Primeval gears up...

…but it’s going to need a better tagline than Time for Adventure that has been unveiled at the head of the publicity campaign to launch ITV’s new Saturday evening sci-fi adventure series.

I’ll set up my stall early – I am looking forward to Primeval intensely. Scientists and soldiers jumping through portals in time to prehistoric earth to fight dinosaurs? Giant spiders in the London Underground? Hannah off of S-Club? Bring it on, it sounds right up my viewing street! We might have a rep around here for liking Doctor Who a little more than is probably healthy, but we’re not going to do a new show down on the basis that it doesn’t have a police box in it. Quite the reverse.

But the creatives and the execs do seem to be a bit flummoxed about how to sell Primeval, as evidenced by the very limp Time for Adventure slogan. You see, it’s a show about time travel… and it’s got adventure. I’d love to see how this particular gem was greeted in the boardroom by the caffeine-maxed creative team after hours of throwing it around like a polonium infused hot potato. I’ve heard of saying what you see in the time honoured of tradition of Catchphrase, but that really takes the Roy Walker. “Aaaargh! Big scary monsters!” would have been much more effective.

I was quite tickled by a quote from Jeremy Hemmings, group account director for M&C Saatchi, the company responsible for the creative campaign behind Primeval:

“It’s not every day you get to work with giant spiders, parasitic dodos an ex-S Club 7 star and a Hollywood actor.”

And there was me thinking he was talking about Celebrity Big Brother. Hemmings goes on to say:

“A great opportunity to have some fun, we thought…”

I would have thought it was a great opportunity to meet the challenge of selling a new, exciting undertaking for ITV head on and doing it with some gusto and style. Is Time for adventure really the best you could do? Oh dear.

And then there’s the question of the much-talked about and sought after family viewing factor (you know, Doctor Who does have a lot to answer for). Coupled with a (so far) uninspiring publicity campaign, ITV itself seems confused on this point…

“Primeval is a bold scheduling step into Saturday night family drama. We believe the series will have both a wide ranging family appeal as well as becoming cult viewing for aspirational adults.”

says David Pemsel, group marketing director for ITV. The whole point of the family drama is that it is supposed to be all-inclusive, across the board, without exception. If you have wide-ranging family appeal, why are you then isolating a section of the audience in the same statement? All should be equal in their consideration as part of the whole audience.

And if there’s one thing you don’t do when talking up a new show, ever, ever, ever, is to use the dreaded ‘cult’ word! Cult viewing implies something that’s a bit shonky, a bit shabby, a bit geeky. Cult is the world of Stargate SG-1, of Buffy, and Star Trek: Voyager, shows that would pull in two or three million viewers max on BBC2 at 6pm (and for the record, I’ll point out I’ve watched and enjoyed all those shows at some point). Primeval, at this stage, should never be referred to as a cult. It should be a mass-appeal, barnstorming, exciting and very cool new family TV drama. With big scary monsters.

Or that’s the theory…

Primeval starts on Saturday 10th February on ITV1.

Pictured: Andrew Lee Potts and Hannah Spearritt in Primeval. Picture: © ITV plc