A glossy fantasy drama about a charismatic time traveller with a perky assistant played by an ex-pop star…it all sounds strangely familiar. But the creator’s of ITV1’s new big-budget Saturday-night offering Primeval insist their sci-fi adventure is not a Doctor Who clone – although they are certainly hoping to give the Time Lord a run for his money in terms of attracting viewers.
The £6 million series is the first drama from the team behind Walking with Dinosaurs and centres on palaeontologist Nick Cutter, played by This Year’s Love star Douglas Henshall, who discovers that prehistoric creatures are roaming the Earth once again.
Gathering together an eclectic team including zoologist Abby Maitland (former S Club member Hannah Spearritt), Cutter must find out the cause and effects of this bizarre Jurassic Park-style scenario.
We caught up with Douglas Henshall to find out more…
What can you tell us about Nick Cutter?
He’s a university professor called in by the government to investigate sightings of strange monsters that turn out to be dinosaurs. It’s his chance to encounter the extinct creatures he has spent his life studying, and there’s a twist when he realises there may be a connection to his wife’s disappearance eight years earlier.
There will be comparisons with Doctor Who. Are there similarities?
Both have a large fantasy element because they deal with two of the greatest what-ifs – time travel and dinosaurs. But this is an ensemble piece, not a double act, and the action mainly happens in present-day London It’s more about things coming here rather than going elsewhere. And the monsters are historical creatures that once walked the face of the Earth, rather than sprung from the imagination of Russell T Davies.
What shows would you compare Primeval with?
Maybe the A-Team with dinosaurs? It’s more an old-fashioned adventure that appeals to the whole family in the vein of Raiders of the Lost Ark and Jurassic Park.
Is it something you would have watched as a child?
Absolutely. That was one of the things that attracted me. I was fascinated by dinosaurs, space and ancient history as a kid, so I was living out my childhood fantasies on this job, going into the past and shouting ‘It’s Behind You.’
Were there scary moments during filming?
For someone playing an action hero, I’m a total wuss. But I dealt with my claustrophobia for the diving sequences and I faced my fear of heights by walking around the lip of a volcano in the Canaries. That was terrifying, because we were 6,500ft up. But it was fantastic, to, because if there is any place that looks primeval, it’s there.
Carey Clark TV and Satellite week 10th – 16th February 2007