Primeval: Volume 1 (Series 1 and 2)

A surprisingly human action-drama, Primeval clearly draws influence from Doctor Who, and while it never really threatens to rival it, it is nonetheless a good show in its own right. The special effects are suitably smart, but, more importantly, there's also a half-decent script at the heart of things, and that really does help lift the show.

The second season finds Cutter and his team once again dealing with creatures quite literally out of their time. But this time, Primeval has a few more tricks up its sleeve. Because while the convention for much of season 1 was that the creatures that faced Cutter and his crew were arriving from the past, this time round there are monsters from the future to worry about too. Cue the likes of a woolly mammoth on the motorway, and a raptor-esque chase around a shopping center. The show then blends in some twisty narratives surrounding the characters themselves, which--while not particularly intricate or surprising--do keep up the fun, and it does its best to throw as much at the screen as it can. Primeval is very good fun, worth rewatching, and suitable for family viewing too. --Jon Foster