Primeval 3.3 -- fare thee well (Spoiler heavy)

This is a spoiler heavy review. Yeah, well, whatever.




Well, it was nice whilst it lasted.

For the last three late winter / springs I've been fair spoilt for TV pleasures on Saturday evenings: Douglas Henshall in Primeval and David Tennant in Doctor Who. Frankly it was almost as if someone had looked in my head and asked 'what would make Lisa's start to the year really great?'

So it was with conflicted heart indeed that last year I checked out the on-set and pre-promotion starting up for Primeval - Dougie looked awesome (after the hair debacle of S2), in part thanks to filming his role in a forthcoming Dorian Gray film and his work for the play 'The Last Days of Judas Iscariot'. Yum. It looked too good to be true.

As the promotion materials and casting started to ooze out, there was a definite sense of 'this doesn't bode well' that I kept trying to repress. Hey, that hair looked great. But there was an awful lot going on with other (new) cast members appearing in the photos....

So whilst it did rather punch me in the gut to read it in black and white in the TV Times a couple of weeks ago, I wasn't entirely shocked to find that Dougie was leaving Primeval. It made the need to watch episode 3.1 on schedule at the hotel rather than on Catch-Up after the weekend feel all the more urgent since it was also clear he wasn't going to be in much of the series and I really wanted to at least know he was in all of episode 1 and hopefully 2.

Well, Professor Nick Cutter was there and there were some prime scenes. And he did, tauntingly, look more lovely than is decent (there's a lush gallery of pictures at the Douglas Henshall fansite). But it was limited reward and come episode 2 he was scarcely there at all.

By now it was clear that 3.3 was going to be his grand finale. Nice work there ITV in scheduling the series so much later than originally planned (don't pretend any different) so it was doomed to clash with the Doctor Who special.

So what did we ultimately get?




Well, we got TWO Nick Cutters -- even if one was an-only-just-about-communicative photocopy (if Mrs Mad has any spares she can send them my way: Cutter proper proved that with some attention they could be won over at least a little). And we got a couple of cute dinos for Abby and Connor to play with. Ferdy tried to be a journalist (badly - even I got that the photo he took would be rubbish as evidence), Cutter proper got to prove he could be nice some of the time (even if he didn't get a baby named after him -- maybe Connor will name one of the cute dinos after his mentor in his honour?!) and Jenny and Ms Eypyt got to share thoughts on how hot Cutter proper was (with you both there sisters).

And bloody Mrs Mad lost her complete box of frogs and shot Cutter.

Very dead.

I've had several texts from friends consoling me (and sobbing with me) about this demise. Chrissie- bless her heart - is determined to believe that it isn't the end for the character but as much as I loved the grouchy, clever, crap-luck-with-women Cutter I know that he's gone. He will no doubt live on in fan-fics (where many have scarcely forgiven them for killing off Captain Ryan in S1 and certainly feel aggrieved at losing Stephen Hart at the end of S2), but it looks as if it would take quite a lot to lure back the itchy acting feet of Henshall who has always built his career on making and taking up interesting choices and challenges in his acting. It was nice to be spoilt for a while with his presence in Saturday evening family TV but in truth was it ever going to last?

*sigh*

And I will try and ignore that Cloud keeps saying 'Dougie saw a shark and he jumped it'...

London and other things

Had an excellent weekend in London -

Food: two meals at Pizza Paradiso on Store Street (we're so recognised now we get offered drinks on the house!), two breakfasts at Bar Brunos on Wardour Street, breakfast at the S&M cafe near Spitalfields market, a curry at the small branch of The Shampan on Brick Lane, tea in the crypt of St Martin-in-the-fields, Med Kitchen at Cambridge Circus

Arts and museums: the NPG, the National Gallery (for the Picasso), Tate Modern (for the Rodchenko and Popova exhibition and tea/cake), the V&A for the Stephen Jones Hats exhibition and a visit through the Photography room and the Theatre and Performance rooms,

Fashion: Spitalfields market and the very lovely Nina of Enienay (I have a new dress!) and Patch (Neil has a new shirt!), a dip into Rokit on Brick Lane (and a spiffy second-hand long red suede coat), tights and socks from Tabio on Neal Street and a new summer frock and a fancy hat from IMSO also on Neal Street

Music: music purchases from MDC Southbank and Rough Trade Truman Brewery, classical lunchtime concert of Stravinsky and Poulenc by Simon Hewitt Jones on violin at St Martins-in-the-fields church

Books: Judd Street, Eastside on Brick Lane, Southbank book stalls and more

Miscellaneous: new headfone covers from Tottenham Court Road (since I started Friday by losing one of the foam covers from Neil's headfones), lots of walking through the City and Fleet Street, and drinks in the Chandos with a friend.

