Radio Times

• Episode 1/7

  As Cutter tries to come to terms with Claudia Brown's disappearance, and the mystery of his wife Helen's time travelling, the anomalies make another appearance. Ferocious raptors are rampaging through a shopping mall and the team is called in to deal with the situation. They soon find themselves facing an unknown terror, and must rely on their wits to get the monsters back through the time rift.

  RT Choice (Alison Graham, 12 January 2008)

  The first series of this cheery cross between Doctor Who and Jurassic Park found a big and loyal audience, who will no doubt be delighted to discover that nothing much has changed upon its return.
  
  Primeval is good, old-fashioned Saturday-evening family fun, packed with breathless chases, silly "comedy" moments and cosily scary bits.

• Episode 2/7

  Cutter and his team find themselves pursuing giant earthworms around an office block after the creatures find their way through another anomaly. But Cutter's a little preoccupied with the comely new PR officer appointed by the government to suppress news of dinosaur sightings. Jenny Lewis is a dead ringer for missing civil servant Claudia Brown, although only the professor seems to have noticed the resemblance…

  RT Choice (Alison Graham, 19 January 2008)

  I enjoy Primeval, but I hope it's actually going somewhere. I like watching photogenic people being chased by dinosaurs as much as anyone, but so far that's all that's happened.

• Episode 3/7

  It seems Connor's new anomaly detector is not all it's cracked up to be when the team are surprised by another violent attack. A paintballer has been torn to shreds at an adventure park and while it initially appears to be the work of a modern big cat, it quickly becomes clear that another prehistoric creature is at large. Determined to avoid public hysteria, Jenny insists on keeping the park open - a decision that could endanger more lives.

  RT Choice (Jane Rackham, 26 January 2008)

  While this series has none of the finesse of Doctor Who - Primeval has been touted by some as ITV1's rival to the BBC's time-travelling drama - it's thoroughly enjoyable hokum.

• Episode 4/7

  Connor's new improved anomaly detector sends Cutter and his team to the scene of another creature sighting. A highly unusual shark is attacking a party boat on the Thames. Cutter is convinced that the creature's unique morphology is the result of further evolution - that it's a species from the future. Then another attack occurs across town. Should the team split up, or will that only place them in greater danger?

• Episode 5/7

  After following a young girl through the latest anomaly, Cutter and Stephen find themselves under attack from an unknown terror that lurks beneath the desert sand and is attracted to the vibrations of people moving above. Even if they can avoid becoming a meal for the deadly predators, how will they find their way back to t5heir own time again?

  RT Choice (Jane Rackham, 9 February 2008)

  It's a scary enough premise, but it's not a particularly satisfying episode because there are as many holes in the plot as there are, apparently, anomalies opening up in Britain on a Saturday night. Why is it, for instance, that Cutter's wife Helen can flit backwards and forwards through the anomalies with apparent ease, while Cutter and Stephen are seemingly stuck permanently in the desert with these burrowing bugs?

• Episode 6/7

  A giant pachyderm slips through an anomaly, rampaging along a motorway and scattering cars and people in its wake. As Cutter and the rest of the team take on the mammoth task of stopping it, Stephen is with Helen. Will his feelings for her be rekindled or will his loyalty to Cutter win out? Later, with the immediate danger averted, Cutter suspects there are traitors of another kind in his midst - but can he convince Abby and Connor that he's right?

  RT Choice (Alison Graham, 16 February 2008)

  …Helen, tuck your cleavage away. You're supposed to be a dinosaur hunter, not an advert for the benefits of an uplift bra.
  
  As always with Primeval, the action hurtles along at breakneck speed, and the opening scenes where the mammoth does its worst are genuinely nail-biting. There's a danger of things becoming bogged down when the talking starts, but Primeval is canny enough to know when to shut its mouth.

• Episode 7/7

  The team are trapped in Leek's bunker, surrounded by the fearsome predators he has captured from the anomalies, and Cutter is still reeling from the revelation that Helen helped Leek to assemble this deadly army. Leek distracts Stephen from rescuing his friends by releasing a giant Silurian scorpion onto a busy beach. As he prepares to release the rest of his creatures, time is running out for the team - and the world.

Go to Series one