'Primeval' creators share new series gossip

With a weekly audience of over 6 million, Primeval has emerged as an unlikely hit for ITV in the hard-to-please "cult sci-fi" genre. The series has just been commissioned for its third season, but with the revelations of the season two finale still hanging, what's in store for the team next time round? Tube Talk speaks to show creators Adrian Hodges and Tim Haines to find out.

How is production going on season three?
Tim: "Very well. We're very much in the script stage and don't start shooting until mid-April. We've started pre-production but we've got another week until they do camera reccies and so on. We've got our first block of directors lined up, so it's just a matter of nailing the scripts to the first block now."

How many episodes are there in season three?
Adrian: "Ten this time."

Three more than last year.. how is that affecting production?.
Adrian: "It makes you panic a little! There's more in the same amount of time. So we're very concentrated at the moment, it's fair to say! With a show like this, the post-production issues are immense so there isn't really a lot of slack in the schedule to hang about. But we had a slightly earlier recommission this time, so it meant more time to get moving. To be honest, we've been planning the storylines pretty much continuously since we finished shooting season two."

At the end of season two we saw Stephen apparently killed, but the revelation that some kind of cloning could bring him back. Is he really dead?
Adrian: "That begs a question, doesn't it? There was a natural point at the end of season two to finish one aspect of the storyline between Cutter and Stephen. Whether that is completely the end of that remains to be seen."

Why did you decide to kill him off?
Tim: "Throughout season two, the chasm between Stephen and Cutter was getting wider and wider, so at the end of that season he either had to leave or get killed. It needed some resolution. These are the exciting parts of series - some people die, new people arrive, and that's what makes it so dynamic. So by the end of season two, if none of the team had been killed, when they're dealing with monsters every day, that would be more unusual, I think."

Who do you have writing this year?
Adrian: "Quite a lot of writers who are new to the show. The first ep is written by Steve Bailey. Other writers on board we have on board are Paul Farrell, Andy Rattenbury and Mike Cullen, all of whom have experience in different kind of areas. James Moran, who has been involved in the new season of Doctor Who, is another one."

Will all of the cast be back for season three?
Tim: "Yes, they're all coming back again, but we can't really answer that for Stephen. There'll be some new characters as well."

Will Caroline be back?
Adrian: "No, she's not. Caroline and Leek are not coming back. They very much had season two arcs."

In the last season we got a glimpse of a future world. Is that something we will explore more of, moving forward?
Tim: "There are very many different future worlds, of course, and that was just one of them."
Adrian: "There is a different future world that is a significant part of the new season."

At the moment you have a competition running to let viewers create a creature for the new season. What's the thinking behind that?
Tim: "One aspect of Primeval that doesn't normally reach the screen is that the process of making a creature is quite fun. We thought it would be a nice idea, since we have got creatures that you have to make up, to offer a member of the audience that experience."

Do you have ideas about the sort of creature you'd like?
Tim: "We're trying to keep it as open as possible. We now know which episode it's going to be in, but until we see what we get, we don't want to prescribe anything. We have said that this isn't a prehistoric creature - we're looking for a future creature - so that gives people as much latitude as possible."

How many seasons have you planned for?
Adrian: "I'll be completely honest about that. From the second or third episode of season one, we've had a view of how the storyline might develop over three years, assuming we were lucky enough to get recommissioned. You have to remember that you can never take recommissioning for granted, so you have to make sure that any season has a proper arc of its own, and a climax of its own. We've all seen those American series that end with a brilliant cliffhanger but then they never come back because it gets cancelled and that's always kind of a drag."
Tim: "I think we have an idea of the serial elements moving forward. We're [already] thinking about season four. The season ideas are very much approached individually, episode by episode, because we're very keen that the programme - which has a fairly simple conceit behind it - feels different and fresh every week."

For more details on the 'Create A Creature' competition, visit the Primeval website. Season three airs on ITV1 from early 2009.

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