Oh yeah - and I nipped back to the hotel Saturday evening for a delirium inducing hour of Primeval (currently with gorgeous hair).

PS got caught in a fracas between two homeless guys arguing their patch on Saturday night. But no major harm done. Just a bit shook up.

Primeval pictures

Oh heavens - my heart just went a-fluttering... Dougie Henshall in Primeval S3... yum!

(Apologies for the totally gratuitous drooling!)

Hat tip as ever to the usual place for all things Henshall (outside my personal computer)

I so want to be 6 years old and be having a birthday

Primeval birthday cards...

:)

Why none for adults?!

I am SOOOO going to watching the first episode of Primeval s3

...if this video is anything to go by, then Primeval S3 will be a very nice addition to my Saturdays.

Big grin!

Primeval S3 to air from end of March 2009?

itvmedia have said that the 3rd season of Primeval will air in the UK from the end of March 2009... Hurrah!!

Thanks to the Douglas Henshall fan website as usual for passing on information.

Can people see my grin from where they are? 'cos I'm beaming at the thought!

ITV Saturday drama: sort yourselves out!

Well, Demons is over. Did anyone who was still watching it actually really muster up much caring when watching that finale???

*sigh* so much promise squandered.

But its ending does raise another concern: when the heck is Primeval coming back? The initial expectations were for an early new year start: but then Demons blundered its way in. Now, we seem to be lurching away from that evening slot being drama, back to it being family entertainment with AntOrDec.

We're now counting on the idea that after 6 weeks of A&D we might finally get to see S3 of Primeval. This will just about make it qualify for the Spring launch that ITV seemingly promised for it.

Get your act together ITV.

NOTE: this post has nothing to do with my need for a fix of Scottish loveliness. No sirree...

ITV 2008/2009

Well, the ITV Winter 2008/Spring 2009 drama strand looks to have some goodies in it for sure... [watch Showreel]

I'd have shunted Primeval up the running order and its a shame that Collision doesn't get a mention, but hey, I'm gonna be pretty happy!

Hat-tip to the fansite for Douglas Henshall with thanks.

I'm not blog-dead yet

Still here. Still computer-less.

Meh.

Still, on upside have had various friends see Hamlet and report back very favourably; the world has not ended (yet?); the weekly short interviews with Dougie Henshall for Primeval are delicious (and his efforts to mask any extreme Scottish accent for the benefit of the BBC America viewers seems to be diminishing week by week); Aberdeen was - mostly - sunny (sorry George and Sonia, it's the impact we have!) and thoroughly enjoyable with much music and food and movie fun; and....

...well, shucks, I think I'm missing blogging. I'm certainly missing you guys out there. And communicating eclectic post topics to ya'll. But I'm in a real quandry about what to do with replacing the computer: my (limited) use of Vista has made me want to tear my head off; I can't really afford an apple mac - or the long wait to get one because of the extra cost; and I have hardly begun to face up to the consequences of my non-full backup with re-setting up on ANY system... meh and MEH.

I miss you guys.

On the other hand I have just managed to reach the end of S2 of Battlestar Galactica (new version). Yes, late I know. But the plan is to catch up in time for the release of s4 on dvd (I have s3 still to watch).

Life goes on. 37 more sleeps till Stratford...

Lordy me: I am SO shallow but the hair just makes me go *thud*

Oh my: I really shouldn't be so shallow but really, good hair just makes me go weak.

I know, I know: this is not lost on me when the man I truly love has had all his hair pulled out from the stress of living with me, but even so [scroll for photo].

It shames me to admit it but I am shallow to the core. Maybe if I keep looking at the pictures I will overcome my response?

*thud*

Nope. Seems that doesn't work.

The thought of Primeval coming back for a third series with this hair style....

Gah... I'm already hyperventilating.

Hat tip for the link at the Dougie fan site, and yes, I do love his acting talents, but my word... *thud*

[Isn't there some net phrasing for fanning oneself?

I said fanning, as in trying to cool down... listen more closely people!]

