List of Primeval characters

The main characters of Primeval (Series 3). From left to right: Abby Maitland, Connor Temple, Jenny Lewis (now departed from the team), Nick Cutter (deceased), Captain Becker, Sarah Page

This is a list of characters in the ITV science fiction cult television series Primeval, including supporting characters.

B

Captain Becker

Captain Becker
Portrayed by	Ben Mansfield
In-universe information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Special Ops Captain

Captain Becker is a fictional character in the ITV sci-fi drama Primeval, portrayed by Ben Mansfield. According to Tim Haines, "he is going to be a new military guy who comes onto the team to watch their backs so that none of them get eaten". Becker will not be a one-dimensional, but will have a full character. Becker comes from a military family and background, and is moved from special operations to the Primeval team. Mansfield has stated that he will have 'amiable friction' with Connor and he sees himself as the person who 'looks after' the team.

Mansfield was spotted for the role when auditioning for future BBC series Merlin, the casting director (who also works as the casting director for Primeval) suggested that he come along to audition for Captain Becker.

Claudia Brown

Claudia Brown
First appearance	Episode 1
Last appearance	Episode 6
Portrayed by	Lucy Brown
In-universe information
Gender	Female
Occupation	Home Office official

Claudia Brown (born in Oxford) is a fictional character from the ITV sci-fi drama Primeval. She is played by Lucy Brown.

According to the official Primeval website, Claudia Brown joined the Civil Service after studying law at university. For two years, she was engaged to be married, but she broke it off a month before the wedding. She has had no significant relationships since. She has fallen in love with Nick Cutter after he defended her from the "flying lizards".

Much like Lester, her official role at the Home Office is unclear. Since the discovery of the first anomaly, she has worked alongside Nick Cutter and his team, acting as a liaison with the Home Office and occasionally defending Cutter's actions to Lester, and vice versa.

During Episode 6 she began hallucinating, seeing anomalies and Gorgonopsids throughout the Home Office. At the end of the episode, Claudia disappears from existence, when Nick Cutter steps into the anomaly. The reasons, as of yet, are unknown, although Helen Cutter is likely to be involved.

Claudia is in love with Nick Cutter with whom she shares a passionate kiss during Episode 5. In Episode 6, Claudia jokingly accuses Cutter of sexual harassment, noting that it is a serious offence in the civil service. The pair exchange another kiss just before Cutter enters an anomaly in time with his former wife.

At the end of the same episode, when Cutter returns from the past via an anomaly, Claudia has vanished and none of his colleagues have any knowledge of who she is or was, leading Cutter to believe that something he has done in the past has altered the present, eliminating Claudia's existence. Cutter is devastated by this, describing Claudia to co-worker Abby as "important to him" and saying he cared about her. Her non-existence shakes his foundation to the core as she is the first woman he had loved in his life since the disappearance of his wife, Helen.

Claudia remained out of existence for the second series, although another woman who appears to be physically identical, Jenny Lewis, first appears in Episode 7. At the end of Episode 8, Cutter explains to Jenny as best he can about what could have happened to change the past. Claudia's job as Lester's assistant was changed to a man named Oliver Leek, who was revealed to be working for Helen Cutter. At the end of the finale, Cutter shreds Claudia's picture because he believes there is nothing that can bring her back. This may also be because of the sadness he had after losing his best friend Stephen Hart.

It was implied that Helen was responsible for Claudia being replaced by Jenny, however this was proven not to be the case when Helen explains that the first change was an accident.

The writers alluded to Claudia's possible return in the future but said that they had no plans at the time to rewrite Claudia into the timeline.

C

"The Cleaner"

File:Mysterious Man.jpg

"The Cleaner"

"The Cleaner" is a character who is introduced in Episode 7, under-cover as a cleaner, who was sliced in the neck by a baby Deinonychus. He is portrayed by Tim Faraday. He later mysteriously disappears. Later in the following episode, Connor sees him as a soldier at the ARC, the scars from the raptor attack still visible. The mysterious cleaner is seen again by Cutter in Episode 10. Suspicious, he chases him, but is punched in the face by him, knocking him out. Later it is revealed that the man is working for Oliver Leek, who wants the team spied on — and Leek is working in cahoots with Helen Cutter. It is also revealed that the Cleaner's real name (or at least his surname) is Sciswell. In the eleventh episode, he goes into an anomaly with two soldiers. When one of them protests about leaving a girl behind, the man responds, "I'm not a bloody social worker!". This line was previously used by Captain Tom Ryan in Episode 6 before his death, possibly linking the two characters together. He travels through an anomaly into the Silurian where his team is attacked and killed by giant scorpions. Only he survives, injured, and left only with a gun. He finds Cutter, demanding him to hand over his water supplies, but is then attacked by another scorpion, being dragged off, yelling "I'm a professional. I don't talk. Ever" when he was asked who he worked for. He is then pulled under and is at first presumed killed.

However, at the end of Episode 13 many duplicates of him appear with Helen at Stephen Hart's grave, presumably working for her.

An interview with Ben Mansfield confirms he kills Helen's minions. The clones re-appear in Series 3 and make an appearance at the conclusion of episode 14. One clone is killed in episode 15 while spying inside the ARC. Another dies when Helen tests his loyalty by ordering him to jump off the roof of a tall building, and many clones are killed when the ARC explodes. The clones appear to have no fear of death. This may be a characteristic of clones in general, since the same trait is shown by the clone of Nick Cutter.

Helen Cutter

Helen Cutter
First appearance	Episode One
Last appearance	Episode 23
Portrayed by	Juliet Aubrey
In-universe information
Gender	Female
Spouse	the late Nick Cutter (estranged and deceased husband)

Helen Cutter is a fictional villainess played by Juliet Aubrey in the ITV science fiction television series Primeval. It is implied that she may be responsible for a string of anomalies in time and space through which prehistoric and extinct animals are passing. At the very least, she clearly has an understanding of the phenomenon which exceeds that of any other character in the series and is able to use the anomalies for her own purposes, ranging from basic time travel and exploration to actively changing timelines and creating clones.

Before her disappearance, Helen had an affair with Stephen Hart, Nick Cutter's best friend and right-hand man. She led Nick to believe she was dead after passing through an anomaly eight years before the beginning of the series. She appears to have knowledge of most of the threats facing her husband and his team, but does not appear to wish to divulge this information. However, she did save the life of one of the members of Nick's team when piranha-like Anurognathus attacked. She is thought by the Home Office to hold clues into why the anomalies form, and is therefore one of the focuses of attention in the storyline. Helen Cutter has told Nick that she does know a fair amount about the anomalies, but has so far refused to divulge this information. Nick Cutter, her ex-husband, also has a personal wish for her to return, and for her to stop escaping.

She also seems to disapprove of her husband's budding relationship with Claudia Brown and it is hinted she may have had a hand in Claudia's disappearance.

At the end of Episode 10, Helen is shown directing the team that is spying on the ARC members. During Episode 11, Helen visits Stephen again and imparts some information about the group spying on the ARC members, but rewords it to sound like Cutter is involved and Lester is in charge.

In episode 12 Helen starts showing her feelings about Stephen and they share a passionate kiss.

In the final episode, she eavesdrops on a conversation in Nick's cell to Jenny about how Nick still cared for Helen. Although this is later revealed to be a ploy on Cutter's part, Helen still believes that he does care for her. She demonstrates the fact that she was aware of Claudia in the time before the Crisis and tells Nick that her alliance with Leek was to experiment with the Anomalies in order to alter history. She implies that she was responsible for the neural clamp technology used on the Future Predators as something she found in the future. When told that interfering with the Anomalies might destroy Humanity, she simply states that she could change the timeline to reverse such an effect.

Despite being shown as the brains of the operation, Leek begins to challenge her after being ordered around by Helen which forces him to act on his own. At this point, the cages for the creatures contained in Leek's base are destroyed, releasing them. At the same time, Nick frees himself and threatens Helen who manages to escape. In order to save herself, she calls Stephen and lies to him saying that she was kidnapped by Lester and that Cutter was killed. She asked Stephen to rescue her and not to trust Lester. When Stephen arrives, she attempts to convince him to leave into the Anomalies until it is safe but he is determined for revenge. He encounters Nick and learns that Helen lied to him.

Stephen, Helen and Nick work to contain the predators contained in Leeks base by luring them into the centre where the cages are located by ringing the bell that they associated with feeding time, to trap the creatures together so they will kill each other. While accomplishing this goal, Helen is attacked by a Deinonychus but saved by Stephen. However, the door mechanism has been damaged requiring a person to shut it from the inside. Nick volunteers - something that Helen protests about - and Stephen punches his mentor to take his place where he is killed by the assembled creatures. Helen escapes while Nick is grieving over his lost friend and student.

Helen returns shortly after the funeral held for Stephen and states that the timeline can change, at which point a mercenary approaches her with several duplicates of him, clearly working for Helen. This suggests that she has obtained cloning technology in the future, and either plans to use it to resurrect Stephen, or to alter the timeline to bring him back to life.

In episode 14 she is seen stealing an artifact from Christine Johnson's military force and barely escapes with her life as predators are in the building. At the conclusion of the episode it is revealed that this theft takes place in a future time period reached via an anomaly, and also that Helen is setting up an operational headquarters in the present day, assisted by the clones. In episode 16 she is caught in the blast from the bomb in the ARC and Nick returns to rescue her, but having established that Nick does not have the information she wants, she shoots him and leaves him to die.

Helen's motivation has often appeared mysterious, however in episode 13 and again in episode 16, she attempts to explain herself to Nick, whom she believes will see her point of view. Helen believes that she can prevent future atrocities (such as the rise of the future predators) by actively altering timelines in the past so that evolution and history take a different path. Nick rejects this, insisting that Helen has no right to meddle. Helen also seems to believe that Nick's work with the ARC is in some way responsible for the atrocities she has seen in the future. In Episode 23, Helen gets pushed off a cliff and being killed by Raptor in the Mid-Pliocene in front of Danny Quin.

Nick Cutter

Nick Cutter
First appearance	Episode 1
Last appearance	Episode 16
Portrayed by	Douglas Henshall
In-universe information
Gender	Male
Title	Professor
Occupation	Professor of Palaeontology at Central Metropolitan University Anomaly team member Deceased as of 11th April 2009
Spouse	Helen Cutter (estranged wife)

Professor Nick Cutter was a fictional character in the ITV science fiction television series Primeval. He was played by Douglas Henshall. He was one of the main characters, a Professor of Palaeontology at the fictional Central Metropolitan University. He was one of a group of people who discover that prehistoric and extinct animals are passing through anomalies in time and space. Due to his expertise in prehistoric creatures, he was assigned to tackling the problems these creatures cause for the present civilization by the Home Office, and was described as a "rank amateur who was amazingly good at what he did".

Not only is Cutter an expert in Palaeontology and the identification of extinct species, comments made by him in several episodes seem to indicate he may be somewhat familiar with physics; for example his theories about the time anomalies in "Episode Three" seem to be proven true at the end of the episode, describing them as being somewhat like an earthquake in time.

Cutter started out as a somewhat aloof individual; for example he initially rather briskly brushes off Connor Temple who comes to him with suspicions of a prehistoric creature being loose in modern times, telling him to go and get a girlfriend instead. He also keeps his encounter with his long lost wife, Helen to himself. He can be quite spiteful at times as his last words to Stephen before heading through the anomaly in episode six are to push Lester through the nastiest anomaly he can find if he doesn't make it back.

He also seems to have a mild case of egomania and an overestimated view of his own importance. He withholds information from his friends and team mates and Connor notes in Episode One that he never turns up for his own seminars. He also tries to make demands of Lester in "Episode Three" when asked to bring Helen back only to be shocked when Lester overrules his decision and brings his wife back by force.

Cutter's attitude towards the Home Office involvement was at first one of mild contempt, at least for the more bureaucratic members such as James Lester. He dislikes hiding things from the public, Helen says she thinks he wants to share the time anomalies with the rest of the world in "Episode Three".

However Nick is not incompassionate, and he has mellowed out over time. He's developed a grudging respect for Lester, despite his claims to the contrary, and his caring side is shown when he reassures Connor on several occasions, most notably when Connor's friend is killed by a parasite, and when Helen's apparent disregard for human life horrifies him in "Episode Three".

He was also very trusting of Helen, despite her comments and the others' suspicions that she may have intentionally set the parasitic Dodos on mankind in "Episode Four", although he was angry to discover Helen's real reason for returning the baby Future Predators to their own time. After that, it's safe to assume whatever feelings he had left for her are now over.

His relationship with Claudia Brown was beginning to turn to romantic, as demonstrated when he rushes to her rescue and later kisses her in "Episode Five" and she herself begs him not to leave her. Before heading into the anomaly, the two share a passionate kiss - much to Helen's anger. A series of Primeval Action Figures have been released with a Mini-Biography on the side of the box. At the end of Cutter's it says that he believes there is intelligent life somewhere else in the Universe, but not in the Government.

While little is known about his early life, the Official site states that he was born in Edinburgh and graduated from his year at University College London with First Class Honours. At some point he met and quickly married his wife Helen. Their marriage proved to be a failure, however, as according to Douglas Henshall's web site, the relationship between them became as stormy as it was passionate. They were estranged at the time of her disappearance, and this added to Cutter's sense of guilt when she vanished. When the series begins it is established that he had a wife, fellow palaeontologist Helen Cutter, who went missing eight years prior to his first encounter with a time anomaly. He tells the others that she went missing sometime after the two of them had a fight.

At first, his insistence that his wife Helen is alive in the first two and a half episodes is seen by some members of the time as initially somewhat foolish and unrealistic, most notably Claudia. He then keeps the details of her visitations to himself, out of hurt pride that his wife could have left him alone for so long. This has terrible consequences later when the government found out.

When the truth is known, not only does he lose the respect of Claudia but also brings the wrath of Lester down on himself. After being tricked into leading Lester's troops to his wife the relationship between the two of them hit a new low as she is adamant that he had set her up and he finally lost patience with her evasions and riddles. She later escapes, and his motives for trying to follow her through the Anomaly are open to question.

Lester later lost patience and faith in him during the hunt for the Pteranodon when he prevents Captain Ryan from shooting it, claiming that Cutter causes "more problems than he solves" a claim which Stephen Hart, and Cutter himself, secretly agreed with in the end analysis. By the end of Series One, however, he was prepared to go to Lester for help in the effort to find the Future Predator and the anomaly from which it came.

Due to alterations in the timeline, the cause of which is unknown, Cutter remains one of two of the only currently identified characters (The second being Helen) to remain unaffected for reasons that are unknown. Cutter himself is confused as to how this happened.. Cutter also immediately calls new P.R. guru Jennifer Lewis Claudia Brown after her doppelgänger. This confuses the team a lot, and while Connor and Abby both show some sort of support, Stephen and Nick are both quietly cautious of one another. Cutter is shown to be very caring at the end of the second series, as he is willing to sacrifice himself to save others (on two different occasions) but on the second time, he is punched by Stephen, who takes his place inside the predator-filled room. Stephen asks Cutter to tell Connor and Abby to stay out of trouble, and is then killed. Cutter shreds the picture of Claudia Brown at the end of the episode.

