The Guardian reports that ITV has decided not to proceed with a fourth season of SF show Primeval, ending several weeks of speculation that the show might face the chop. Its thought that the costs of the CGI-heavy show, which sees a group of scientists coping with temporal anomalies bringing strange creatures from other times into the present, made it a prime candidate for the troubled channel’s cutbacks in the wake of declining advertising revenue. Its a shame, I found Primeval enjoyable from the start, although I thought it improved vastly once it evolved beyond the early ‘monster of the week’ style and added in political machinations and conspiracies as well as a moral element, as well as the implications that events were actually interfering with the established timeline. And like the axing of the Sarah Connor Chronicles it leaves fans on a bit of a cliffhanger as to what was to happen next to some of the characters, especially in a third season that saw deaths of some characters, others depart, stranding in prehistoric eras and more. (via Nick Smale’s Twitter)
(Hannah Spearitt and Andrew Lee-Potts as the will-they or won’t they snog couple in Primeval)
June 15th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
A shame, not least because we enjoyed working with them (Toyota GB supplied the Hilux pick-ups and our building was the HQ in series one).
I understood it was a big hit in export markets, bigger than Dr Who in some places, but I guess such revenues only come in post-production and can’t help with the initial budget.
Begs the question: can TV now do credible sci-fi without CGI? A challenge, but one good writing could meet if given the chance.
August 6th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
dont cancal primeval its my favorite tv show