Finally, that Primeval Book review: Shadow of the Jaguar

Way back when, the lovely MediumRob gave me a prize of a copy of Steven Saville's primeval novel 'Shadow of the Jaguar' for... well, it was supposed to be for making an 'amusing' comment and then just turned into a 'why you should give it to me' comment (which, funnily, despite the fact I should have bought it anyway, I won...)

[I've long since been wondering in the back of my mind 'what happened to my book review?' That lack of comment would be because you have not yet posted said book review duh-brain. Still stuck, not even in draft, but on a bloody memory stick at the office. Double-duh.]

ANYWAY. The book. I really enjoyed it. I avidly turned the pages and relished visualising a hot, sweaty Nick Cutter in the heat of the night the Peruvian jungles and Team Cutter making their usual mistakes on a grander scale than the TV show will allow (with added cursing!). And this was despite not being the mid-teenage boy it was probably aimed it: plenty of military activity; significant amounts of violence and gore - more than in the TV show for sure; plenty of identification of the virtues of heroism in the modern world - intellect, emotional courage and social conscience being as prized as skills in violence. The only thing missing was any gratuitous descriptions of Abby in her panties [though on reflection that demographic is probably said teenage boy's father - or mother should she have such inclination to appreciate].

It's certainly an odd beast of a book, being exceptionally well-produced - quality paper in a quality hardback - and with an experienced writer (Steven Saville).

The plot isn't a great deal more complicated than your average Primeval TV episode, whatever that means (simplistically complex??). As mentioned, one of the joys of the literary form is that writers can work with the reader to create far more expansive vistas than the ITV budget will allow the TV programme*. In this respect, the writing is far better than I could have hoped for, even though, as MediumRob pointed out, the initial 'how many adjectives can we throw at this paragraph?' is a tad wearing. That thankfully settles down fairly quickly and though some of Saville's 'purple prose' made MediumRob wince, I actually found the character dialogue and interior thoughts rather well put together. They certainly sounded like the characters as they are written/performed on the TV show even if this did sometimes mean they still failed to be fully rounded human beings. [Almost nothing convinces me that the actor, director, or writers could do anything to make Stephen more than a cipher-esque character for endless online slash-fiction... Stoic to the point of solidifying, static to the point of being inert [even if he is busy being 'heroic'], I never quite got the point of Stephen providing some het girl eye-candy for those who failed to recognise the loveliness of Professor Nick Cutter/Douglas Henshall [fools!]. Frankly, brooding Stephen only makes sense as the central focus for slash-merchants...]

ANYWAY.

As MediumRob said, the author does seem far happier detailing the SAS soldiers protecting the dinosaur hunting team in Peru than getting to the crux of any dino scare story. That said, Saville does this so well as to not make the SAS action completely jar with the hardly-action-hero-actions of the dino crew, and given the popularity of Tom Ryan from S1 it seems well placed to have such character(s). Undoubtedly, it created a slightly odd mixture of genres, but it was enjoyable anyway. I also wasn't too bothered by the "author's over-research syndrome" - partly because it meant you did actually believe in the characters having brains that engaged with history, geography, philosophy, archaeology and all those other -ologies that aren't really science. Okay, so I've limited use for knowing what Connor et al found from all their Internet searches, but you take it in your stride. And I rather liked the extended diatribes Saville sometimes presents in the guise of character/narrative progression. Some are clearly wider-ranging social conscience issues - as in de-forestation and tourism; others more character-driven (I chuckled heartily at Cutter's frustrated anti-globalisation rant when hearing Pavarotti playing in the Peruvian restaurant. It seemed very in keeping with Cutter's general loathing of certain aspects of the modern world).

Ostensibly the boy(s) lost in Peru get a hefty share of the narrative, and the tale is book-ended, and a few times interrupted, by Lester's sneering engagement/necessary obsequiousness with aristocratic authority. However, it is - thankfully for me - most often Cutter's story. That suits me fine, as I have no objection to imagining the delivery of the dialogue and visualising his heated mannerisms and action. There are several nice little touches in Saville's writing on such matters. There's an early recognition that Cutter's "mild Scottish burr" becomes more pronounced when he's passionately discussing his work or an idea. And Cutter's ambivalent feelings about Jenny/Claudia/the timeline are nicely dealt with (though I suspect the afore-mentioned teenage boy is less than bothered about all that). Certainly, it's Cutter's emotions and attitudes that drive the other characters' behaviour and responses: everyone seems to move in accordance with his gravitational power, his moods, his heart. In this novel Jenny probably comes off next best in developing her character, but as in the series, it's hard not to feel that the construction of every character beyond Cutter is less developed on a scale of diminishing returns. Connor - as much as he initially annoyed me on TV - at least seems to have a character. But Abby seems to have less and less of one (she mostly spends the novel trying to be resilient in the face of death and destruction), and my feelings on Stephen are already recorded. The plot made the sort of sense you would expect a Primeval story to make: from the future into the past goes one more dodgy creature...

