As with series three of Primeval, series four is very hit and miss. Firstly, theres yet another new set of characters to get used to, although this is worked nicely into the cliff-hanger from series three. It does however mean that we are given a slightly wooden new lead man Matt (Ciaran McMenamin) and the initially annoying but beautiful Jess (Ruth Kearney) yet over time these characters do start to develop, especially Matt whose mysterious storyline is quite intriguing. As well as this, Alexander Siddig shows up now and again in a slightly underused role that appears to be that of the new villain, which makes a nice change from the constant return of Helen Cutter which was becoming quite boring and pantomime. In terms of regulars, Andrew Lee Potts is back as Connor and Ben Miller is also back as James Lester, both of whom steal the show, with Connor getting some decent mature character development. Hannah Spearitt is also back as Abby, who sadly this time around, doesnt seem to do much and in all honesty is quite boring this series. Recurring characters Emily (the stunning and talented Ruth Bradley) and Ethan (Jonathyn Byrne) are strong supporting actors but sadly arent given much to do this series until the brilliant finale.
Next theres the production of the series, which appears to take place solely on an industrial estate in Ireland (where the series is now filmed) or in the surrounding buildings where there are little to no extras which makes things hard to believe when the series is supposed to be taking place in London. As well as this the creature of the week storylines seem to dominate the series with the anomaly investigation taking second place and only becoming prominent in the final few episodes, which is a disappointment as the monster of the week angle is getting very tired now after three plus series. In addition to this most of the monsters this series all appear to be (look) the same, which makes it look and feel quite boring and repetitive. There is however a good side story of the time travellers coming through various anomalies which adds a different if underdeveloped angle to the series that comes to a decent enough cliff-hanger. In terms of episode highlight, episode two and episode seven are easily best with the latter being the finale which is one of the best episodes of the show in a long while.
Overall this is a decent enough series with some strong elements with boring or dull characters like Sarah Page from series three being gotten rid of, some strong character development for the longer term residents, some decent enough new characters, some funny humour, the return of some old faces for continuity, some anomaly investigation, a couple of very strong episodes, a new fresh villain with a mysterious agenda and a strong ending. It does however suffer with some things that are quite frankly unforgivable. Firstly it all appears to be shot in the same place, with little to no support in the form of character extras and secondly the monster storylines seem to be taking priority with the anomalies coming second which is becoming tedious and boring after chasing creatures around for over three series. However, giving the excellent cliff-hanger this series it looks like were moving into something darker and anomaly related which is good but I just hope the writers and producers can up the production values and inject some fun and entertainment back into the show like we had with series one and two and first part of series three as this is what seems to be missing as of late.