Douglas Henshall has confirmed in TV Times that he would be leaving the show at the end of Series Three, suggesting that Cutter is killed at some point in the show. He quotes: “It was one of those things that happened and I thought, ’Oh God, I’ve done it I’ve left’, he tells David Hollingsworth. “The show might miss me for five minutes, but then I think it will move on and be fine”

“There’s a little bit of me that thinks, ‘this is my show, what do you mean they’re still doing it without me,” he says. “But it will be good for Primeval in the long term – it will have to reinvent itself.”

Death

Nick is killed by Helen after he attempts to rescue her from the exploding ARC. She turns on him and shoots him in the chest, while the ARC explodes again. Conner then attempts to save Cutter, but when he arrives, he is told to sit down and wait. As they are talking, Cutter asks Connor to tell Jenny/Claudia something but decides against it then Cutter gives Connor the mysterious artifact and tells him to find out what it is; as his dying wish and then dies into Connor's shoulder.

D

Duncan

Duncan is a friend of Connor Temple and Tom and a fellow geek. He also seems to enjoy conspiracy theories. Despite this he does not believe Connor when he tries to tell him and Tom what he has been involved in without breaking the Official Secrets Act, and he and Duncan devise their own conspiracy theories around the Dodo (which he names Dodie) that they capture. Duncan seems to be the more mellow of Connor's friends and is quite willing to follow the more proactive Tom.

E

Eve

Eve is a mysterious woman that appears in Episode 21. She is found in the future by Christine Johnson's soldiers, and she is brought back by force in the present.

H

Mick Harper

Mick Harper is a journalist who first appears in Episode 12. He tries interviewing one of the survivors from the Columbian mammoth rampage, but he is unable to complete interviewing because Jenny disrupts him. Harper suspects the operation and vows he will find out what is happening. Series creators has confirmed Harper will make a two-episode debut in Series 3. In the third episode of season 3, Mick locks Nick, Abby and a woman who is about to give birth in an operating theatre. He then tracks down one of the Diictodon to show to his boss, who was reluctant to believe. In the fourth episode Mick Harper steals an Anomaly detector from Jenny's car when they are investigating an anomaly that is being kept by Christine Johnson who keeps them away from it, Harper then follows the team to the anomaly site on the airport with his boss and locks Jenny and Connor in a hanger where they are rescued by Danny. Harper and his boss film the velociraptors that come through the anomaly while Nigel Marvin describes the Velociraptor to them. A Giganotsaurus comes through the anomaly and eats Nigel Marvin. Harper and his boss hide in a car which the Giganotosaurus flips over. They escape when the dinosaur temporarily goes back through the anomaly. Mick and his boss are put under arrest but escape and film the Giganotosaurus and Mick Harper quits when Danny nearly hits him with a helicopter. Mick and his boss film the Giganotosaurus as it heads towards the anomaly, and they are presumably killed as Mick Harper is heard screaming.

Stephen Hart

Stephen James Hart
First appearance	Episode 1
Last appearance	Episode 13
Portrayed by	James Murray
In-universe information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Deceased (4th March, 2007)

Stephen James Hart was a fictional character in the ITV sci-fi drama Primeval. He is played by James Murray. He is part of a team of five people, who investigate a series of anomalies in space and time through which prehistoric and extinct creatures are travelling. Stephen is Nick Cutter's lab technician and was the object of fellow team member Abby Maitland's affections. He is CURRENTLY deceased(but it has been shown in the series that this is maybe subject to change).

According to the official site Stephen is passionately committed to wildlife conservation and firmly believes that humanity is destroying its own environment through unchecked industrialisation. On average, he runs about 30 miles a week.

He remains a cold and aloof individual, but one with surprisingly loyal and brave tendencies as he willingly braves the jaws of a Gorgonopsid and an Arthropleura in order to save his friends and innocent bystanders. He is also not afraid to stand up to Cutter as he confronts him about the way he withheld information about his wife from them. In Episode 2, Cutter risks his life to get an anti-venom which will save Stephen's life. This appears to demonstrate a closely-bonded relationship between Stephen and Cutter.

While he tries not to show any emotion and keep his personal life secret, he does ask Abby out for dinner and later admitted that he has a girlfriend although their relationship appears to have broken down and the official site states that he "had his heart broken when he fell in love as a student and never really got over it."

In the first series, Stephen seemed to act as a punchbag for the monsters, often being badly injured or stranded on his own.

He also seems to have a big brother relationship with Connor whom he constantly puts down and yet looks out for at the same time. In Episode 13, Stephen is killed by a collection of animals that Leek had captured. He was killed preventing the animals from escape, and his funeral was the only one in the history of the show. It is revealed that his middle name is James which is ironic due to his hatred for James Lester. The name may also be a reference to his portrayer, James Murray.

Despite speculation to the contrary, Tim Haines and Adrian Hodges have confirmed that Stephen will not be returning in the third series .

According to the official site, Stephen was once a junior fencing champion and also a junior shooting Olympic prospect. He later gave up both to study natural history. He appears to have had a long relationship with Nick Cutter going back at least eight years as he states that he knew Helen himself, in the last episode it is revealed that he had an affair with her. Whether or not she is the former girlfriend,Alison, who broke his heart is unclear but it is shown in Episode Six that it was a short lived affair which he has regretted ever since, mainly because of his guilt over betraying his friend and partly because Helen is, as he calls her, "a real bitch".

When the series begins it is established that he is working alongside Nick as a teacher and lab assistant. He later follows both Nick and Connor and becomes ensnared with them in the sinister events unfolding in the Forest of Dean.

He then reveals that he has some training as a tracker and in stealth combat, as he vanishes under Connor's nose to begin the hunt for the Gorgonopsid personally. He later tracks it to a school and is wounded trying to lure it away from a teacher and her student.

When brought into the anomaly team, he is then sent to the underground vaults and bunkers beneath Parsons Green Station. He is then attacked, poisoned and left for dead by an Arthroplura while trying to find Cutter. It is during this time he is visited by Helen, although she also left him for dead, she gave him a message for her husband. He later remembers nothing of the incident, however.

Subsequently his memory returns, he confronts Cutter and is angered by his unconcern for his wife, stating that if she was his wife he would have gone looking for her. He later helps prepare Cutter for his trip into the underwater anomaly, arming him with a spear gun. He also tries to make amends with Abby for asking her out and then forgetting about it.

He once again proves his concern for her welfare when he runs to her rescue in episode four when she is captured by Connor's parasite-ridden friend.. However Claudia (who is also angry for his running into trouble in the subway) and Lester appear to have lost patience with him during the hunt for the Pteranodon.

Stephen appears to have undergone the least change of all the characters since the alterations in the timeline, with most of his history remaining the same including his affair with Helen. Thus he and Cutter still have a lot of issues to work through. In the final episode, he is called by Lester to handle the threat posed by a Silurian scorpion that was unleashed on a beach resort by Leek. He managed to spear the creature and left it for the ARC (or Leek as it is hinted later that Leek's collection includes the presumed dead smilodon from episode 9) to deal with after which he received a call from Helen who told him her location, telling Stephan that Nick and the others were dead and that Lester had kidnapped her.

