Drama
*** Please note all Douglas Henshall quotes regarding his exit from the series are embargoed until 00.01 Monday 6th April ***
Creatures: DIICTODONS / CLONES
Main Location: Hospital / the ARC
The team faces not one but two very different types of threat in episode three - one from the past, one from the future.
When an anomaly from the Permian era opens in the centre of a busy London hospital, disaster looms as diictodons, cute but surprisingly dangerous burrowing creatures roam freely around the corridors.
With teeth so sharp they can chew through anything from concrete to steel, the safe working of the hospital is threatened as the diictodons threaten to chomp through the main power supply.
Calamity is averted by Cutter (Douglas Henshall), Connor (Andrew-Lee Potts), Abby (Hannah Spearritt) and Captain Becker (Ben Mansfield) who are obliged to get the creatures back to their own time before the anomaly closes. The four split up and while Becker learns just how irritating Connor can be, Abby and Cutter have their knowledge of evolution tested in the ultimate way. Locked in a hospital room with one VERY expectant mother and a burrowing diictodon Abby has to transfer her zoology skills in the most surprising of ways.
Their task isn’t helped by dogged journalist Mick Harper (Ramon Tikaram) who is determined to catch one of the creatures and expose the ARC and its secrets to the world. Meanwhile Lester, Jenny (Lucy Brown) and Sarah (Laila Rouass) are confronted with an attack on the ARC, led by Helen Cutter (Juliet Aubrey) and a small army of “Cleaner Replicas”. She has come to ask Nick the significance of the artefact which is now in her possession. Featuring in flashback we learn she stole it during the fierce fight between Christine Johnson’s soldiers and the future predators.
Unable to gain access to the ARC without the correct security access, she has however cloned her ex-husband. The ‘other’ Cutter is remorseless and without fear. And when the two Cutters finally come face-to-face, a battle of wills ensues as Helen directs her clone to force the information she thinks Nick has from him. With a gun to his head, Cutter is not blind to the fact that Helen believes the artefact can unlock the secrets of the anomalies and pretends to know its significance. With the trap set, the team find themselves surrounded and fighting battles on all fronts. As the ARC burns who will survive and just how far is Helen willing to go to obtain the information she came for?
Douglas Henshall explains his character, Nick Cutter's demise…
"Helen has decided that the state of the world and the future is down to a mistake that Nick made. She believes that she can fix that mistake and the first on her list of things to do to save the world is to destroy the ARC. There is a huge battle between her, Nick and the team, but they all manage to escape as the ARC burns. Helen isn’t so lucky however and gets trapped. Ever the hero Nick foolishly goes back in to get her and she sees an opportunity to finish what she came to do. Not for Helen are the sentiments of love and she shoots Nick right in the chest.
Losing such a well loved character who is so intrinsic to the show will come as a huge shock to the show’s fans, how do you think your audience is going to react?
From a firmly egotistical point of view I’d like to think that I’ve done such a marvellous job that people will never ever get over the trauma of losing Nick. In reality however I think they will be upset for the first five minutes but then they will be fine. Primeval has enough of a following that something like this won’t take people away from it.
What was it like filming those final sequences?
For a start it was very hot. Seriously though, it is always weird to film a death scene so it was always going to be a strange day filming these scenes. My last day on set I kept thinking ‘can we just get it over and done with?’ but in another way it felt kind of odd as it felt like it was my show and I had to be careful with it, not ruin it. There is such a fine line between getting it right and getting it wrong and it all looking a bit hammy. You just hope it is all going to work. I hope people think it did.
While there can be no doubting the finality of Nick’s death would you have preferred it that a door was left open for you to come back through at some point?
No. I think the trouble is in shows like this if you don’t kill a character outright people are constantly waiting to see if the guy is going to come back again. The Helen/ Nick story had to be resolved in some way and I think we all knew it was going to end badly for one of them. In the end Nick proved himself to have 100 times more heart than Helen and her actions have firmly cemented that character as the out and out villain of the piece. People will HATE her for what she did and that’s great. Poor Juliet [Aubrey].
What was behind the decision to leave?
It was a combination of things to be honest. I’ve been with Primeval for two and half years now and that’s longer than anything I’ve done previously. It’s a huge commitment in terms of time and takes such a lot out of my year. I love theatre and being on stage and want to be able to carry on with other projects and keep stretching myself. I’ll be back on ITV later this year with Collision. But the show has been quite something to be involved with and has had some truly epic moments which I’ll never forget. As with everything I do, I never wanted to get to the point where I really didn’t enjoy it. I wanted to quit whilst I was ahead and while the show itself is still so popular. For something the naysayers were expecting to fail, Primeval is now in very, very good shape - people seem to have really taken us to their hearts and I’m incredibly proud to have been a part of that process. Saying goodbye was not a decision I took lightly as a result and it’s a bitter sweet one, but as Cutter once said “It’s time to go.”
How do you feel when you see Jason heading up the team?
I don’t feel jealous or anything, I’m totally fine with that. It was a shame that Jason and I never got to act on screen together as I think Danny and Cutter would have made quite a good team. I reckon we would have a good time together because we are such opposites. I suspect I would have thoroughly enjoyed working with him. I think he is a great actor and one who will to take Primeval on to a whole new level of greatness. I wish him all the luck, I really do.
What is your favourite creature?
As far as drama is concerned, the future predator will win every time.
What is your favourite episode?
I still like episode five in series one with the pteranodon. The CGI was superb and it has such great balance of comedy, action and romance. I love that whole divide between action and romance as I think it works well. For me it was very Indiana Jones in tone and feel. I also love episode four in series two where we all end up on the other side of the anomaly with the mercreatures. I thought that was really well done. And I got to say my favourite line in the whole series when I hauled Abby and Connor back through the anomaly which was ‘time to go’. That moment was Cutter at his Indiana Jones best. I loved it.
Last edited: Wednesday, 1 April 2009
