While many of the cast spend their times in Primeval running way from dinosaurs, one of them frequently stands his grounds to fight them. As Stephen, James Murray is the action man of the piece – in the first episode alone he saves a school that is threatened by a Gorgonopsid, and later single-handedly taking on the creature. For Murray, such scenes made the show a joy to watch.
“That whole sequence was fairly elaborate and was probably the most fun I’d say”, he muses. “That was the hit for me – it’s why I did this job. It’s shameless fantasy that you don’t really get the opportunity to do in this country. It gave me an opportunity to do some real stunt work.
I did 90 per cent of my own stunts, but they’re not the most taxing. There are no Tom Cruise type stunts going on – the editors are very clever and make them look a lot bolder than they are. It was a lot of throwing yourself around – we had a stuntman on set to make sure I kept safe.
Before I did this my left shoulder was prone to dislocate occasionally and it happened to me during episode one. It dislocated during a forward roll. It goes back in- I won’t bore you with the medical details – but it’s badly bruised for a couple of weeks.”
Starburst issue 347 page 25