Stephen arrived at Leek's base only to discover that Helen had lied to him and that Nick was alive. Despite feeling betrayed by Helen, Stephen showed anger towards Nick as well believing that he was wrong on how he dealt with the Anomaly crisis. Stephen, Helen and Nick tried to deal with the freed creatures by luring them into the central chamber where they were all held, luring them by ringing the bell that the creatures associated with feeding time. While doing this, a Velociraptor attacked Helen which Stephen killed with his pistol but then Helen kicked the door mechanism which could only be closed from the inside. Nick attempted to sacrifice himself but Stephen punched his mentor and entered the chamber, sealing it from the inside. The last sight of him was being killed by the assembled predators who killed each other after feasting on him. Having been relieved of his ARC duties some time earlier, and being fed disinformation by Helen, it appears that Stephen died still believing James Lester to be the traitor in the ARC (though Cutter told him that Lester wasn't the enemy moments before his death), and unaware of both Leek's role and fate.

His funeral was held by the members of the ARC but after they left, Helen arrived to visit the grave and stated that there was nothing to worry as there were ways to return. At this moment The Cleaner appears, along with 14 of his clones--under the control of Helen. This suggests that a version of Stephen from (or in) an alternate timeline might return in a future series. However, an interview with Tim Haines confirms that Stephen will definitely not be returning in the Third Series, and a new character will be introduced - Captain Becker.

I

Valerie Irwin

Valerie is a park ranger at Blue Sky Park, who discovered a Smilodon cub at least a year before the events of the episode. She raised the cat over the years, watching it mature, and gradually the food she could provide for it became insufficient, leading the cat to start eating park visitors. This provokes the team to investigate. She manages to distract Stephen from finding the creature, without giving herself away. Eventually Cutter discovers her deception and goes to her lodge at the park, where Valerie threatens him, believing he will take it into labs and experiment on her "pet". She then commands it to attack Cutter, who manages to escape it and fight it off with numerous household items in Valerie's house. When Cutter arms himself with a pitchfork outside, Valerie tries to prevent them from fighting so as not to hurt her cat. Out of frustration it attacks and kills her.

J

Christine Johnson

Christine (Played by Belinda Stewart-Wilson) is the military liaison to the ARC in Series Three. Ostensibly, her role is to provide the assistance of the armed forces to deal with the problems caused by the anomalies. However, it is apparent she has other objectives. In episode 14, she sent several soldiers through an anomaly into the future to retrieve a mysterious artefact. The mission failed, with only one soldier returning alive, and the artefact ultimately being stolen by Helen Cutter. In episode 17, it is revealed that she has her own facility, which contains an anomaly and a Future Predator which her team is running tests on. The anomaly that Christine has is normally cloaked from the ARC's Anomaly Detection Device (presumably by radio jamming on the frequency used by the detector). In episode 18 she is annoyed when her plan to get one of her men into the ARC fails, but she takes over Jenny's role. When she leaves in episode 18, Christine forces the team to leave the ARC and opposes the team in episode 19. She is forced to leave when Becker betrays her by recording her abusing the Minister, and Lester sent it to the Minister. She did so vowing 'It's not over', mirroring Lester from earlier in the episode.

Stewart-Wilson is the real life wife of Ben Miller, who plays Lester.

L

Oliver Leek

Oliver Leek
First appearance	Episode 7
Last appearance	Episode 13
Portrayed by	Karl Theobald
In-universe information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Deceased (4 March 2007)

Oliver Leek was a fictional villain in the ITV science fiction TV series Primeval, and the main antagonist of the second series. He is played by Karl Theobald

Leek works for the ARC (Anomaly Research Centre) which investigates time anomalies and stops creatures of the past and future from coming through them. He was James Lester's assistant, replacing Claudia Brown from the first series.

According to the official Primeval website, Leek is "slightly nerdy, intelligent and eager to please". He went as far as buying suits from exactly the same tailor as Lester, a feeble attempt to impress his boss. At school Leek was overlooked and the last picked at sports. As an adult, he goes to the same restaurant every morning and eats at the same table, while the waiter still fails to recognize him. Apparently he is 33 years old, 170 cm (5 ft, 8 in) tall, and was born in Birmingham.

According to the website "There is more to Leek than meets the eye", pointing towards a sinister side of him. This sinister side is first shown in Episodes 9 and 10, where he appears to be employing at least two individuals (a mysterious cleaner and Caroline Steel) to follow the team and find out as much as they can. He also appears to be consorting with Helen who seems to have placed her trust in him for some objective. In episode 12 it is revealed that Leek is overseeing a private menagerie of animals, to establish a powerful place for himself in the future. Caroline eventually steals Rex, who is then used as bait to lure Cutter's team to Leek's secret facility.

Leek is highly adept at manipulating people, seeming very much in control in episode 13, and is able to use this ability to engineer situations to his own advantage. In addition, although Cutter realises early in series two that there is a traitor within the ARC, Leek manages to avoid suspicion until he chooses to reveal himself in episode twelve, having set an elaborate trap for the team based on his knowledge of Connor Temple's working methods. He seems to dislike taking orders, and reminds Helen Cutter that he is in charge multiple times throughout episode 13.

He seems to have a great disregard to other people's feelings and human lives - he finds the fight between Abby and Caroline entertaining, and doesn't seem to care when Cutter tells him that if a predator was to escape it could wipe out mankind. Lester and Connor both refer to him as a small, insignificant or irritating man because of his aloof nature.

His plan of releasing creatures to take control of mankind fails when a virus sends Lester all the information required. If Cutter had escaped with the others, then Leek would have almost certainly been arrested, but because Cutter remains Leek still seems to think he is unstoppable. He threatens to kill Cutter using his army of future predators, but before he can command the predators to kill him, Cutter throws a neural clamp used to control the predators into an electric box, which short-circuits all the other clamps. Cutter escapes and shuts the door to the room. The future predators descend to the floor of the room and kill Leek. Lester watches the death of Leek, before leaving.

Although he is never seen at a computer terminal, it is apparent that Leek has considerable hacking skills, which he has used to install spyware on Connor's "anomaly detector", and to set a booby-trap which initiated the countdown on a bomb when Connor attempted to access Leek's personnel files.

Leek did not appear in the first season of the series. He may have existed, but just not as he did in the second series.

Due to alterations in the timeline, the cause of which is unknown, Leek was made as a replacement for Claudia Brown, who changed into Jenny Lewis, for reasons unknown.

James Lester

James Lester
First appearance	Episode One
Portrayed by	Ben Miller
In-universe information
Gender	Male
Title	Sir
Occupation	Senior UK government official
Spouse	Wife and three children (unnamed)

Sir James Peregrine Lester is a fictional character in the ITV science fiction TV series Primeval. He is played by Ben Miller .

Lester works for the British government, and is leader and ultimately responsible for the team of scientists, lead by Nick Cutter, charged with investigating the appearance of time anomalies. A ruthless and sarcastic individual, he's been given the task of uncovering the secrets of the anomalies and to prevent mass panic and he intends to do that by whatever means are necessary.

According to the official site he is without any real political allegiances although he believes that the ends justify the means and has no problems with torture. He is also hinted to be a British patriot with a distrust of the EU. - "And I thought the Common Agricultural Policy was far-fetched."

While remaining, for the most part, stubborn, paranoid, slow to face facts and willfully ignorant, he has also displayed surprising bursts of astonishing foresight and knowledge as he guesses correctly that his assistant has personal reasons for wanting Cutter to remain close by, and that Cutter was hiding something from them. He also guesses that Helen Cutter was lying in order to escape, "I think I'd trust her just about as far as I can throw a Stegosaurus", but is convinced otherwise by Claudia and Cutter, which proves to be a mistake on their part. He's usually right in the final analysis, especially on matters of human nature, when Cutter is usually wrong.

