Series 3

Series 3 of Primeval is the third series of the original British Primeval television programme. Series 3 focuses primarily on the ARC team, as they go through numerous changes and challenges; including the death of Nick Cutter, the attempts of Christine Johnson to take control over the ARC, and Helen Cutter's attempts to destroy the ARC to try and save the future.

Plot

As the ARC team still reel from Stephen's death, they are joined by several new team members, including new security leader Captain Hilary Becker, and sparky Egyptologist Sarah Page. Meanwhile, after discovering a future world where the Earth is overrun with Future Predators, Helen Cutter sets out on a mission in the present against the ARC, whom she blames for the future catastrophe, and launches an attack on the ARC in which Nick Cutter is killed by Helen.

The ARC subsequently manage to obtain a mysterious artifact from the future from Helen, which in turn causes military liaison Christine Johnson to target the ARC and attempt to take control of it and get the Artifact for her own purposes. Following Cutter's death, the ARC team are ultimately joined by ex-cop and new team leader Danny Quinn, and Jenny Lewis learns of her alternate life as Claudia Brown and ultimately leaves the ARC. Meanwhile, Connor himself is forced to move out of Abby's flat and into Lester's (to the latter's chagrin and misery) when the troublesome Jack Maitland moves in with Abby.

As Johnson's mission to get the Artifact from the ARC continues, Helen returns and kills Johnson. When the ARC team learn that Helen intends to wipe out humanity's ancestors to stop them evolving to cause the future disaster, Danny, Connor and Abby are sent on a race after her through the Anomalies. Helen is killed before she can kill off enough of humanity's ancestors to have a temporal impact, but Abby, Connor and Danny are themselves left marooned in the past.

Episodes

Overall Episode	Serial number	Director	Writer(s)	Airdate	Main creature(s)
14	1	Tony Mitchell	Steve Bailie	28 March, 2009	Pristichampsus
15	2	Cilla Ware	James Moran	4 April, 2009	Camouflage Beast
16	3	Tony Mitchell	Mike Cullen	11 April, 2009	Diictodon Clones
17	4	Mark Everest	Paul Mousley	18 April, 2009	Giganotosaurus
18	5	Mark Everest	Catherine Linstrum, Paul Mousley	25 April, 2009	Future Fungus
19	6	Cilla Ware	Paul Farrell	2 May, 2009	Terror Birds
20	7	Richard Curson Smith	Andrew Rattenbury	9 May, 2009	Dracorex
21	8	Richard Curson Smith	Cameron McAllister	16 May, 2009	Megopterans Future Predators
22	9	Matthew Thompson	Paul Farrell	23 May, 2009	Embolotherium
23	10	Matthew Thompson	Steve Bailie	6 June, 2009	Future Predators Megopterans Raptors Australopithecus

Primeval Evolved

Primeval Evolved was an interactive spin-off series from Primeval, featuring some of the cast from the show. It ran parallel with Series 3, playing in this order:

Primeval Evolved Intro proceeding Episode 3.1 then followed by Primeval Evolved Week 1
Episode 3.2 followed by Primeval Evolved Week 2
Episode 3.3 followed by Primeval Evolved Week 3
Episode 3.4 followed by Primeval Evolved Week 4
Episode 3.5 followed by Primeval Evolved Week 5
Episode 3.6 followed by Primeval Evolved Week 6
Episode 3.7 followed by Primeval Evolved Week 7
Episode 3.8 followed by Primeval Evolved Week 8
Episode 3.9 followed by Primeval Evolved Week 9
Episode 3.10 followed by Primeval Evolved Week 10

Cast and characters

Main cast and characters

Douglas Henshall as Nick Cutter and as the Nick Cutter Clone
Andrew-Lee Potts as Connor Temple
Hannah Spearritt as Abby Maitland
Lucy Brown as Jenny Lewis
Juliet Aubrey as Helen Cutter
Ben Miller as James Lester
Ben Mansfield as Hilary Becker
Laila Rouass as Sarah Page
Jason Flemyng as Danny Quinn
Belinda Stewart-Wilson as Christine Johnson

Guest cast and characters

Micheal Wildman as Ross
Regina Freedman as Marion Taylor
Cristina Catalina as Cleaning Lady
Chris Wilson as Traffic Warden
Tim Faraday as the Cleaner Clones
Bertie Carvel as Ryan Mason
Joe Prospero as Young Ryan Mason
Jack Bence as Patrick Quinn
Glyn Grimstead as Stanley Morgan (Chief)
Chris Ryman as Jimmy Keel
Polly Dartford as Emily
Ramon Tikaram as Mick Harper
Ruth Gemmell as Katherine Kavanagh
Nina Toussaint-White as Melanie
Nigel Marven as himself/Documentary Presenter
Robert Lowe as Jack Maitland
Alex McSweeney as Joseph Wilder
Antony Edridge as Airplane Captain
William Scott-Masson as Richard Bentley
Mark Leadbetter as Mark Baker
Theo Cross as Lloyd
Terrance Maynard as Chauffeur
Jack Gordon as Tony
Tony Curran as William de Mornay
Patrick Romer as Priest
Rebecca Calder as Elizabeth Lionel
Jordan Long as Jimmy
Jamie Glover as Village Boy
Brad Damon as Mike
Kate Magowan as Eve (Helen Cutter in disguise)
Tom McKay as Joe
Marcus Onilude as Randy

Reception

Series 3 received generally mixed critical reception. Fans of the previous two series praised the action sequences and original creatures and ideas, but criticised the writing, storyline and acting as poor.

Series rewrites

Due to cast members like, Douglas Henshall (Nick Cutter) and Lucy Brown (Jenny Lewis) deciding to leave, this series had to go through several rewrites:

Episode 3.3 was originally the second episode and 3.2 was the third. As such, James Moran had to draft four versions of Episode 3.2 before it was finally revised by Adrian Hodges. ^[1]
Four - five other episodes featuring Nick Cutter had to be scrapped and completely new ones written for Danny Quinn.

Cancellation and Revival of Primeval

After the broadcast of Series 3, in June 2009, it was announced that Primeval had been cancelled. However, by September 2009, it was revealed that two more series' of Primeval would be produced.