I really did like Matt Anderson, he brought some mystery with him, of what his main drive was, where did he came from, which future, what his plan is. He was likeable also. Jess Parker (Ruth Kearney) is the team coordinator; I really liked her outfits😊. Captain Decker (Ben Mansfield) also stayed on the team, James Lester (Ben Miller) was still the one the team answered to. When Connor and Abby return, at first there is no room for them on the team who goes through the anomalies, because they are not military, but James Lester is able to convince Burton to reconsider. It is also told early on that Sarah Page (Laila Rouass), who joined the team in series 3, had died. Three recurring characters complete the cast for series 4: Anton Lesser as Gideon, Ruth Bradley as Emily Merchant and Jonathyn Byrne as Ethan Dobrowski. Ruth’s character also returns in series 5. In series 5 we get another recurring character, Janice Byrne as April Leonard, Philip Burton's assistant, but she also assisted Connor and she was cunning and devious, very loyal to Philip.

Through all 5 series, only 3 characters remained on board for the entire series, Ben Miller as James Lester, Andrew Lee Pots as Connor Temple and Hannah Spearitt as Abby Maitland. Andrew Lee Potts is the only one who also worked on the Canadian spin-off series Primeval: New Worlds where he is a recurring character.

There are various story-arcs in play, but it all leads to what Philip Burton is doing with his project New Dawn. From Matt Anderson’s perspective his story-arc is what happened in the future, the destruction of earth, of humankind and he travels back in time in an attempt to stop this future from happening. Ultimately, project New Dawn is what Matt must try to prevent. Matt also tells Emily that he wasn’t the first one who was sent back to try and prevent their future. In this case, Philip Burton might be a bit of a stuck-up guy, but when I finished both series, I came to the conclusion that he more or less acted in good faith, he really thought he was doing something good, not realizing that Helen Cutter misled him the whole time. You could argue that this argument doesn’t hold up because a man of his stature, does not easily get fooled. Still, he goes out being a hero, although his final act does not immediately solve the current crisis, when he did it, he was convinced it would work.

Connor Temple has a big role in this because he worships Philip Burton and he is prepared to follow him and almost loses Abby in the process. He finally concludes that project New Dawn will indeed destroy our world in the future. He also learned that Philip is someone who uses you, because after the crash with the prehistoric animal in the garage, Burton doesn’t lift a finger to help Connor get free from the tilted car in which he is stuck.

Emily, who originally was born in 1840, has a story-arc of her own. Time travel was already known to her, she previously was living with a group in the Cretaceous. She arrives with Ethan Dobrowski (Jonathan Byrne) and their friend who is sick, Charlotte Cameron. When she dies, Ethan goes berserk and blames Emily. She and Matt bond and I was disappointed to see her go back through the portal in the series 4 finale. I figured back then that she would not be back. But she did and in the final episodes of series 5 she even joins the team.

James Lester is probably my favorite character in these finale two series, although he is from the main cast, he does have less screentime than the team, but when he is in a scene, any scene, he steals it, he is just so funny with his dry wit, his sarcasm and his blunt behavior, it gives a smile to my face every time he appears on the screen.

Overall:

I think the first 2 series and series 5 are my favorites, I must admit, I think with my last rewatches I enjoyed it a bit more, I really was looking forward to this rewatch but somehow, I expected a bit more, perhaps a bit different. You have to remember, most of the time you get a monster of the week story and on the side, the story-arc of course also develops and yes, the characters also grow, but not as much, I think. You could argue that Connor is the one who was the most developed because in the first 3 series he could be dorky, but especially with this rewatch I was annoyed by his behavior most of the time. I explained that in my earlier blogs. In these last two series however, he finally had grown up a bit, he matured, something which came a few series too late in my opinion. In the final episode Abby proposes marriage to Connor, which he accepts.

So, I graded most episodes a 7.5/10, I mean, it still is enjoyable but the last 3 episodes were really exciting, I finally could go up with my grades. It went out with a bang, but as I said earlier, it wasn’t a complete satisfying conclusion because of what happens in the final moment where Matt Anderson walks into his double who says: Go Back!

Final Word:

I still recommend this show because it is fun, adventurous and such, it does have some flaws as I discussed also but which show does not have any flaws? Perhaps with another rewatch I again have a slightly different opinion, because it also depends on what kind of mood you are in. I know for sure in some time I will do another rewatch. I won’t wait so long as I did this time, but it will at least take 7-10 years before I take this off the shelf again.

I've added the word document with the episode ratings with descriptions and comments for the ones who are interested in this. Just be aware, it is a draft document, sometimes also can be confusing because of grammar errors and some sloppiness.