However he has also shown a softer side when he promises to have the charges against a young girl dropped, when Claudia brings the matter to his attention, even though he can simply do nothing. Like Professor Cutter, Lester has slowly mellowed out over the course of the series and become far more active and reasonable when dealing with the team.

He is a snappy dresser as he owns over 50 suits, all made to measure, all dark colours with colourful ties because someone once told him it was trendy. He also plays squash and tennis as a hobby.

Little of Lester's background has been revealed, other than he has a family. While his exact role and position in the government is unclear, he has free run of Whitehall and command of intelligence and security forces. He has spent his entire career "planning for just about every crisis imaginable — up to and including alien invasion." He describes himself as "a trouble shooter without portfolio in the PM's office" and agreed with Cutter's assessment that he is a "government backed hatchet man."

For most episodes he remains a sedentary leader and problem-solver; everyone has to go to him at Whitehall, and he operates through agents like Claudia Brown and Tom Ryan. However this is apparently not due to any lack courage in the face of danger, he has no fear going out in the field and once met up with the team in order to confront Cutter personally and ensure the capture of Helen Cutter. During her later interrogation he is quite happy to use torture to gain information.

While having an intense dislike of Cutter, and believing his team members (Connor in particular) to be annoying, he remains professional except for regular sarcastic comments. Later in the series his relationship with Cutter did reach a breaking point; he questions Cutter's role in his wife's escape and the reason for his pursuit and claims he causes more problems than he solves, which is, as usual, an accurate assessment. By the end of the first series, however, he was prepared to forgive and forget and put his neck on the line for the Professor and, when push came to shove, was prepared to actively join in the effort to find a future predator and the anomaly it came from. James Lester's middle name is Peregrine, which he keeps a closely guarded secret.

Due to alterations in the timeline, the cause of which is unknown, Lester is now the agent in charge of the A.R.C. He now also has a personal assistant, Oliver Leek, who is apparently working for Helen Cutter. Connor later discovered that his new girlfriend, Caroline Steel, is really working with Leek and Helen. Also in an interview with Ben Miller about the second series, he claims that Lester has been made a bit more macho, and gets to fire several rounds from a Sub-machine gun. In Episode 12, Lester is trapped alone inside the ARC by Oliver Leek, who attempts to kill him using a future predator controlled by "neural clamp" (some kind of external control) on its spinal column. Lester foils the attempt by releasing a Columbian mammoth which is being kept safe inside the ARC, which impales the predator on its tusks. Lester later jokingly suggests keeping the mammoth as a pet for his kids, if the team was unable to find the creature a home. This is the first time Lester mentions having a family. Lester then decides to take charge of the next anomaly investigation himself, however it turns out to be a false alarm, set up as a diversion by Leek while he lures Cutter's team to his secret facility. Lester arrives at the scene of the false alarm to find only a note reading "BAD LUCK". In the final episode, Lester shows a lot much more support and concern for the team, and goes to the extent of calling Stephen to try and help out. However, he is set up by Helen, and portrayed as a bad guy throughout the final episode (by Stephen and Helen's perspective). He also sides with Cutter, who seems willing to die to prevent anyone else from being killed. When Cutter destroys the neural clamps, releasing the predators from Leek's control, Lester insists on watching Leek being devoured by his former pets and seems unfazed by it as opposed to the horrified reactions of the other people watching, including his assistant Lorraine Wickes. When the death of Leek is over, he casually tells Lorraine to: "turn that off will you?". He also discovers the secret locations of Leek's menagerie, and mops them all up one by one. He also attends Stephen Hart's funeral, but has to leave early because of a "high-priority anomaly". In the season 3 trailer he is seen for some reason with Helen Cutter, the cleaner, Jenny Lewis and Sarah Page and a clone Nick created by Helen is holding a gun to Lester's head. He is also shown in a trailer for episode 3 of series 3 to punch one of the cleaner guards in the face.

Jenny Lewis

Jennifer Lewis
First appearance	Episode 7
Last appearance	Episode 18
Portrayed by	Lucy Brown
In-universe information
Gender	Female
Occupation	PR official
Spouse	None

Jenny Lewis is a fictional character from the ITV sci-fi drama Primeval. She is played by Lucy Brown and replaced a physically identical but temperamentally different character, Claudia Brown, played by the same actress. At the end of the first series, Claudia disappeared off the timeline, much to the disappointment of Cutter, who found it difficult to adjust when Jenny appeared, looking exactly like Claudia.

Jenny's attitude contrasts with Claudia's. She is bossy and stubborn, ignoring Cutter's order to take the stairs in Episode 8. Cutter states in Episode 9 that Jenny is a "real piece of work" to which Jenny replies, "Thank you, I'll take that as a compliment.".

Jenny is engaged, but comments made by her in Episode 10 stating that her fiancé is "not very curious, not about my work anyway" could mean she is having second thoughts or she is re-thinking the relationship. In Episode 13, Jenny states that she no longer has a fiancé, as he broke up the engagement after he thought that she had met another man, although as Jenny says, "I couldn't really tell him that it wasn't another man, as much as a something-a-saurus."

Cutter explains to Jenny that he has not had luck with women - Helen disappeared eight years before, and he claims the last woman in his life (Claudia Brown) left him.

Jenny is initially employed by James Lester to create cover stories for the activities of the Anomaly Research Centre, without being told what the ARC is really doing. She only discovers that the centre is involved in dealing with prehistoric animals when she disobeys a direct order and accidentally comes face-to-face with one that has come through the office block anomaly in episode eight. However, once she has got over the initial shock, Jenny quickly adjusts and takes the unusual nature of the job in her stride. Although her job is officially just public relations, she has no difficulty in taking a leadership role when necessary. She led an armoured team to investigate the church anomaly in Episode Twelve (though it is in fact a deliberate false alarm) and taking charge of the escape from Leek's secret facility in Episode Thirteen. In the latter she is also revealed to be a crack shot, shooting one of Leek's men from afar. She explains her ability by saying that her "friends preferred pony riding, I preferred clay pigeon shooting". James Lester regards her as the most dependable member of the team, and makes her interim leader following the death of Nick Cutter.

One quirk of Jenny's character is that she always wears high heeled shoes, which are not necessarily appropriate or practical for the work she does and sometimes hamper her. It was her reluctance to climb stairs in her high heels that first led her, in Episode 8, to learn the truth about the ARC's purpose.

Claudia remains out of existence for the rest of the series, although Jenny first appears in Episode 7. At the end of Episode 8, Cutter explains to Jenny as best he can about what could have happened to change the past. Claudia's job as Lester's assistant was changed to a man named Oliver Leek, who was revealed to be working for Helen Cutter.

It was implied that Helen was responsible for Claudia being replaced by Jenny, however this is thought not to be the case when Helen explains that the first change was an accident. It is still possible that Helen intentionally messed with Claudia/Jenny's past in order to enact revenge or to, as her obsessing in episode 13 would imply, re-set the stage for her and Nick to get together again.

Jenny confesses to Sarah Page that she has fallen in love with Nick Cutter.

When Nick dies in episode 16 as the ARC explodes, Jenny bursts into tears along with Abby and Connor, while Sarah watches on silently. Jenny said there was something she wanted to tell Nick and that was that she loved him. Jenny is promoted by Lester temporarily to team leader in episode 17. In Episode 18, Jenny discovers a partial photograph of Claudia Brown amongst the late Nick Cutter's remaining possessions. At the end of the episode, after dying within the ARC and then being resuscitated by the team, she makes the decision to leave her position for the Anomaly Research Center. It is unclear as to whether or not she will return, though the Radio Times for the week after she leaves includes her in the Cast List.

