Development history
With the production of the series secured and several scripts already written, the producers in January 2006 moved on to casting the lead actors. Hodges and Haines personally approached Douglas Henshall, who played lead character Nick Cutter, for the role but the other actors were cast through regular auditions. Henshall was joined in the main cast by James Murray, Andrew-Lee Potts, Hannah Spearritt, Lucy Brown, Juliet Aubrey, Ben Miller and Mark Wakeling.
Primeval was envisioned as a family series that did not take itself too seriously and appealed to both adults and kids. The producers sought to ensure that it would not just be a children's programme by also making the drama work on its own, working towards a "PG-13 feel". The production team also made the deliberate choice to set many of the episodes in familiar environments for the audience and give the series a "modern feel" with the intent that viewers would feel as if they could find "dinosaurs in their kitchen". In addition to following a "monster-of-the-week" format, Primeval also sought to touch on deeper themes such as environmental preservation and ecological disaster.
When choosing directors for Primeval, Haines and Hodges wished to hire people with good track records. The directors approached for the first series were Cilla Ware and Jamie Payne. Neither director had much background with action scenes but both were experienced with directing drama. The visual style of the series got some inspiration from Errol Flynn films such as Captain Blood (1935) and The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). During production of the first series, the title was initially spelt Primaeval. The production of the first series was announced by ITV on 27 December 2005, touted as a "six-part epic about scientists who travel into prehistoric times through black holes".
Following the success of the first series, Primeval was recommissioned for a second series in March 2007, announced on 8 June. The entire first series main cast returned for the second series, with the exception of Wakeling. The second series also introduced the further main cast members Karl Theobald and Naomi Bentley. The third series of Primeval was announced on 30 January 2008. Henshall had felt during the second series that Primeval had become "simplified in its ambitions" and left the series during the third series, which necessitated extensive rewrites to the intended plot of the third series, also impacting the storylines of Jenny Lewis (Lucy Brown) and Helen Cutter (Juliet Aubrey); Henshall was replaced as the main lead of the series by Jason Flemyng as Danny Quinn. Further new characters were introduced in the third series, played by Laila Rouass, Ben Mansfield and Belinda Stewart-Wilson.
Despite the third series' being successful, Primeval was cancelled after its run on 15 June 2009 for financial reasons; ITV almost filed for bankruptcy during the Great Recession. ITV declined to recommission Primeval for a fourth series despite Impossible Pictures', the production company behind the series, proposing numerous different options, such as producing the series cheaper (for £600,000 per episode) or offering first-run rights to a rival channel. The cancellation was likely primarily motivated by the effects budget; Primeval cost several million pounds per series and ITV could not claim all of the money earned by the series because it was produced independently by Impossible Pictures. During the production of the third series, the producers had at no point expected that Primeval would not return for a fourth series, stating in subsequent interviews that they would not have left as many of character's fates up in the air had they known of the threat of cancellation.
Primeval was recommissioned three months after being cancelled. The "resurrection" of the series was made possible through a new deal made by Impossible Pictures, in which the series would be co-produced by both ITV and UKTV (with the costs shared), with additional funding also being provided by BBC Worldwide and ProSieben. The deal secured the making of 13 new episodes, split into a fourth and fifth series. The fourth series would air on ITV and then on the UKTV-owned channel Watch whereas the fifth series would air first on Watch. The production team were thrilled to be able to produce two additional series, as it would allow them to resolve the plotlines of the previous series and move Primeval further. The fourth and fifth series had a combined budget of £15 million.
Although most of the cast of the third season were announced as returning for the fourth and fifth series, the production needed to cast several new characters, because of the departures of several actors and the third series' leaving several characters stranded in the past. New main cast members Laila Rouass and Jason Flemyng were also unable to commit to an entire further series. As a result, the fourth and fifth series brought in several new main characters, played by Ciarán McMenamin, Ruth Kearney, Ruth Bradley and Alexander Siddig. Ultimately, poor ratings for the fifth series when it aired on ITV in 2012 caused Primeval not to be renewed for a sixth series, despite the production team's and the cast's interest in continuing the series.
