Professor Nick Cutter - Douglas Henshall

Age: 36
Height: 6'
Place of Birth: Edinburgh, Scotland
Hobbies: Collecting records, playing pool, wind surfing, online chess

Evolutionary zoologist and team leader, Professor Nick Cutter, is a maverick. Hard-bitten and cynical he struggles with rules and authority – to the extent that he doesn’t even turn up for his own lectures. There are rumours he has a softer side but he’s keen to dispel those (he insists those tears during Titanic were down to an eye infection).

He prefers fossils to live animals, the Stones to the Beatles and thinks there’s more chance of finding intelligent life elsewhere in the universe than there is in the government.

His mission is to make sense of the anomalies which are allowing creatures from the past, and the future, to roam the modern world.

For Cutter this is not just a professional mission, he has a personal interest. His wife, Helen, went missing and was presumed dead for eight years. In series one he discovered that she was actually travelling through the anomalies. Her return has left a lot of questions unanswered.

Can he keep his private battles under control and manage even more monster mayhem? Only time will tell…

Abby Maitland - Hannah Spearritt

Age: 22
Height: 5'2"
Place of birth: Brighton, Sussex
Hobbies: bird watching, yoga, martial arts, dog training, lizards

Abby Maitland, is a gutsy zoologist and reptile expert. She dropped out of university after one term when she was offered her dream job in the lizard house. This love affair with lizards dates back to a trip to the Galapagos Islands as a child. To this day she prefers the company of animals to humans – apart from spiders that is (she suffers from arachnophobia).

Her first encounter with Cutter and his team was when she was asked to identify a lizard found by a boy in the Forest of Dean. She soon realised that the lizard – nicknamed Rex - was an entirely new species which, it turned out, had arrived in the modern world through the anomaly. She rescued Rex and now keeps him safe at her flat – a secret she’s only shared with Connor.

She likes her men moody and a bit dangerous – which is bad news for Connor who has clearly set his heart on her. Abby doesn’t share his feelings. It’s pretty obvious that her affections lie more in Stephen’s direction, although following the revelations at the end of series 1, have her feelings changed?

Men are not high on Abby’s agenda though. Her mind is firmly focussed on monster management.

Stephen Hart - James Murray

Age: 32
Height: 6'
Place of Birth: Torquay, Devon
Hobbies: Surfing, rock climbing, squash, boxing

Stephen Hart is Cutter’s lab technician and right-hand man. He’s the hunter of the team; part wildlife conservationist, part survival expert. He was a junior fencing champion and a junior shooting Olympic prospect which might explain his lightening reactions and extreme physical fitness. He’s also a seriously good dancer.

For a man that claims to have no interest in fashion he has a suspiciously large collection of GQ in his loo.

On many occasions he proves his loyalty to the team, and his bravery, putting his life at risk to save his colleagues. He has a strong bond with Cutter, a big brother relationship with Connor and, though he keeps his emotions closely in check, a fondness for Abby.

In the final episode of series one, we discovered that he once had a much-regretted affair with Cutter’s wife Helen. This revelation put his relationship with Cutter in a whole new light in series 2.

Connor Temple - Andrew-Lee Potts

Age: 23
Height: 5'9
Place of birth: Blackburn, Lancanshire
Hobbies: Playstation, movies, vintage comic book collecting, model making

Connor is one of Cutter’s palaeontology students at the Central Metropolitan University. He is geeky by nature – he spent his student days compiling a database of prehistoric creatures and writes software programmes to relax.

After watching Scooby Doo as a kid he decided he wanted to join a crime busting gang. Years later his dream came true – sort of.

He approached his professor at the beginning of series one with an article about a mysterious sighting of a creature in the Forest of Dean. Despite initial cynicism, he tagged along with the investigation and has been part of Cutter’s team ever since.

He loves conspiracy theories and harbours an ambition to be abducted by aliens. In Connor’s world UFOs are real; it’s just that governments have hidden the evidence.