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Abby Maitland

Abby Sarah Maitland
First appearance	Episode One
Portrayed by	Hannah Spearritt
In-universe information
Gender	Female
Occupation	Zoologist

Abby Sarah Maitland is a fictional character played by Hannah Spearritt in the ITV sci-fi drama Primeval.

The official site says that while Abby has a chronic fear of spiders she developed a love of reptiles when her parents took her on holiday to the Galapagos Islands as a child and has had a love affair with lizards ever since. Although she started university she later left after only one term when she became a zookeeper. Always fit and athletic, her hobbies include gymnastics, Ashtanga yoga, karate, kick boxing, swimming, and diving. She keeps gym equipment in her flat. Actress Hannah Spearritt also stated that Abby was abused as a child. In Series 1 she seemed to be attracted to Stephen Hart, but in the second season she seems to be falling in love with Connor Temple.

She openly admits to falling in love with the wrong type of men - moody and dangerous. She also appears to have her feelings hurt easily but struggles to remain upbeat and positive. She can also be remarkably deceitful in order to get her own way as she lies to the government and to her team mates about her experiences with spiders so they will take her with them. She would not tell anyone that Rex came back through the anomaly with Nick Cutter.

She is a zoologist who first appears in the series when a small boy called Ben who alerts the zoo she works at about an escaped lizard he misidentifies as a modern day lizard named Draco volans.

She later angers Cutter when she and Connor go off to find an anomaly by themselves but is allowed to stay because he admits he needs her skills. She later allows Connor to move into her flat on a purely platonic basis. She remains as the team lab assistant and sidekick up until Episode Four when she is almost contaminated by a deadly parasite by a student friend of work/flatmate Connor Temple.

Her love/hate relationship with Connor reaches a peak in Episode Five when she is enraged that he let everyone know that she's been keeping Rex in secret but later says that if he makes her breakfast on the weekends and does the washing up for a month then he can stay. She admits that this compromise is really because she actually likes having him around. Connor hugs her, prompting Abby to say she likes having him around as a friend, hinting that she is beginning to fall in love with him.

How Abby has been changed by the alterations in the timeline is unknown. Connor now has a girlfriend in this new timeline but how this affects their relationship is unknown. Connor's girlfriend, much to Abby's horror, hates lizards, and the two do not get along. Also, her crush on Stephen, and their closeness because of it, seems to have completely disappeared in the second season.

In the first series, Abby saves Connor from a future predator with only a rock.

In Episode 7, Abby and Connor seem to have a much closer relationship than they did previously. This comes to the extent that Abby pays for Connor's slushie and lets Connor use her gun, even though there is a pack of Deinonychus on the loose. Abby has a much better flat in the second series, and the reptile species that she keeps includes Rex the Coelurosauravus, a corn snake, a milk snake, leopard geckos, bearded dragons and a boa constrictor.

In Episode 8, Abby is quietly jealous of Caroline Steel who Connor seems to have a relationship with. It is clear that Abby disapproves however, as she shows no sympathy when Connor has to leave for work or when he accidentally washes his number off. However, despite this she may well be getting romantically attached towards Connor herself, as in an interview with Adrian Hodges, he hints that Connor may get to kiss Abby.

In Episode 10, Abby is attacked by a futuristic Mer, and dragged through an anomaly to the future. Connor runs through, despite being injured, alone to help her, and tries to pull her over an overhang, and as he appears to be able to get her over, a massive Mer looms over them, preparing to kill them. Abby begs him to let her go and escape, but he refuses, finally bursting out, 'I can't let you go! I love you!' She would later confront him about the matter but at this point Caroline Steel comes for her date with Connor. Ironically, at one point Abby defeats a Mer using a kickboxing move that Caroline showed her, thus Caroline probably indirectly and unknowingly saved Abby's life.

In the season finale, Abby is captured with the rest of the team and held captive. When Caroline is thrown into the cell with Connor and Abby, the two girls fight, punching and kicking each other. Eventually Abby slams Caroline against a wall, but Caroline uses her superior strength to pin Abby down. Abby bites her and she lets go, and the two continue to grapple briefly, much to Connor's shock and Leek's amusement. Connor succeeds in breaking up the fight but when Caroline thanks him, he says "I didn't do it for you" and seems to remain close to Abby throughout the episode. Surprisingly, she later forgives Caroline and even saves her life when they are kept in a room with a smilodon. Abby splits off from the group as a distraction, and inadvertently turns off the power system and releases the creatures. Rex is shot in the episode, and Abby looks after him (but not before thanking Caroline for saving him). At the end of the episode, Abby and the rest of the team are at Stephen's funeral, where Abby lays flowers for him. As they leave, Abby reaches to hold Connor's hand, but the team get called out to an anomaly.

In series three of the show Episode Eight it is known that the pair (Abby and Connor) kiss although what happens after is unsure

In an interview with Adrian Hodges and Tim Haines on the third series, they stated that Abby and Connor would go through "hard times", but would end happy.. Also, in a recent interview at the London MCM Expo, Hannah Spearritt claimed that Abby gets a brother, which will be the first time that any of Abby's family is seen in any episode, or even mentioned..

Abby cries into Connor's shoulder once the ARC explodes and Nick dies, Connor comforts her but ends up crying himself.

Abby and Connor kiss at the end of episode 8 (series 3) when Abby finds out from Jack that Connor got Rex back from Jack's friend that won him playing poker.

Nigel Marven

Main article: Nigel Marven

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Sarah Page

Sarah Page
First appearance	Episode 14
Portrayed by	Laila Rouass
In-universe information
Gender	Female
Occupation	Egyptologist

Sarah Page studies Egyptology before joining the Primeval team in series 3. She joins after witnessing a creature attack the British History Museum in the first episode. Cutter is impressed with her skills and asks her to join the team, which she accepts. Sarah is shown to have a brother and sister type relationship with Connor. Sarah watches on in shock while Nick is lying dead on the floor after Connor has brought him from the exploding ARC. Sarah works with Connor with the 'artifact' that Cutter took from Helen and finds out that it contains a map of the matrix of anomalies that Cutter had created at the beginning of the series.

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Danny Quinn

Danny Quinn
First appearance	Episode 15
Portrayed by	Jason Flemyng
In-universe information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Former Police Officer

Danny Quinn is a Police officer who, was investigating the death of two teenagers (one being his brother) in a house believed to be haunted. He suspects Ryan Mason as the murderer, as he was the third teenager in the house, who escaped. Danny frequently went to the house to arrest trespassers, and at first thought the team were breaking in. He then arrests Connor and discovers a futuristic camoflaging creature, as well as the anomalies. He discovers that the creature was the one that murdered his brother. He shoots the creature back through the anomaly. He returns, following the team on his motorbike when they arrive in an airport and pilots a helicopter through the anomaly so the G-Rex that had come through followed him back. He is lucky to escape, as when he returns to the present he is being hunted by a herd of creatures, and Connor locks the anomaly just in time. In the next episode he breaks into the ARC and, armed with flamethrowers, searches for a fungus creature in the London underground with the team. He plans to burn it but Sarah phones Jenny to warn him not to use the flamethrowers. The team manage to get the creature into a van, then he drives it back into the ARC. They then lose the creature briefly, but it appears in the communications room, while Jenny is still there. He risks his life to go in the frozen room to distract the creature, thus saves Jenny's life. Lester decides he will be the new team leader, as suggested by Connor, Abby and Jenny. While checking security in the ARC he breaks through the ventalion shafts and then battles the titanis tricking them into the anomaly by using a loud speakerphone recording of their calling. He later battles Sir William, a medieval knight, and is almost run through by his sword. He is revealed to know Latin fairly fluently. In the first few episodes, it was implied that he fancied Jenny, but she left the team too soon for any relationship to occur between them.

