'Primeval' star blasts Simon Cowell

Primeval star Douglas Henshall has branded X Factor judges Simon Cowell and Sharon Osbourne "terrible people" and claimed that they are ruining television.

Henshall, who plays Nick Cutter in ITV's science fiction series, told The Times: "It [Primeval] is old-fashioned entertainment and, if there is more of that in the world, we might get TV back from the clutches of terrible people like Simon Cowell and Sharon Osbourne. Their shows are one step removed from lions and Christians."

The 42-year-old actor, currently in rehearsals to play Satan in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot at the Almeida Theatre, also described Primeval as "The A-Team with dinosaurs". A third season of the show has been commissioned and will be screened in 2009.

> Click here for our review of Primeval's second season