them which creature they like the best or which character they like the best,” he said, “and they kind of nod and smile and maybe say the gorgonopsid and the future predator, and then they blush, and they go away. So there isn’t a great deal of feedback in that way.” According to Starsonline.com when asked about working opposite CGI creatures who aren't really there during filming Douglas said: "It's just kind of second nature now. But the only kind of worrying thing is how many expressions have you got for being scared witless? I've just settled on one that I like.... mean, after 17 weeks of kind of going "Oh, my God," it's really difficult to try and think of another one." Pass the Remote reports that Douglas Henshall was asked about some of the filming locations, and reminisced about a Victorian sewage plant they shot it, “It looked fantastic, but every time you turned around in the wind you just kind of thought, what is that smell?” Read full articles here: TCA Press Tour, Day 1: BBC America Posted on 07.09.08 by Will Harris @ 8:29 pm Primeval On to less serious matters…or, at least, less realistic matters. Fans of “Doctor Who” and “Torchwood” will be beside themselves when they get a chance to take a gander at BBC America’s latest sci-fi action series, “Primeval.” As of this writing, even *I* haven’t had the opportunity to watch a full episode of the show - before I departed for L.A., all I’d received was a highlights disc, and although I’ve since gotten a DVD with the first few episodes, lord knows I haven’t had the time to put it in - but lemme tell ya something: that highlights disc was enough to sell me on the show in a big effing way. “Primeval” follows a team of five scientists - led by Professor Nick Cutter (Douglas Henshall) - who investigate anomalies in time and deal with the prehistoric and future creatures that travel through. Cutter, an evolutionary zoologist, has a second agenda: to find his wife, who disappeared eight years ago while investigating one of these anomalies. The time-travel aspect is obviously very reminiscent of “Doctor Who,” but there’s no creative connection between this series and that one. “Primeval” is definitely its own series, the creation of Adrian Hodges and Tim Haines, but while Hodges may provide the majority of the sci-fi aspects of the writing, it’s Haines, creator of the BBC’s “Walking with…” documentary series, who’s responsible for the awesomeness of the prehistoric and future creatures. Now, after spending all this time dealing with non-stop scientific accuracy, it’s Haines’ chance to have some fun. “After years of discussing things like the angle of an abelisaur’s front arm, I think it’s great to just say, ‘Well, this is sort of what they looked like,” said Haines. “We don’t worry about scientific accuracy because the whole premise is a science fiction one. At the same time, sometimes that information can really fire off ideas. If you know a creature behaved in this way or you knew what it should be like, that can give you a great dramatic story. It gives Nick Cutter maybe something he can use to work out how to defeat it. So there’s lots and lots of stuff from previous work I can bring to this. But it’s great being able to give gorgonopsid two sets of saber teeth just to make him nastier, even though they didn’t have them in reality.” The series has been a cross-generational hit in the UK (it’s gone through two series thus far, with a third on the way), to the point that when they held a recent contest to design a creature for the show, the entrants ranged in age from 8- and 9-year-olds up to people in their 50s. Henshall smirked when the topic of younger fans came up. “I always kind of ask them which creature they like the best or which character they like the best,” he said, “and they kind of nod and smile and maybe say the gorgonopsid and the future predator, and then they blush, and they go away. So there isn’t a great deal of feedback in that way.” “Clearly, we are very aware that we have a lot of kids who love the show, who love the creatures, and all of the rest of it,” acknowledges Hodges, “but, quite clearly, at the same time, the research shows and the figures show that their parents and older people who love this more serial side of it as well and the adult relationships. So we really are trying very hard to try to put something in there for everybody.” Based on what I’ve seen thus far, they succeed. Granted, there’s a certain amount of disbelief suspension involved when it comes to these mysterious anomalies, but I’ll say this: in the clips that I saw, there’s a battle between a dinosaur and a future predator that is arguably the most amazing FX-derived fight scene I’ve seen in years, either on the small or big screen. If you dig time-travel stories, dinosaurs, action, and even a bit of a romantic element, you need to check out “Primeval” as soon as it premieres. Ref: www.premiumhollywood.com Primeval Is No Who Clone The creators of Primeval, the British time-travel series coming to BBC America, told SCI FI Wire that they are trying to shake off any comparisons to the wildly popular Doctor Who. "It's the one question I've been getting asked about the most: people comparing the show to that Doctor," Douglas Henshall, who stars as an evolutionary zoologist who deals with creatures from the past and the future, said in an interview at the Television Critics Association's press tour in Beverly Hills, Calif., this week. Henshall has instead been comparing the show to The A-Team. "I was mainly trying to avoid the comparison of the show we don't want to mention, and so I picked something very different, and our show is more of an