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Caroline Steel

Caroline Steel
First appearance	Episode 8
Last appearance	Episode 13
Portrayed by	Naomi Bentley
In-universe information
Gender	Female

Caroline Steel is a supporting villain in the ITV science fiction television series Primeval. She is played by Naomi Bentley. Steel meets Connor Temple in Episode 8, and shows an interest in him.

She loves cats and dogs, but is scared of lizards (possibly all reptiles) much to the shock of Abby Maitland. It is eventually revealed that Steel is working for Oliver Leek (though she is largely ignorant of Leek's plans), and therefore simply using Connor to get to the team. Caroline has plans to appear on television, but so far has failed to appear upon Big Brother and X Factor. Apparently she is 22 years old, 157 centimetres tall and was born in Hackney, London. She enjoys running, dancing, fencing, squash, kick boxing, paintballing and "metal detector". She hates lizards, and has a bitter rivalry with Abby. She has had many boyfriends and has been smarter than all of them, she's never been dumped, she's alway done the dumping.

Steel met Connor in a local DVD store, where Connor was looking for science fiction DVDs . Since then she was seen being paid by Oliver Leek . In Episode 11, furious about her reputation being tarnished from just being dumped by Connor, she attacks Rex, as to avenge herself against Abby. She then takes Rex to Leek, who pays a substantial bounty. When Caroline asks what the job was all about, Leek immediately offers to show her and takes her to see his secret facility, knowing that Cutter's team will attempt to retrieve Rex by triangulating the signal from Caroline's mobile phone - thereby leading them into Leek's trap .

In Episode 13, she arrives to look at what Leek is actually doing with Rex. She sees what is going on, and is immediately repulsed. She shows constant terror at what is going on, and keeps asking Leek why she cannot go home. Leek takes her and the rest of the team hostage. In their cell, she is threatened by Abby, and the two of them fight, punching and kicking each other. Eventually Abby slams Caroline against a wall, but Caroline uses her superior strength to pin Abby down. Abby bites her and she lets go, and the two continue to grapple briefly. Connor splits them up, and Caroline thanks him. To this, Connor replies "I didn't do it for you". She explains that she was money-driven and asks Connor for forgiveness. But surprisingly, not only does Connor accept her apology, but Abby goes as far as saving Caroline's life from a sabre-toothed cat. Later on, as they escape, Caroline even shows sympathy to Rex, rescuing him after he is injured .

Later on, Caroline is seen at Stephen's funeral briefly, despite the two characters never meeting on screen, and tries to remind Connor that he still has her mobile number. She then leaves. Series creator Adrian Hodges has confirmed that she will not be returning in the next series.

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Connor Temple

Connor Temple
First appearance	Episode One
Portrayed by	Andrew-Lee Potts
In-universe information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Student of Palaeontology at Central Metropolitan University

Connor Temple is a fictional character in the ITV science fiction television series Primeval. He is played by Andrew-Lee Potts, who relates strongly to his character. He is one of the main characters, a student of Palaeontology at the fictional Central Metropolitan University. He is one of a group of people who discover that prehistoric and extinct animals are passing through anomalies in time and space. When the Home Office assigns his professor Nick Cutter to tackling the problems these creatures cause, Connor tags along and is accepted as an aid to the rest of the team.

Connor is seen as a geek, he enjoys science fiction television and films such as Blake's 7, and Star Wars. He has an enormous interest in dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals, and has created a database of prehistoric creatures. He is also interested in conspiracy theories and cryptozoology. It is this interest in these that piques his interest in a reported monster sighting (of a Gorgonopsid near the Forest of Dean), which he takes to Nick Cutter and eventually leads him and the others into discovering a time anomaly over the course of "Episode One".

While Connor finds the idea of the time anomalies exciting, he questions his own usefulness after he leads Abby Maitland on a wild goose chase in "Episode Two", especially after being reprimanded for it. He is also admittedly unsettled and afraid of some of the more dangerous creatures. Later, he almost leaves the team after one of his friends is killed by a parasite from the past in "Episode 4", but is persuaded to stay by Cutter. He has a well known crush on Abby, who he is currently living with. Although, he ended up dating a girl named Caroline Steel in the alternate timeline, but ended up admitting to Abby in 2.4 that he loved her, but due to embarrassment, did not re-approach the matter, and went on a date with Caroline, leaving Abby upset and confused.

In Series 2 Connor reveals that one thing he really does not like is rats.

At the beginning of series one, Connor is seen as a student of Nick Cutter, but one who does not attend many lectures, although he has already completed his dissertation. Later in Episode One, he claims he has 'sinus issues and allergies', but his database proves invaluable and he becomes part of the team.

In Episode Two, he admits he started the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, but did not complete it, due to a sprained ankle.

Connor Temple still lives in Abby's flat in Series 2, and the pair still have a close bond. In Episode 7 Abby and Connor seem to spend a lot more time together than they did in the previous series. Connor is also irritated by the fact that the rest of the team don't trust him with firearms. However, this may be with good reason as in Episode 7, he accidentally shoots Abby with a tranquiliser dart intended for a baby Deinonychus and in Episode 9 he shoots a costumed man playing the furry mascot of an adventure park, mistaking him for a sabre-toothed cat (though being such a poor shot, he fortunately does no real damage).

Connor makes himself useful to the team by building, programming and operating the Anomaly Detection Device, based on Cutter's discovery that anomalies cause radio interference. Connor is also the first character to notice that the team is being followed by the mysterious man, who later turns out to have been working for Oliver Leek.

In the second series, Connor also gets a new girlfriend called Caroline Steel. Caroline and Connor meet in a DVD store and he invites her back to Abby's flat with him. After Connor nearly gets eaten by a giant worm in the episode and gets covered in giant worm slime, he accidentally wipes Caroline's number off his hand. Connor clearly worries about Caroline, and by the end of the episode seems to put her ahead of Abby, much to the latter's confusion. In Episode 10, Connor is distraught when Abby is mistaken as dead, and searches for her. He does eventually find her, but is dragged into the future by a creature. When Abby is dangling from the side of a cliff, Connor tells her that he loves her. Abby later confronts Connor about this, but remains second to Caroline. In the following episode, Connor dumps Caroline after he believes that the two are not ideal for one another. (In fact, unknown to him, Caroline has been paid by Oliver Leek to spy on Connor.) This now opens him up to Abby, and seeks Stephen's help as he is still unsure of whether Abby is interested in him.

Connor remains faithful to Abby throughout the final episode of the season, and drags her out of a fight with Caroline. Connor is later shocked to find out that Caroline only went out with him because she was getting paid. Leek says that he and Connor are similar, saying that they are both "Uncool, nerdy and never get the attractive girls". To this Connor makes another sarcastic remark, saying "You can speak for yourself". Connor is very caring towards Jenny, Abby and Caroline who he stays with. He makes sure that they all climb the ladder to escape before he does. Finally, Connor is seen at the end of the episode at Stephen's funeral. He seems close to Abby, but surprisingly Caroline is invited to the funeral, despite the fact the two characters never met. Caroline reminds Connor he has her mobile number and then quickly leaves. As Connor and Abby themselves leave, Abby makes to hold Connor's hand, but Cutter receives an urgent call of a high-priority anomaly. In one of the final scenes, Connor is seen in the back of Cutter's car with a gun, already suggesting that Cutter is trusting him with guns.

