The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

A lot of us were less than happy when ITV cancelled their science fiction show Primeval a few months ago, especially as the series had developed significantly from its early ‘monster of the week’ format (for those unfamiliar with it, temporal anomalies are allowing creatures from different eras into our own time, where they must be contained by a secret government organisation) to include ongoing story development with questions of morality and destiny with the ramifications of characters accidentally or deliberately manipulating events to alter the time stream and so history, why the public are kept unaware of the work (a growing source of tension for the scientists working on the team) and more. In short we heard that the end of the last season (a cliffhanger at that) was the last we would see of it as the troubled ITV were trimming budgets and another series of the effects-heavy show was not on the cards. Just as the show had developed into something interesting that made you want to follow it.

(Hannah Spearrit demosntrates to Andrew Lee Potts how she negotiated a return for the show)

Now the BBC site is reporting that two more seasons comprising thirteen episodes in total across both seasons have been commissioned as part of a multiple production deal with ITV, UKTV, BBC Worldwide and German channel Pro7. The original cast (well the surviving characters anyway) are due to return to their roles (no word on whether Ms Spearitt will grace us with more of the infamous ‘pants’ scenes though, sadly), with season four due to air early in 2011. Good news for fans.