ensemble like that show was," he said. Primeval centers on a team of scientists who battle creatures that have come through unexplained anomalies that are ripping holes in the fabric of time. The show has aired for two seasons in the United Kingdom and debuts in the United States in August. Primeval already has a large following in Australia, South Korea and Germany. Of course, comparisons with that other British SF series are inevitable: Primeval counts among its writing staff Paul Cornell, who wrote for the new Doctor Who TV series and authored more than a dozen novels about the Doctor and his companion, Bernice Summerfield. But don't expect any crossovers with Doctor Who. "No, absolutely not will we have a Doctor Who character pop in on Primeval," producer/writer Tim Haines insisted. "They have very different worlds and realities. Anything can happen on Doctor Who." The world of Primeval is more reality-based, said co-creator Adrian Hodges. But he admitted that he was tempted to sneak in a few Doctor references or inside jokes. "Every time I was tempted to even put in a vague Who reference, I stopped myself," Hodges said. "The worlds are very different. ... At one point, we considered a sly Doctor reference when someone got angry at another character and threw a box set of Doctor Who at them, but we thought not." Hodges is working with former Doctor Who co-star Freema Agyeman on another British SF show, Survivors. But don't expect her on Primeval. "No, not even Martha Jones will make an appearance on Primeval," he said. Mike Szymanski Ref: www.scifi.com 12:00 AM, 14-JULY-08 Primeval Pushes Family Limits The star and creators of Primeval told SCI FI Wire that the BBC tried to tone down some of the scary scenes in the time-travel monster show, but that the show's creators pushed back, and that's why it turned out to be so successful in the United Kingdom, where it airs Saturday nights. "Saturday night is family night, and we want this to be a show that does not talk down to kids and is ambitious enough that some older people enjoy it very much as well," co-creator Tim Haines said in an interview at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour in Beverly HIlls, Calif., last week. Primeval centers on a team of scientists who battle creatures that have come through unexplained anomalies that are ripping holes in the fabric of time. The show has aired for two seasons in the United Kingdom. "We want there to be enough of an edge that the adult audiences will enjoy it, but we don't want to make it so scary that the children are afraid to go to bed," co-creator Adrian Hodges said. Doug Henshall, who stars in the series, said he remembered how much he enjoyed scary shows when he was a child. "I remember that they killed Bambi's mother and how much I was scared of Jaws, so kids like to be scared, as long as there is a balance," he said. Henshall said a friend and his family in Croatia have watched the show since it began airing in that country. "He has an 8-year-old boy who was watching one scary episode where a pod was taking over this guy's body," Henshall said. "He was a little scared, so he watched it from under a table where he felt safe. He didn't want to leave the room, but he watched the whole thing from under a table." But Hodges will only go so far, his partner Haines said. "Adrian has a strict rule: He won't let us kill a pet dog in the movie." For his part, Hodges said: "No domestic animals have been hurt in this show!" Primeval stars Henshall, Lucy Brown and James Murray and kicks off in the United States on BBC America on Aug. 9. --Mike Szymanski Ref: www.scifi.com TCA: 'PRIMEVAL' HIGHLIGHTS The executive producer and star of "Primeval" were on hand to pitch their new BBC America show to TV critics this week. The show, about adventurers who travel through time (and deal with creatures form other times who come here) premieres Aug. 9. Here are some highlights: Lead actor Douglas Henshall, on working opposite CGI creatures who aren't really there during filming: "It's just kind of second nature now. But the only kind of worrying thing is how many expressions have you got for being scared witless? I've just settled on one that I like.... mean, after 17 weeks of kind of going "Oh, my God," it's really difficult to try and think of another one." Executive producer Adrian Hodges, who also produced the special 'Walking with Dinosaurs,' on the expense of CGI: We mix in some real dinosaurs as well just to keep the costs down. Ref: tv.starsonline.com TCA Recaps: Day 1 - Let the Games Begin BBC America The news: BBC America is launching three new shows on their network, as well as adding Ted Koppel of Nightline fame as a contributor to BBC World News America, which is a fairly refreshing slant on US news through the eyes of people who aren’t US citizens. The new shows are: Britz, Gavin & Stacy, Primeval. Primeval: The BBC still has a choke-hold on schlocky science fiction, and by that I don’t mean it’s bad, I just mean they can really churn this stuff out. As an admitted Doctor Who and Torchwood fan, Primeval seems right up the same alley. It’s about to enter it’s third season in the UK, and stars Douglas Henshall as Professor Nick Cutter, who investigates “anomalies” that bring dinosaurs from prehistoric days into the present. The quote: Douglas Henshall was asked about some of the filming locations, and reminisced about a Victorian sewage plant they shot it, “It looked fantastic, but every time you turned around in the wind you just kind of thought, what is that smell?” Maybe they’re striving for authenticity. Ref: Pass the Remote |
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