Episode 3 (Primeval)

Infobox Television episode
Title = Episode Three
Series = Primeval


Caption = Cutter searching for Helen in the Cretaceous.
Season = 1
Episode = 3
Airdate = 24 February, 2007
Production = 3
Writer = Adrian Hodges
Director = Cilla Ware
Guests =
Episode list = List of episodes
Prev = Episode 2
Next = Episode 4

Episode Three of the ITV sci-fi drama Primeval was broadcast in the UK on February 24, 2007.

Plot

At the Crystal Palace Diving Institute in London, lifeguard Antony Barton and girlfriend Dianne Johnson frolic in the swimming pool alone. Shortly after Dianne returns to the changing room, Antony jumps from the high-diving board and straight into the waiting jaws of an adult mosasaur. Unable to find her boyfriend, Dianne is terrified when she sees the creature through a submerged window.

The following morning, Nick Cutter is engaged in a meeting at the Home Office over the Carboniferous anomaly which, unlike the Permian anomaly, shows no signs of weakening. Cutter asserts that the anomalies may re-open periodically and that the government's role should be to predict their appearance and contain whatever creatures might come through. In the course of the meeting, James Lester is informed of the attack at the diving institute, and orders Cutter's team to investigate.

Stephen Hart, having recovered from being bitten by an "Arthropleura" in the previous episode, is met at the hospital by Connor Temple and Abby Maitland. Abby, whom Stephen had asked on a date, is thrown to find that in addition to having no memory of the incident, Stephen already has a girlfriend. Connor later questions Stephen about his indiscretion on Abby's behalf, only to find Stephen is unaware of Abby's feelings for him.

Upon arrival at the diving institute, the team discovers that the anomaly has closed, the mosasaur having first been driven back through it by the chlorine content of the water, and that Dianne is to be prosecuted for Antony's murder. Claudia Brown pressures Lester to have the charges dropped, but Lester dismisses the idea, finding it preferable that the innocent witness be jailed until the immediate crisis is under control rather than telling the public that an ancient marine predator is on the loose.

When Antony's regurgitated remains surface in a west London reservoir, Nick concludes that the anomalies can move from place to place. The investigation moves to the reservoir, where Connor finds that the water level of the land-locked reservoir is dropping, being connected through an anomaly to a tidal sea. As Special Forces divers search for the underwater anomaly, Claudia confronts Nick about the delusions of Helen Cutter that Stephen experienced after having been bitten, but Nick evades the questions when he realizes that the steam now rising from the reservoir is revealing the location of the anomaly, since warm tropical water is now pouring back into the reservoir with the rising tide. Nick, Stephen, and several SAS divers move to investigate the anomaly, one of whom accidentally swims through it and disappears.

Meanwhile, Connor and Abby wade into the reservoir to take water samples. Abby dismisses Connor's defense of Stephen, whose memory was briefly lost, but the pair soon realize that they are being circled by a juvenile mosasaur. The creature pursues them to land and beaches itself where, both being pinned against a high metal fence, Connor fights it off with a wooden oar. Wounded, the mosasaur swims back through the anomaly before it closes, leaving the missing SAS diver marooned on the other side. Abby expresses gratitude to Connor for saving her life. Upon returning to the Home Office, Nick hypothesizes that the anomaly is tracing a linear path across west London, an idea which Lester rejects. Regaining his memory of seeing Helen, Stephen confronts Nick, who admits that he knew she was alive but that he does not know her motives. Stephen promises not to tell the rest of the team, but states that if Helen was his wife, he would 'go through a million anomalies to find her.'

In a suburban home in west London, water spreads through the basement. Suspecting a leak, the homeowner calls a plumber, who arrives to find waist-deep water and a frightened "Hesperornis" which quickly claims his life. Captain Tom Ryan and his team are sent to investigate, finding the bodies of both the plumber and the SAS diver who disappeared in the reservoir, the latter apparently having died from shock. Tied to the diver's wrist is a handkerchief which Nick identifies as being Helen's. Claudia furiously criticizes Nick for hiding the fact that Helen was alive, and Lester orders him to go through the anomaly with an armed team and bring Helen back, as her knowledge of the anomalies would be invaluable. Nick agrees, on the condition that he does so alone.

Donning scuba gear and armed with a speargun, Nick enters the anomaly through the basement and emerges underwater in a tropical Cretaceous sea. Climbing onto the beach, he soon finds Helen swimming in a shallow tide pool surrounded by nesting "Hesperornis". Helen reveals that she contacted him in the wish that he would join her in her travels, but Nick realizes that she knowingly allowed him to think she was dead for eight years. Helen dismisses the situation in the present, saying that when humanity dies out, nature will not care. Disgusted by her callousness, Nick rejects her offer and opts to return through the anomaly alone. He is attacked by the juvenile mosasaur en route, losing his air tank in the process, but as the juvenile moves in for the kill it is caught and devoured by the adult mosasaur.

Towed back through the anomaly by rope, Nick is resuscitated by Claudia and confirms that he made contact with Helen. While Nick is being placed in the ambulance, the team is suddenly held at gunpoint, and Nick sees that Lester has sent Captain Ryan and an armed team through the anomaly, who have brought a bewildered Helen Cutter back by force.

Cast

* Nick Cutter — Douglas Henshall
* Abby Maitland — Hannah Spearritt
* Stephen Hart — James Murray
* Connor Temple — Andrew-Lee Potts
* Claudia Brown — Lucy Brown
* Helen Cutter — Juliet Aubrey
* Sir James Lester — Ben Miller
* Captain Tom Ryan — Mark Wakeling
* Diane Johnson — Abigail Aston
* Detective Inspector — Andrew French
* Jane Dexter — Pascale Burgess
* Tom — Jake Curran
* Duncan — James Bradshaw
* Plumber — Aled Pugh
* Lifeguard bokney grill
* Lifeguard's girlfriend -sue hetney

Production

* The episode features mosasaurs, which appeared in another Impossible Pictures Production Sea Monsters, and screenshots from that episode on Connor's laptop.
* Final viewing figures for this episode were 6.17 million.

Continuity

* Stephen is only just recovering from his "Arthropleura" bite and only just remembers meeting Helen.
* Cutter states he has seen Helen since her disappearance, a fact he previously kept secret.

Animals seen

The anomaly leads to the Late Cretaceous Period, about 75 million years ago:
*Mosasaur (one came through the anomaly, returned home.)
*"Hesperornis" (one came through the anomaly, returned home.)
*Unidentified fish (a shoal is seen being hunted by the "Hesperornis")
*Unidentified pterosaur (several are seen through the anomaly but none come through.)

Errors

* The mosasaur was shown with an armoured crocodile-like body, but in reality it would have been smooth-skinned and streamlined.
* The "Hesperornis" is described as having scales instead of feathers, and walking upright; this would be impossible for hesperornids Fact|date=May 2008.

External links

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