'Primeval' star 'happy with expanded role'

Primeval star Hannah Spearritt has insisted that her character Abby will be more prominent in the new series.

The actress told SFX that the character's role in the sci-fi drama's previous run had been reduced in editing.

"Abby is more in the forefront in series five," she confirmed. "Definitely in series five you won't feel that [she's been sidelined]."

Spearritt explained that the young zoologist will be "put in a difficult position" early on in the fifth run.

"As you know from series four, Matt's from the future [but] Abby doesn't know this yet," she said. "[Then] at the beginning of series five, she actually walks in on Matt and discovers that he's from the future. And that kicks off an alliance between Matt and Abby."

She continued: "It starts off this relationship where she is now privy to a lot of information that she maybe initially didn't want, but she is very interested in why Matt is here and making sure that things don't go wrong. That's her journey in a nutshell."

Spearitt's co-star Andrew-Lee Potts (Connor Temple) recently claimed that a Primeval film is still in active development.

The new series of Primeval begins on May 24 at 8pm on Watch.

Watch a clip from the Primeval fifth series premiere below: