Nick Cutter (played by Douglas Henshall)
Cutter graduated from his university with a first-class Honours degree. He then went on to research and lecture in Evolutionary Zoology at Central Metropolitan University, where he works closely with his friend and colleague, Stephen Hart.
Cutter’s wife Helen, also an Evolutionary Zoologist, disappeared mysteriously eight years ago and was presumed dead. He always believed that he would see her again, and his intuition was not wrong.
Cutter is recognised as one of the top minds in his field. Whilst he believes that there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, he feels quite differently about the intelligence in the Government. He has always preferred fossils to live animals, including his students, which doesn’t bode well for Connor.
Cutter likes to relax by supping single malt whisky and listening to Joy Division.
Stephen Hart (played by James Murray)
He is passionately committed to wildlife conservation and believes humanity is destroying its own environment through unchecked industrialisation.
Stephen was a junior fencing and shooting champion, an Olympic prospect, but he gave it all up to study natural history. He does, however, still manage to run about 30 miles a week.
He had his heart broken when he fell in love with a student and has never really got over it. Although he claims to have no interest in fashion, he does have a suspiciously large collection of GQ magazines in his bathroom.Connor Temple (played by Andrew Lee Potts)
Connor is the epitome of Geek Chic. He has a secret crush on Abby Maitland, which everyone knows about, including Abby.
Connor Temple loves pizza; in fact he rarely eats anything else.
He hates exercise and loves TV. He prefers not to go out in case he misses something which may never be repeated, so he really is quite happy with a night in and a pizza.
Connor believes that George Lucas is a god. His favourite films are the original Star Wars, but not the later three.
He has always rather fancied himself as a crime-buster and wanted to be part of the Scooby Doo gang as a kid.
Connor believes that UFOs are real and that Governments have hidden the evidence. He secretly wishes he could be abducted by aliens.
Connor once did the Vampire ride at Alton Towers 12 times in succession. It made him sick, but he didn’t mind.Abby Maitland (played by Hannah Spearritt)
Quirky Abby visited the Galapagos Islands when she was a child, and has had a love affair with lizards ever since. She has happily adopted Rex as her new pet.
Abby left university after only a month because she found a job as a zoo keeper. At the zoo, Abby worked closely with lizards until her funding was cut.
Abby always falls for the wrong man; she definitely likes them moody and a bit dangerous.
Her hobbies include yoga (ashtanga), karate and kick-boxing. She is also rather fond of karaoke.
Most of the time Abby prefers animals to people. This does not include spiders though; she has a chronic fear of them!Claudia Brown (played by Lucy Brown)
Claudia joined the Civil Service after studying Law at university. She believes that an official Civil Servant should take everything in her stride, including dinosaurs!
Claudia is an only child.
Her hobbies include riding (which she does well), dancing (which she does not so well) and cooking (which she does terribly). Her secret ambition before the anomalies was to quit her job and sail around the world.
Claudia was engaged for two years, but broke up with her fiancé one month before the wedding. She has had no relationships since. She isn’t sure whether or not she likes Nick Cutter, although she does think that she might be falling in love with him.
Her favourite film used to be Jurassic Park, though that is no longer the case.James Lester (played by Ben Miller)
James hates mess and disorder, particularly when it is caused by dinosaurs.
He believes the Government knows best and the public have no right to know anything. Politically, he has no strong allegiance, but he is extremely good at office politics.
You wouldn’t know this, but Lester is married with three children. He never talks about his family, nor in fact anything to do with his personal life.
His middle name is Peregrine, which is his most closely guarded secret.
He went to a comprehensive school and hates public-school boys. Actually, he pretty much hates everybody.
He plays squash and tennis, both very aggressively.
He owns 50 suits, all of similar design and colour, He does wear brightly coloured ties, but this is only because someone once told him it was trendy.Helen Cutter (played by Juliet Aubrey)
After graduating from university (where she met and fell in love with Nick Cutter), Helen had her first book on genetic mutation published when she was in her early 20s. She believes the theory of natural selection fails to explain everything and has made it her life’s mission to improve the theory. To say she is passionate about her cause is an understatement.
Helen believes that human reliance on machines and technology has fatally weakened our animal instincts. She likes to keep her own instincts honed with frequent sessions of white-water rafting, abseiling and rock-climbing.
Eight years ago, Helen went missing mysteriously and was presumed dead. However, Nick discovered that she has been living on the other side of the anomalies.Oliver Leek (played by Karl Theobald)
At first glance, Oliver is the perfect corporate creep – enthusiastic to the point of unctuousness, obedient to the point of being servile. He is always looking to please his boss, Lester.
Oliver wears sharp suits (often modelling himself on Lester, but careful not to outshine him). When he found out where Lester buys his suits, he went to the same tailor in a bid to impress him, but Lester hasn’t noticed.
Oliver is not quite an outright figure of fun – he’s a bit too sharp for that – but he is close and his cringing manner to Lester makes him regarded with amusement by the team.
Oliver hates sport in any form, especially football. At school, he was always the last one picked when football teams were chosen in the playground. Sometimes even when he was the last one left, he still wasn’t picked.
Oliver is obsessively clean and tidy. He polishes all his shoes every evening and rarely goes out in case he is too tired to clean his shoes when he comes home.
He enjoys reading books about famous people, and one day plans to write his own book about famous people’s assistants.
Privately contemptuous of elected politicians, Oliver believes Britain would be a lot better off it was run by the Civil Service. Led by him.
He prefers Severus Snape to Harry Potter.
Oliver eats out once a week, always at the same table in the same restaurant. The waiter never recognises him.
He had his heart broken at university, when the girl he fancied laughed out loud when he asked her out on a date.
He is much more ambitious than he looks.Caroline Steel (played by Naomi Bentley)
Caroline is beautiful and arrogant in the way that some beautiful people can be – she knows how attractive she is and knows she can get pretty much any man she wants. Connor has no chance. She is amoral and greedy for money, but underneath it all she does have a heart. She is dazzlingly fashionable and poised. The well-groomed and sophisticated opposite of Abbey.
She was voted most popular girl in her year at school. Caroline has had many boyfriends, but has never been dumped. She always does the dumping.
She goes out clubbing at least four times a week. Despite being good at school, she swore she would never read another book once she left. She hasn’t.
She once auditioned for The X Factor but failed at the audition stage, on the reasonable grounds that she can’t actually sing. She is now planning to have a go at Big Brother.
Caroline is much smarter than most of the boys she dates, but is careful not to show it in case they feel intimidated.
She once went to yoga, but gave up after five minutes because it was ‘boring’. She now favours kickboxing, on the grounds that it is both good exercise and intimidates the hell out of blokes.
She likes dogs and cats, but hates lizards.