James Lester

From Primeval Wiki

Sir James Peregrine Lester
Profession:	Home Office official
Appearances:	Series 1 Series 2 Series 3
Actor/Actress:	Ben Miller

Sir James Peregrine Lester is a Home Office official, ultimately responsible for the team of scientists charged with investigating the appearance of time anomalies. In the original timeline he was a rather distant administrator, who employed Claudia Brown as his liaison with the anomaly response team. However, in the altered timeline following Claudia's disappearance, he is the head of the new Anomaly Research Centre.

He's been given the task of uncovering the secrets of the anomalies and preventing mass panic. He’s the ideal man for the job. As far as he’s concerned the government knows best and the public has no right to know anything. He is arrogant, sarcastic and ruthless and makes no bones about his dislike of Nick Cutter (or anyone for that matter). He tends to regard the anomaly response team as "amateurs" but tolerates their lack of professionalism since, by his own admission, they are nevertheless very good at what they do.

Despite being married with three children, he never discusses his family – in fact he rarely admits he even has one. He only sees them at weekends, and has an apartment in London which he uses during the working week. Somewhat against his better judgement he allows Connor Temple to use his spare room in series 3 while Jack Maitland is staying at Abby's flat.

Lester owns over 50 suits; all dark colours, all made to measure. He teams these with colourful ties. Someone told him once that that it was trendy – an image that he’s keen to promote. (Series 1). After the incident in through the anomaly (Episode 1.6), Lester runs the ARC where his team have moved to too.

When a Future Predator was smuggled into the ARC, Lester took up arms, alone, to combat the lethal creature, tearing into it's body with several rounds of an M249. Failing to kill the predator through firepower, he went on to free the columbian mammoth from it's holding pen, which promply killed the creature via impaling. Angered by Oliver Leek's remarks and comments, Lester travelled personally to the building where Leek was supposedly hiding out. However, Leek once again had the upper hand, trumping Lester once more by leaving the remote used to control the future predator in a completely abandoned building. Attached was a note of mockery, which simply read: "Bad Luck".(Episode 2.6)

In series three, Lester is faced with a dilemma when Christine Johnson appears as his new boss at the ARC. He becomes more on Cutter's side than the law side. (Episode 3.1) When the ARC burns down, Lester puts Jenny Lewis in charge of operations, replacing Cutter. (Episode 3.3) After Jenny Lewis quits her job as head of operations, Lester employs Danny Quinn as the new head of operations, (Episode 3.5) and in the episode following Lester knows about the artifact and stays with Captain Becker in the ARC when Christine Johnson takes over. (Episode 3.6)

Series 1 Main Characters
Nick Cutter  • Stephen Hart  • Connor Temple  • Abby Maitland  • Claudia Brown  • Helen Cutter  • James Lester  • Tom Ryan

Series 2 Main Characters
Nick Cutter  • Stephen Hart  • Connor Temple  • Abby Maitland  • Jenny Lewis  • Helen Cutter  • James Lester  • Oliver Leek  • Caroline Steel  • The Cleaner

Series 3 Main Characters
Nick Cutter  • Connor Temple  • Abby Maitland  • Jenny Lewis  • Helen Cutter  • James Lester  • Danny Quinn  • Sarah Page  • Captain Becker  • Christine Johnson

Younger Storybooks Main Characters
Nick Cutter  • Stephen Hart  • Connor Temple  • Abby Maitland  • Claudia Brown  • Jenny Lewis  • Helen Cutter  • James Lester  • Tom Ryan  • Oliver Leek  • Caroline Steel  • The Cleaner

Older Novels Main Characters
Nick Cutter  • Stephen Hart  • Connor Temple  • Abby Maitland  • Jenny Lewis  • James Lester  • Helen Cutter  • Danny Quinn  • Captain Becker  • Sarah Page