So, my overall response on this book: a solid 6.9 out of 10. I can't quite push myself to make it the round 7/10 (I'm not the teenage boy reader) but I loved the Cutter portrayal enough to go beyond MediumRob's 6/10. A happy reader!



* For those who've read Shadow of the Jaguar, I'd also venture that Henshall's vertigo, even with his frequent desire to do his bit with stunt filming, would preclude any filming of the high-rise rope-bridge scene. Not least for protecting him/stunt double from personal damage...

Assorted Dougie goodies

I have to say I'm really rather enjoying my prize of the Primeval book: okay, so I'm probably most enjoying the fact that I can visualise and hear all the characters Cutter vividly inside my head, but it's still fabulously enjoyable. Even if I do feel like a mid-teenage boy for reading it. It's very fun. Full review to follow.

I'm also feeling pretty pleased with myself that as the main phase of current work on the house nears completion (bathroom and toilet flooring in!!!) I made an executive decision yesterday to go get a towel hook and new toilet roll holder. Not very exciting you may think, but I had A Plan.

"Shall we go to B&Q?"

Off we trot, find said items...

Coming out I add "While we're here, can we go to Toys 'R' Us?"

Hee hee hee... I get me my Primeval figure of Cutter and the anomoly.

Even Cloud had to admit that was subtle retail park planning on my part...


And in other Dougie loveliness related news, there's now a spiffy gallery of pictures from 'The Last Days of Judas Iscariot' on the Douglas Henshall website. Be still my fast-beating heart for that delectable lounge-lizard Satan...

I wonned! I winned! I am a WINNER!

Coo-er, my grammar went all ker-pluee then with the glee that I will soon be receiving a prize-winning copy of the Primeval novel 'Shadow of the Jaguar' courtesy of lovely MediumRob.* I'm really rather looking forward to reading Steven Savile's well-presented novel.

And as I rarely win stuff it's an especial delight to get this as a prize. Not at all as if I'm drawn by the cover...

;)

* Even if I did effectively plead my way to acquiring it...

A Derby day with Deliciousness and the Doctor

What a lovely day Cloud and I had yesterday: the building work is approaching a stage 1 completion with most of our current activities approaching a finale. So we headed for Derby and started off a pretty brilliant day.

1) the magazine stall
Derby has an indoor market and a magazine stall that I swear can rival WHS: picked up the latest set of fridge magnets for Doctor Who in SFX and began the trundle round the city, enjoying the goth/emo/nu-rave kids on the block that always hang out by the square.

2) Haze
Venue of choice for said goth/emo/nu-rave under-17 year olds and women over 30 seeking hippy clothes and fulfillment of their own goth fantasies.

I picked up a very nice smock dress that I think will do lovely for a friend's wedding in the summer. Though knowing me I will wear it before the end of the week.

3) Oxfam
Always makes me happy to ply trade in an Oxfam. Bought three amusing cards and a CD of poetry. Felt reasonably well with the world considering.

4) Derby Westfield Shopping Centre
Yes, I know these beasts are evil and everywhere and that it has been KILLING the local small shop trade to have a spiffy new mall in the city centre to incorporate the old Eagle Market. But as we've always wandered the little streets anyway in each of our visits to Derby, and paid our money to lovely selective stores (Haze, Mustard shoes and more), I wanted to just SEE what the new place looked it. Okay, it IS a mall, but it is quite shiny. And...

5) razcherries
OH GOD. I thought I would never find these outside the London markets. Finding razcherries on a stall in the Westfield of Derby pretty much set me for the day.

6) European Restaurant and Bistro
On our last visit we were very taken with finding the staff coming out to eat their own lunch in the restaurant as they closed for the afternoon. It may have sinking floors and characterfully un-even ceilings but the food is divine. A very nice 2 courses (goats cheese tartlet and then salmon for me; mushrooms and then meatballs for him) plus wine for just over £30, followed again by the delight of seeing the staff come and sit down for their own grub. I do like the idea of the staff enjoying their own food.

