Episode #1.4 (30 Aug. 2008)

Lester begins interrogating Helen Cutter in a high-tech Home Office maximum security wing, but gets nowhere; she demands that Nick be brought to her. Meanwhile Connor achieves his dream and... See full summary »

Director:

Jamie Payne

Writers:

Tim Haines (creator), Adrian Hodges (creator),

Stars:

Manjeet Mann, Amaar Sardharwalla, Juliet Aubrey

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
Manjeet Mann	...	Mrs. Davis
Amaar Sardharwalla	...	Small Boy
Juliet Aubrey	...	Helen Cutter
Ben Miller	...	James Lester
Lucy Brown	...	Claudia Brown
Mark Wakeling	...	Capt. Tom Ryan
Douglas Henshall	...	Nick Cutter
James Murray	...	Stephen Hart
Andrew Lee Potts	...	Connor Temple (as Andrew-Lee Potts)
Hannah Spearritt	...	Abby Maitland
Jake Curran	...	Tom
James Bradshaw	...	Duncan
Billy Carter	...	Doctor

Storyline

Lester begins interrogating Helen Cutter in a high-tech Home Office maximum security wing, but gets nowhere; she demands that Nick be brought to her. Meanwhile Connor achieves his dream and moves in with Abby, to the amazement of his friends Tom and Duncan, who decide to put a tracker on him and thereby follow the team to a sport stadium where another anomaly has opened in the restaurant kitchens. Tom and Duncan manage to take a dodo home with them before they realize it has a very nasty bite.

---

Plot Keywords:

dodo | interrogation | escape | parasite | soccer | 

---

Genres:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

---

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 August 2008 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

ITV Productions, Impossible Pictures, M6 Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

46 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Goofs

When Abby and Tom are talking over the carcass of the Dodo, Abby tells Tom to 'Take it easy', though the video doesn't match.

---

Quotes

Helen Cutter: Presumably there are still laws against kidnapping.
Sir James Lester: Mmmm, though officially you're dead! We can't have kidnapped somebody who doesn't actually exist, can we? The only way you can get out of here is by telling us everything you know about the anomalies.
Helen Cutter: I'll tell you one thing: you're the spitting image of a Utah raptor I once met in the Jurassic.

---

Connections

References Battlestar Galactica (2004)

User Reviews

"We can sell Dodo sick on eBay." OK fourth episode.

Primeval #1.4 starts as Helen (Juliet Aubrey) the not so long lost wife of Professor Nick Cutter (Douglas Henshall) takes the team to where she says the next anomaly will appear, they all end up at a football ground where they indeed find another anomaly. As they stand there a few Dodo's jump out & in the ensuing havoc Helen escapes into the anomaly, one of the Dodo's manages to get outside where it is captured by two of Connor's (Andrew Lee Potts) geeky friends who plan to make some money out of it. Meanwhile back at the football stadium one of the Dodo's dies so Cutter & his assistant Stephen Hunt (James Murray) perform an autopsy only to discover it was carrying a deadly worm like parasite which goes from host to host laying it's eggs & could have the potential to wipe out entire cities in days...

Episode 4 from season 1 of this made-for-British TV sci-fi adventure was directed by Jamie Payne & is an OK episode, it's certainly an improvement over the previous one anyway. The script by Bev Doyle & Richard Kurti again feels very familiar as pretty much very story from this show so far has been some sort of rehash of a Hollywood flick & this time there are any number of films you could mention which deal with parasites & nasty things finding a home in the human body, I'm sorry but it all feels very familiar & that's the way I feel about this show in general. Surprisingly there's a somewhat tragic unhappy ending here that was unexpected, it's a touch sentimental I suppose but definitely unexpected. At only 45 minutes in length, excluding commercials, it lasts for just about long enough to develop a story but not long enough to outstay it's welcome. I'm glad Cutter's annoying wife Helen doesn't get much screen time here & I'm still not liking any of the character's that much.

As usual the special effects are pretty impressive considering the relatively low budget it probably had, here we see the first historically actuate creature in the now extinct Dodo although the parasite worm thing is yet another made up monster. I must admit I'm curious as to the football ground where this was shot because I didn't recognise it & I love the beautiful game myself. The acting is OK but Lucy Brown who plays the Home office woman acting is getting worse by the episode.

Primeval #1.4 is another painless way to pass 45 odd minutes, it's nothing outstanding or overly original but there's some fun to be had here if you like sci-fi.