Look behind you
Prehistoric monsters making lots of noise, loud bangs, creepy forests, lots of running about the place.
Yes you guessed it, it's the time-travelling dinosaur romp Primeval which made its debut on ITV1 tonight. It's true that the characters were initially portrayed as two-dimensional stereotypes, the plot devices employed seemed rather simplistic and forced in places (as well as having some flaws) plus the ending was rather predictable.
But guess what? I enjoyed it. Indeed it's probably the most promising new series to debut on ITV1 in years as well as being much better than anything else that's currently on ITV1 at the moment, but considering that ITV1 now predominantly consists of tacky formulaic rubbish, that's perhaps to be expected even if it wasn't up to much.
On the strength of this opening episode, Primeval isn't up to current Doctor Who standards by any means but it shows significant potential. And I laughed out loud twice, which considering the channel we're talking about here is nothing short of a miracle.
I also hope that the series will be allowed to develop further in all respects, so to that end I hope that it is commercially successful therefore will be given a second series as well as being given the creative freedom to develop its own style. (We can but hope.)
Overall not a bad effort then, all things considered, though subsequent episodes could prove to be disappointing. And this also gives a tantalising glimpse of what ITV could be capable of if its creative types are let off the leash and not subjected to undue influence from commercial considerations.
It's over to you Michael...