7) Bennett's Department Store
A very old fashioned home and clothes store where we got a safe-cracking style analogue kitchen timer like this.

8) Westfield Shopping Centre (again)
Pro-Cook supplied us with a very nifty old-style bread bin for the new kitchen. Very nice.

9) Forbidden Planet
Ah so shoot me. Picked up the 2008 Doctor Who story book (since my copy got lost in Amazon/PO hell when we had the NZ trip earlier this year -- NB DO NOT TRUST the PO's offer to repost mail to an alternative address). Cloud insisted I enquire about the availability of Primeval figures: only the online and London store sell them. But I happily got the painted cover of a Buffy comic I had missed getting from Page 45. Yeah!

10) Doctor Who on the TV!
Ah, bliss. My sofa, razcherries and the Doctor. And blimey, is it just me or was that just fabulous? I mean I know I have a low threshold for happiness when it comes to the Doctor (I can get delight from just having it on the screen!) but I really enjoyed this. I thought Donna was great, taking the Doctor to task and being far more adult in a crisis than it was appropriate for either Rose or Martha to be; I thought the Doctor was great: bitter, reluctantly merciful, angry, mindful of his awesome awareness of time. The plot worked - the seers were creepy, their occupation by the pyro-wotsits suitably 'yuk' - and the supporting cast was top-notch. And I did enjoy watching Confidential afterwards: David at large in Pompeii and at Vesuvius, suitably awed by the experience.

So yeah, a good day.

Today we painted the pantry: ah well, at least we did it to music.

How to make my day: Dougie Henshall interview in the Times

Not sure what pleased me most: the nature of the interview (fiery), the picture showing how he'll look playing Satan (dashingly wicked) or that I've actually found an interview in time to buy the damn paper (Times 2, Tuesday 25 March 2008).

Way to go Dougie!

Primeval 2:2 quick responses

Ah, sigh. I got to watch this on my own yesterday as Cloudy Neil has a thing about worms. He wasn't best keen to watch which meant I could fully indulge in sofa climbing and sympathetic drooling for poor Nick Cutter.

With plenty of intensely brooding confused Cutter staring at Claudia/Jenny, action hero adventure Cutter in the office with the suck-you-to-death worms (how exactly did they kill people btw? Stupid questions will be asked...), wet Cutter under the sprinklers, and heartbroken Cutter on Jenny/Claudia's doorstep... well, I was in clover for the hour.

Sorry, but rational criticism got completely suspended (though I was on the ball enough to spot something of an explanation for the vanishing cleaner we noted last week. And does anyone else not trust Caroline Steel?)

BTW though, on the back of other debates about how ITV categorise and promote shows like Primeval it's interesting to note that from ITV's own website they had a link to a fan site by Jon Donni... who has now gotten so hacked off at ITV pulling even 20 sec video clips off the web that he is closing down the fan site. OUCH! As phrased on the site (before it disappears):

"All the promises of exclusive images and videos from Helen Lawrence, never materialised.

All the promises from the ITV publicity guys on facebook, never materialised."

Good job I've never really used any other site than the Douglas Henshall fansite isn't it?! But it does seem a shame given that the ITV site itself is hardly a model of spectacularness... Promotion this time around seems a tad lacklustre and really only bolstered by the toys and book merchandise out/due out... Come on ITV: surely you can do better than this?

Primeval 2.2 coming up and...

... the nice people at the Dreamwatch site give me a lovely Henshall interview to enjoy in advance. How kind of them!

SFX magazine Feb 2008 issue 166 - did anyone just hear me squee?

Primeval as the lead feature in SFX Feb 2008 issue!

Primeval POSTERS: a double sided 'how do I decide' with the team on one side and holy heck of hotness Dougie Henshall with fighting creatures on the other!

I think I have fainted and gone to squee-land.

Did someone hear my pleas for some nice things to happen to me following a start to the year that has so far included TWO bouts of illness?

Seems so! Hurrah!!

(I need to scan to get some pics of this but Woo-Hoo! Take my word for how excited I am!)

Primeval Series 2 - a completely personal view

Marie liked it - even if she was viewing it between flips with The One and Only (me, I was full on concentration).

What do you think I thought?


