Most of the creatures in Primeval are inspired by real fossils, although some dramatic liberties have been taken.
EPISODE 1
Coelurosauravus – aka Rex
Rex is a flying reptile from the Permian period about 250 million years ago and is unusually active and intelligent for a cold blood. He appears in the first programme and immediately bonds with Abby, so that when they try to return him to his time he sneaks back to be with her. For the rest of the series she keeps him – for the most part secretly - in her flat with the central heating on full blast to suit his exotic tastes (there were no ice caps in the Permian).
Rex is based on a smaller reptile (about half Rex’s size) called Coelurosaravus jaeckeil found in Germany His wings were formed by extensions of his ribs but he could not fly only glide. He is, however, the first known vertebrate flyer because he predates the pterosaurs.
Scutosaurus
This is a large passive herbivore weighing about 5 tonnes and loosely related to the turtles. Although Cutter sees herds of them in the Permian only one accidentally wonders into the present. In the dark cold woods it is startled by Abby and the others and quickly retreats back to its own time.
He is based on a heavily armour creature called Scutosaurus kapinski a type of pareiasaur that lived about 260 million years ago in Russia. The name means shield lizard and they were heavily armoured weighing about a ton.
Gorgonopsid
This is the real baddie of Programme One, he also makes a spectacular reappearance in Programme Six. He is the top predator of the Permian – a sabre tooth killing machine who is originally tempted into the cold present by the smell of people and waste from a supermarket. As he came through he was spotted by Helen Cutter whose curiosity then led her on an eight year journey through time. The second time he came through the discovery of the anomaly by Cutter and the team prevents him going back. He then starts to more openly attack people including a local school boy Ben. In the end he is shot dead by Cutter’s research assistant Stephen.
This creature is based on Gorgonops longifrons found in the Karoo Basin in South Africa which was between 3 and 4 metres long and had eight centimetre sabres. These predators were known as the ‘wolves of the Permian’ and were an unpleasant cross between a mammal and reptile. We have made our one somewhat larger and given him double sabres.
EPISODE 2
Giant Spiders
In an abandoned tunnel off the Underground a hole opens to the Carboniferous swamps 300 million years ago. First through are hoarders of giant spiders. They are boosted to these sizes by the oxygen rich atmosphere of the Carboniferous which also fills the tunnels. These are very primitive relatives of modern spiders – they have no web or venom but they do have two enormous pincers like modern day camel spiders. They are responsible for wounding a number of people but their attacks are not lethal. Despite their size they shun light and so once Cutter brings down torches they are easily rounded up.
These creatures are based on rather fragmentary fossils of ‘large spiders’ found in the coal swamps from the Carboniferous. For a long time there was a fossil called Megarachnid or ‘giant spider’ which scientist thought was a 1 meter wide spider but this has just recently been reclassified as a type of sea scorpion.
Arthropleura
This proves to be the beast of the underground. At six metres long it looks like a giant centipede and is easily provoked into attack. It has two enormous jaws which can inject lethal venom into its victim – one of whom is Stephen who only just survives because Cutter manages to get a sample of the venom for the doctors. The arthropleura finds the warm tunnels ideal and makes its nest in an electricity substation. This is where the team finally hunt it down and electrocute it.
This creature is based on a real group of animals called the arthropleurids that are most closely related to centipedes and millipedes. Fossils of the real ones have been found to grow to over 3 meters and looked a bit like giant wood lice. Although the head of one of these creatures has never been found they are thought to have been harmless detritus eaters.
EPISODE 3
Mosasaur
When an anomaly opens up under water it turns out to be connected to the worst possible time in Earth’s marine history, the late Cretaceous 70 million years ago. Then the seas were ruled by the mosasaurs - long snake-like sea serpents some almost 20 metres long. In this programme the anomaly moves and in each body of water a different mosasaur comes through. One is about seven metres long, the other almost ten. These predators are like ‘dinojaws’ ruthless in their pursuit of prey in fresh water or salt. Cutter is attacked by a small one when he swims through to the Cretaceous sea but saved when an enormous twenty meter monster eats his attacker.
These creatures are based on a real group of animals that evolved from the first lizards and took to the sea during the time of dinosaurs.They were the killer whales of their age feeding off anything including other mosasaurs.