In an interview with Adrian Hodges and Tim Haines on the third season, they revealed that Connor and Abby would go through "hard times" but the series would "end happily".. In a recent interview at the London MCM Expo, Andrew Lee-Potts revealed that for at least part of the series, Connor would move in with James Peregrine Lester, possibly due to the fact that Abby Maitland gets a brother. He is nearly killed by a Giganotosaurus in the third season..

In the third season after the ARC explodes Connor runs back into the building to find Cutter. When he does he finds that he had been shot. Connor wants to help him, but Cutter tells him to sit down and they start to talk. Cutter tells him that he is now in charge and has to carry on his work of tracking and exploring the anomalies. He then gives him the mysterious artefact that Helen was trying to work out what it was. Connor is then seen carrying Cutter's body out of the burning building and then after everyone realises he is dead he is seen crying and comforting a crying Abby. In episode 18 Connor is found sleeping in the ARC because Abby's baby brother Jack was staying at her flat, and she told him to crash at his mates who are both either dead or in jail for taking the dodo.

At the end of episode eight, Abby kisses Connor after she finds out from Jack, that Connor got Rex back after Jack lost him in a game of poker.

Tom

Tom should not be confused with Tom Ryan, a SAS soldier. He is a friend of Connor and Duncan and a fellow geek. He appears to be the bossier 'leader' of Connor's friends and is the one that seems to come up with the 'plans' whereas Duncan is quite happy to follow, he also seems to be slightly more aggressive than Duncan, both with and without the parasite infecting him.

He also seems to enjoy conspiracy theories. Despite this he does not believe Connor when he tries to tell he and Duncan what he has been involved in without breaking the Official Secrets Act, and he and Duncan devise their own conspiracy theories around the dodo that they capture (none of which are particularly rational).

He is infected by a prehistoric parasite which makes him more aggressive, photophobic, and he attempts to pass on the parasite. Apart from a doctor who examines him, he manages to avoid biting anyone. The team did not find him in time to save him. He died, his last words being "I'm a hero."

The Prehistoric Parasite was passed on by a Dodo.

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Tom Ryan

Tom Ryan
First appearance	Episode One
Last appearance	Episode Six
Portrayed by	Mark Wakeling
In-universe information
Gender	Male
Title	Captain
Occupation	Special Ops Captain

Captain Tom Ryan was a fictional character in the ITV sci-fi drama Primeval. He was the leader of the special forces unit that often aids Nick Cutter and his team. He is played by Mark Wakeling. He joined the army at 17, saw active service in both gulf wars, joined the SAS, then transferred to a special elite unit, engaged in top secret operations at the age of 35. He once led an army walking team to the South Pole and back in record time and commented that it was chilly on his return. He was attacked by a future predator at the end of series one and died shortly afterwards. He was replaced in Series 3, by Captain Becker

As a background character little is known about his relationship with the others. It is generally a fact that he is in charge of all the soldiers, but follows Cutter's orders, such as in Episode 2 when Cutter tells him to kill the centipede, or in Episode 6 when Cutter orders everyone to stop and make camp. While he treats Cutter as the leader mostly, his orders are overruled on several occasions successfully by the government officials. When told to shoot the flying creature on the golf course he does so despite Cutter's protests, and in Episode 3 is willing to capture Helen Cutter when ordered to despite knowing Cutter did not approve. Whether the others consider him part of the group is debatable. In Episode 4 he calls Connor by his name signifying he at least knows him slightly, and when Stephen asks everyone if they know of the movies where you think the monsters dead but in fact the monsters still alive Captain Ryan answers yes, and says that he hates those films - signifying that he knows the group well enough to assume the question which was directed at the team included himself. In his possibly final scene he attempts to save Cutter by opening fire on the futuristic beast knowing full well it will give his position away and gets mortally wounded, Cutter rushes to him after the beast is killed by a gorgonopsid specifically rather than any other soldier and Captain Ryan reminisces slightly about their first trip through the anomaly. It shows that Cutter considers him more than just a regular soldier and Captain Ryan is willing to open up to Cutter and likes him enough to risk his life for him.

In Episode One he first appears towards the end as they are about to perform an expedition into the anomaly. It is said he has seen action in the first gulf war and has had experience in desert combat. When Cutter refuses to leave towards the end of the expedition he knocks Cutter out with the handle of his pistol. When Cutter comes round he hits him but Ryan hits him back harder and tells him not to do that, he says he will stay with Cutter if he refuses to leave but both decide to leave.

In Episode Two he leads the special forces unit into the London underground where they come into contact with Prehistoric spiders the team can't fire in enclosed spaces and try to fight them off with their fists but are forced back because of the sheer number of them. He then later accompanies Connor and Cutter to collect venom from the giant centipede in the tube station, once the venom has been collected Cutter tells him to finish off the centipede but despite initial success shooting him the centipede disarms him but Connor comes in with a chair forcing him in to a generator electrocuting and killing it.

In Episode Three he firstly helps operate the rope on Cutter when he dives through the underwater anomaly and helps pull him out when his oxygen supply reaches zero then leads the special forces into the anomaly to capture Helen Cutter and forcibly bring her back.

In Episode Four his team accompany Helen Cutter to an anomaly where a pack of saber tooth tigers are supposed to be, and when she escapes he pursues her but she escapes through a series of anomalies on the other side. Then a flock of dodos come through the anomaly. Cutter and his team, with difficulty, round up all but one of the dodos and send them back through the anomaly. When an infected Tom, Connor's friend, attacks Abby he and his special forces team arrive and fix their laser sights on him but before they can shoot him Connor blocks the way and despite his protest he is forced not to shoot and Connor talks Tom out of his rage.

In Episode Five his team accompany Cutter to a golf course where a flying creature is killing people, when ordered to shoot it he obeys but Cutter pushes him making his shot miss. He looks at Cutter resentfully. At the end when the creature flies back into the void while everyone else in Cutters team are cheering he simply lowers his gun and appears happy.

In Episode Six when pursuing the futuristic creature he says to Cutter he is happy that the team is allowed to kill this one as he was starting to feel "like a bloody social worker." He is mortally wounded by the futuristic predator, and correctly predicts himself to be the skeleton they found in Episode One.

It was speculated that Ryan would return in the second series, but he never made an appearance, and is still dead in the new time line. Oliver Leek's mercenary, credited as "Mysterious Man", was mistaken as Ryan by some viewers as they wore similar uniforms and both said "I'm not a social worker!" (Ryan remarked in Episode 6 that he "was beginning to feel like a social worker."), but they are now clearly not the same person. It is entirely possible Ryan could be resurrected in the third season due to Helen's meddling with the anomalies. On the Series 2 DVD extra (Through the Anomaly) the Producers hint that "there is a he who comes back" and because it has been confirmed that both Stephen and Leek are dead and not returning, it is entirely possible it could be Captain Ryan.

According to the BBC America website with Douglas Henshall, it was revealed that initially Captain Ryan was going to be killed off in the first episode, but Mark Wakeling acted so well that they commissioned him for the entire series. Henshall also stated that he would have wanted Ryan to be like the character of Kenny McCormick in South Park; with him being killed and resurrected throughout the different series.

W

Lorraine Wickes

Lorraine Wickes is a fictional character in the ITV science fiction television series Primeval. She is portrayed by English actress Claire Spence.

Not to be mistaken with the fictional character Lorraine Wicks who appeared in the BBC television soap opera EastEnders as the wife of David Wicks.

Lorraine appears in Episode 13 working as a technician in the ARC (Anomaly Research Centre) before becoming Lester's temporary assistant (after the disappearance of his former assistant Oliver Leek in Episode 12). Lorraine is one of the few people who witnesses the grim demise of Leek by the future predators. When the onscreen death of Leek is over, Lester casually tells Lorraine "turn that off will you?".