That wasn't hard was it?!

If someone had said to me a few years ago that one of the actors I most love and have followed for many years would be on my TV in a prime-time slot on a Saturday I would scarcely have believed them.* Sure, Henshall deserved the success, but this level of public profile and familiarity? Whoah: that's just awesome.

Primeval Season 1, as you know, started as it meant to go on and settled in to being rather HAWT enjoyable and even thrilling fun. You could say that the presence of Douglas Henshall as Nick Cutter created an unbalanced view for me, but heck I don't care. There is always something wonderfully wry, charming, attentive, charismatic and thoughtful about his portrayals - and Cutter is no different (with an extra dose of academic-forced-to-be-heroic on top: always appealing for me!)

Anyway, less of Cutter - sigh (only in the sense of I have to write a review). If you haven't seen s1 but are intending to catch up, or want to watch s2 but haven't gotten around to last night's episode, then sorry folks but there are ***SPOILERS*** in this review FOR THE STORY SO FAR.

Characters (excluding Nick Cutter):
Last year, I really hated Ben Miller's character - perhaps rewatching s1 so often on the DVD has tempered that reaction but I certainly groaned less often in response to his characterisation (which is admittedly still a tad one-dimensional). Perhaps with the changes wrought by Cutter's re-emergence from the anomoly into... well, something which thus far is at least subtely different, the James Lester figure came across trying less hard to be the pantomime villain. Still the most rubbish character though. Shame, as I'm rather fond of Ben Miller as a comedian/actor.

It was also a pity that Abby had so little to do this episode - dammit boys/girls, you didn't even get to see her in her panties this time (or out of them). I do hope they're not going to diminish her active contributions to the team - but I am intrigued how much they will have changed of her background / experience / purpose in this alt.verse.

Stephen continues to be something of a cipher: last season he was clearly the admiring foil to Cutter (heck, he so wanted to be him - or with him if you follow the slash writings! - that he'd even shagged Helen, Cutter's errant wife). This year, following that revelation of adultery, there's a more begrudging and wary spark between them. I did like the touch about the tranquilizer gun not going off for each of them...

For me the most improved character was Connor: in s1 he was a more simplistic comic character. Resident geek in unrequited lust for Abby, he could hardly compete with the stoic macho/metro sexuality of Stephen. This year, I liked the fact that the show's team seem to have beefed up how Cutter (semi-reluctantly) likes having him around. I loved that it was Connor who makes the the first step to believing the possibility that the world has changed [it probably comes from watching all that sci-fi] and that Cutter isn't entirely mad. From last year's first episode to this year's Connor seems the one who has been rounded out the best.

So what of the changes and newbies? Claudia Brown has been erased by the paradoxes of the s1 finale anomoly trip: the actress is back, but as a new character. This kinda makes sense. If I have one reservation about it, it's this: poor Lucy Brown having to wear that GOD-AWFUL amount of eye-make-up! Blimey, what did she do to piss the show team off that they put her into that level of we-have-to-make-her-look-totally-different make-up?! Claudia was efficient but soft at the edges. Jenny Lewis looks like a refugee from a bad 80s band. She'll probably not even immediately fall for Cutter. Pah: that shows how much of a rubbish character she'll be... [Actually, I'm being prejudicially harsh there: I think its rather smart what they've done since it avoids the issue of Nick and Claudia getting together and any possible reaction from Helen-back-in-the-anomoly-Cutter. After all, the fan-fiction will more than compensate for the what-might-have-been narratives of Nick and Claudia]

Oliver Leek - Lester's right hand man - is a new character completely. As he is played by the genius that is Karl Theobald from Green Wing, we're currently prepared to forgive him a lot. Even the fact that he's pretty certain to turn out to be evil (or at least on the side of Helen Cutter...)

Helen, at present, isn't back. But since gorgeous Juliet remains in the titles we can reasonably assume she will be. Personally, I'm scarcely forgiving her for taking up with Stephen (or was she perversely relishing how Stephen was really thinking about Nick?) and thinking that spending 8 years away from Nick Cutter was a nice thing to do. Bitca.

Rating last year: 3.5/5
Rating for S2: 3.8/5 - still work to do, but better. Not quite a 4 mind, as Cutter remains the most nuanced character in the show (a factor I feel is not unconnected to the quality of the actor portraying him).