Hesperonis
Not the sort of creature you want to find in your flooded cellar but that is what happens. They look a bit like a six foot prehistoric cormorant with teeth and having accidentally swum through to the present they panic and attack a plumber sent down to sort out what looks like a very bad leak. Later when Cutter goes through to the Cretaceous he surfaces in the middle of a Hesperornis nesting colony but in their own environment they turn out to be less violent and rather dumb. He is able to walk through the colony as long as he does not go near any nest.
The real Hesperornis evolved in the late Cretaceous. This was not long after birds had evolved from dinosaurs so they were very quick to adapt to a marine habitat. Although they did have teeth, in the show we have made these a little larger and our Hesperornis sit upright instead of pushing themselves around on their bellies like penguins as recent research suggests they did.
EPISODE 4
Dodo
In a complete change to what they were expecting in this programme, instead of some ghastly carnivore, a flock of plump dodos appear. Confused and agitated they take a time to round up but are not in the least aggressive. By nature these plump flightless birds are placid and curious. Unfortunately one escapes and is adopted by a pair of students who suspect he has been created in some Government lab. Sadly the dodo dies but before he goes he turns uncharacteristically violent and bites one of the students.
Our portrayal of these creatures is very close to the truth as described by sailors in the 18th century who encountered these relatives of pigeons on the island of Mauritius. It was their benign nature’s that helped hurry their extinction as they were so easy to kill.
Parasite
These large worm-like creatures are found to have infected the dodo’s that came through the anomaly. It becomes clear that they manipulate their host’s behaviour so they become more aggressive. This then increases the chance that they will bite something and that is how they are passed from host to host.
Cutter describes them as some form of cestoda which is the group that tapeworms belong to but otherwise it is a species new to science. Although this creature is made up for the series it is common for parasites like flukes to migrate through the body of their host and manipulate their behaviour so that they can complete their life cycles.
EPISODE 5
Pteranodon
After a savage killing on a golf course, Cutter and the team discover a huge pterosaur in the skies above. Because of its head crest and lack of tail Cutter identifies it as a Pteranodon. Although it then appears to swoop down and attack Connor it is in fact after the small reptile Rex. Despite his size with a wing span of over 9m this aerial giant has no teeth and feeds on small animals like fish and lizards. The team eventually bring the creature down with a tranquilliser gun and confirm he is harmless by looking at his poo. At the end of the programme they manage to release this gentle giant back to his own time.
Based on Pteranodon ingens that lived about 100 million years ago this pterosaur was made famous after featuring in numerous Hollywood movies. At 9 metres he is not the biggest of the pterosaurs, creatures like Quetzocoatlus could reach 13m.
Agnurognathus
These are revealed as the real killers on the golf course. Like aerial piranhas when they smell blood they swoop as a flock and, using razor sharp teeth, dismember their victim. Cutter and Claudia find themselves cornered in the golf club after a burst blood bag attracts the flock. The pterosaurs break through the windows but just as they are about to kill Claudia, Helen Cutter appears and saves her. She draws flock into a kitchen where she has turned on all the gas hobs and blows them all up.
Agnurognathus ammoni lived about 150 million years ago and had small needle like teeth for hunting insects. In this show we have invented his cousin that had slicing teeth for taking lumps of flesh off large dinosaurs.
EPISODE 6
Future Predator
The final episode features a creature with no name because it comes from the future, following the logic that if holes can open to the past so holes in the future can open up. The animal that comes through is unfortunately a predator that is drawn through while hunting Helen Cutter. Genetic tests reveal it is a type of wingless bat with lightning fast reactions and the ability to stalk its prey using high-frequency sonar. Cutter manages to kill the predator when it corners him in a greenhouse by confusing its sonar with smashed glass. However, it turns out there was a mated pair and he is saved from the jaws of the female by the prehistoric gorgonopsid from Programme One that kills her and her young in the climax to the series.
This creature is obviously not based on any real animal but it is assumed that as long as the Earth’s climate remains as seasonal as it is then mammals will continue to be the dominant group of animals. If that is so than rats and bats are by far the most common groups of mammals (accounting for three quarters of all mammal species) and any large predator could well evolve from them.
From the Primeval Press Pack