Primeval (TV series)

Primeval is a British science fiction drama television programme produced by Impossible Pictures for ITV. First broadcast in early 2007, the series has been renewed for a second season by ITV, to be shown in 2008. The entire cast of season one will return for season two in 2008. Also Karl Theobald who starred in Green Wing and Naomi Bentley who is best known for her role as Shelley in The Mark of Cain will be joining the current cast for Series 2.

The series follows a team of scientists who investigate anomalies in time and deal with the ancient creatures that come through, although they are not always prehistoric. The team of five is led by Professor Nick Cutter, a palaeontologist determined to find his wife who disappeared while investigating an anomaly in the Forest of Dean, England eight years previously.

The series was created by Adrian Hodges, who wrote the majority of the scripts, and Tim Haines of Impossible Pictures. It was produced by Haines and Cameron McAllister. Primeval features film-quality 2D & 3D special effects by London effects house Framestore CFC. It previously had the working title Primaeval.

Episode one was first broadcast in UK on ITV on 10 February, 2007 at 7:45pm. The episode was shown on Hong Kong TV channel TVB Pearl on 14 February 2007, only four days after the UK premiere. The series also began to air on April 4, 2007, in Canada where it has been licensed by the channel SPACE. It has also been licensed by the Australian network and premiered on 28 April 2007 on Channel Nine, the New Zealand network TV2 on 11 July 2007, and by the Spanish network Cuatro; it will air on these some time in 2007. Dutch TV channel Tien started to broadcast the series on March 22, 2007. It was announced that HBO Latin America acquired the show. German TV channel Pro7 started to broadcast the series on June 4, 2007.

ITV previously produced Prehistoric Park, a programme with the similar premise of the main characters travelling back to the time of the dinosaurs (or even earlier).

The opening theme song was made expressly for the show, whilst the closing theme song is All Sparks by Editors although on the DVD it is changed back to the show's opening theme.