His unrequited affection for Abby is hampered by her obvious interest in Stephen. But will this all change in series 2? Will he persist or will he find someone else to keep him interested?

James Lester - Ben Miller

Age: 40
Height:5'10"
Place of birth: Aldershot, Surrey
Hobbies: Golf, bridge, shooting, tennis, garden design

Sir James Lester is a Home Office official, ultimately responsible for the team of scientists charged with investigating the appearance of time anomalies.

He's been given the task of uncovering the secrets of the anomalies and preventing mass panic. He’s the ideal man for the job. As far as he’s concerned the government knows best and the public has no right to know anything.

He is arrogant, sarcastic and ruthless and makes no bones about his dislike of Cutter (or anyone for that matter). Despite being married with three children, he never discusses his family – in fact he rarely admits he even has one.

Lester owns over 50 suits; all dark colours, all made to measure. He teams these with colourful ties. Someone told him once that that it was trendy – an image that he’s keen to promote.

Helen Cutter - Juliet Aubrey

Age: 35
Height: 5'8"
Place of birth: Ipswich, Suffolk
Hobbies: Formerly:-archaeology, travelling, sailing, photography, trekking; no known hobbies for the past 8 years.

For the first part of series one Helen Cutter was one of Primeval’s greatest mysteries. Nick Cutter’s eight year search for his missing wife had offered found no answers to her disappearance; yet the moment he was confronted with the anomalies, the spectre of Helen returned to haunt him.

It turns out that Helen is no victim; in fact she’s very much in control. Fiercely competitive and resolutely independent, she’s not someone to mess with. She knows more about the anomalies than she’s prepared to reveal to Nick and appears to have knowledge of most of the threats facing him and his team.

In short, Helen Cutter is bad news.

Jenny Lewis - Lucy Brown

She may look like Claudia from the Home Office. She may sound like Claudia from the Home Office. But she’s not Claudia from the Home Office. She’s actually someone completely new.

At the end of series one Cutter returned from his disastrous mission to the past to find that Claudia was not waiting for him on the other side of the anomaly.

Now she’s returned. But this time the Claudia he knew is now a ruthless PR professional, called Jenny Lewis. She’s feisty, senior and professional – and she knows, and speaks, her mind.

Her job is damage limitation. She’s been brought in to cover up the increasingly public creature sightings.

While the rest of the team accept Jenny, Cutter struggles to accept this “new” Claudia.

Caroline Steel - Naomi Bentley

Age: 22
Height: 5'3"
Place of birth: Hackney, London
Hobbies: running, dancing, fencing, squash, kick boxing, paintballing, metal detector

A new face for Series 2, Caroline is a potential love interest for Connor. Following a chance encounter in the sci-fi department of his local DVD store, he’s taken aback when the incredibly attractive Caroline quite clearly hits on him.

Is her interest for real or does she have an ulterior motive?

As we soon discover, Caroline is no shrinking violet. She’s into clubbing, has auditioned for X Factor and plans to be on Big Brother one day. She also has people just where she wants them. She’s had many boyfriends – and has been brighter than all of them - but she’s never been dumped (that’s her job).

She likes dog and cats but, to Abby’s horror, she hates lizards.

Oliver Leek - Karl Theobald

Age: 33
Height: 5'8"
Place of birth: Birmingham
Hobbies: On line war games, butterfly collecting, plane spotting, cooking

One of two new Primeval characters, Oliver Leek joins Series 2 as Lester’s right hand man. Slightly nerdy, but intelligent, Leek is ambitious and eager to please. He even went as far as buying his suits from the same tailor as Lester in the hope that it would impress him. It didn’t. He didn’t even notice.

Despite his intellect, he is often overlooked. At school he was always the last one picked when football teams were chosen. Sometimes, even when he was the last one left, he still wasn’t picked. And things haven’t improved much. Every week he goes to the same restaurant and eats at the same table, yet the waiter never remembers him.

But don’t be fooled by initial impressions. There’s more to Leek than meets the eye.