Character - Nick Cutter:
Still frayed as a perfect character, but Henshall makes it work. Add in the blue eyes, quirky clothing (come on: that Arthur Daley beige coat at the end suited him but made me smirk something wicked!), nice arse... [yes, I am shallow] AND the accent... sigh. Nick Cutter is still the best thing about the programme.
Rating last year: 4.5/5
Rating for S2: 4.7/5 - because he's back dammit, he's back.

Script/Direction:
Last year saw some howlingly clunky lines and duff decisions on the early direction of the show. This year, they seem to have fixed a fair bit of the worst parts. This probably reflects that as the show developed last year it DID find its feet a bit more in structuring its narratives. Sure, they had to have the fill-in-the-gaps story section at the start of the episode for late-comers or those who haven't watched the DVDs repeatedly since last season (ahem). But overall there was a consistent quality of tension and delight in the story structure. Still some weird blanks in the storyline mind - they missed a trick having the team find the bloodied handprints of the eaten security guard, and the throat attacked cleaner would have been better handled. The idea of using the intereference on radios as a tracking mechanism for when/where the anomolies appear was brilliant and elegant solution to how Helen could know when they appeared. Not sure Marie caught that in her channel hopping, but that was a really nicely handled bit of the epiosode. It will be interesting to see how the series progresses with slightly different participants on board this time around (e.g. Paul Cornell...)

Rating last year: 2/5
Rating for S2: 3.4/5 - perhaps I'm feeling more sympathetic.

Effects/locations:
The fact remains that all effects date really quickly. As I said last year "That's why you need good character, direction, script and substance. You need those to help you suspend the disbelief that comes into play in fantasy TV/film." There is no getting away from the fact that this show just does not get the movie level budget that is thrown at NewWho etc. I still like the anomoly imagery itself: I can certainly agree with Cutter that it never fails to impress. In long shot - and this year even in some of the close ups - the monsters/dinos did look good. Generally they kept them moving faster, and as Marie said, when Daddy dino ate the human-throat-gashing-baby-dino in one smart mouthful, that was fabulous. It's a shame that they couldn't afford more extras for additional ramp up the tension - it also begs the question why they really need a PR person to quash public concern if there are hardly ever any public about to be eaten... Still, they had to find something for Jenny-not-Claudia-Brown-with-extra-rubbish-overloaded-eye-make-up-Lewis to do... And in terms of locations, the chasing in the car-park was especially neat...

...

Sorry, I drifted slightly there at the wholely indulgent delight I took in Nick Cutter's glance over the shoulder saying "chase me". Shudder.

And I'm back.

Rating last year (pre-suspension of disbelief and in some dodgy mid-shots): 3/5 - rising (once suspension kicks in) to 4/5
Rating for S2: overall 4/5 - apart from some dodgy stunt double shots [still, this dogs many series and given that I've just been laughing my head off at how bad the stunt doubling remained on Angel right through to its final season I'm prepared to overlook that matter]

Music:
A bit less on the pop cheese soundtrack this year? Either way, I noticed it less. Good thing?
Rating last year: 3.5/5
Rating for S2: 3.5/5 - though more because I paid less mind to it, so maybe it was a tad less OTT.

Other issues:
This is one for this year, but can I just say I felt like BITING MY HANDS OFF WITH AGONY every f-ing time that shite awful parody of the show comes on to promote f-ing Haven Holidays either side of the Ad breaks. Roll on the DVD.

Overall rating last year (excluding Dr Cutter): 3.5/5
Overall rating for S2 (excluding Dr Cutter): 3.8/5 - as long as I block from my mind those awful sponsored ads...

Overall rating last year (including Dr Cutter): 4/5
Overall rating for S2 (including Dr Cutter): 4.2/5 - still some work to do to hit full on perfection, but this remains a highly enjoyable romp of primetime tv. My blue eyed boy is back and I can't ask for more than that.

SIX more weeks to go! Yippee!



* A certain raffish youth hailing from a similar part of Scotland may have got a Saturday night slot first, but lovely DH with his intensity and talent stole my heart first. I'm just lucky enough that with Primeval and Doctor Who I now get a rolling provision of loveliness on winter-spring Saturday evenings to charm me...

The Stage's Primeval Preview

There's a rather spiffy preview over at The Stage: TV Today by Mark Wright.

Am getting quite excited about Saturday now! The delicious prospect of more weeks/weekends in the company of Douglas Henshall and co is certainly making me happy!