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TRANSCRIPT:
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OPENING SCENE:

A shopping trolley rolls across the screen.

A GORGONOPSID walks out of the trees, growling.

A woman (HELEN CUTTER) runs across an ASDA car park and hides in a large metal bin.

More growling, we see Helen as the bin she is hiding in is rammed repeatedly by the gorgonopsid.

Cut to a cleaner buffing the floor inside ASDA.

Shot of gorgonopsid walking across the car park.

Back to the cleaner. Helen runs across the car park and bangs on the store window.

Helen: Hey! Let me in!

Cleaner looks at Helen, but can’t hear what she’s saying and goes back to cleaning. Helen runs off as a bunch of trolleys are thrown at her.

Helen runs across the car park, tries to hide between 2 cars, and is almost squashed as several other cars are tossed about by the gorgonopsid.

Helen runs back into the trees. The gorgonopsid follows, roaring.

Title sequence.

EIGHT YEARS LATER:

A silver 4x4 pick up truck (with a Department of Evolutionary Zoology logo on the door) pulls up outside CENTRAL METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY. NICK CUTTER and STEPHEN HART get out.

Nick: I think there’s something seriously wrong with her…

Conversation continues as they walk toward the University, but is inaudible.

Nick and Stephen are walking along a wooden walkway alongside one of the buildings when they are approached from behind by CONNOR TEMPLE.

Connor: Professor Cutter?

Nick: Careful there.

Connor drops an armful of papers; Nick and Stephen keep on walking.

Connor: Professor! Professor Cutter!

Connor catches up to Nick and Stephen and extends a hand to shake.

Connor: Connor Temple.

Nick: Sorry, never heard of it. I think you want archaeology. If you go around up there to your right and keep on walking, it’s on your left.

Nick and Stephen both point to the right of the screen. Connor looks confused.

Connor: No, its not… it’s not a place, it’s my name. I’m one of your students.

Nick stops and turns to face Connor.

Nick: Really?

Connor: Uh-huh.

Nick: Well why… why I don’t recognise you?

Connor: Well, you’ve never actually turned up for the seminars.

Nick nods and he and Stephen start walking again.

Nick: Uh-huh.

Nick and Stephen continue their conversation from earlier. Connor hesitates for a second before following them.

Connor: Professor!

Cut to Nick’s office. We see a desk covered with various skulls, a leather bound journal, a couple of gems and 2 pictures of Helen Cutter.

The door opens; Nick, Stephen and Connor come in and go down a set of stairs.

Nick: Don’t touch anything. This is my laboratory technician, Stephen Hart.

Stephen: Hi.

Connor: Hi.

Nick walks around to stand behind his desk. Connor stands in front of the desk and Stephen walks over to a side table. Nick picks up a pile of paper in a pink folder and throws it in the bin. Connor points to the papers.

Connor: Oh, actually, that’s my dissertation.

Nick straightens up and gives Connor a questioning look before retrieving the dissertation.

Connor: Yeah. You see I argued that all life on Earth derived from organisms carried here by alien spacecraft. It’s pretty sexy stuff.

Nick purses his lips and tosses the dissertation back in the trash.

Connor: It’s a work in progress, really.

Nick picks up a piece of stone, which contains a fossilised fish skeleton.

Nick: Tell me what this is.

Connor: A fish?

Nick: Obviously. It’s a sarcopterygian. There’s no trace of them in the fossil record for 70 million years, and then suddenly one of them just pops up in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Totally inexplicable in modern evolutionary terms. See, Darwin provides most of the answers, it’s the pieces that don’t fit that interest me.

Connor: See, that’s why I was wondering if you’d seen this.

Connor holds up a newspaper with the headline ‘MONSTER HOAX or Truly Beastly’, also has the side heading ‘8 troops fail spot drug test’ for those who are interested.

Nick moves around his desk to put the fossil fish down at Stephen’s workstation before moving to take the paper from Connor.

Connor: Some sort of gigantic, undiscovered predator.

Nick unfolds the newspaper and we see a blurry picture (CCTV) of what the audience can see is a gorgonopsid. Nick looks at Connor with disbelief before handing the paper to Stephen.

Connor: Oh no, no, no, no, no. This … this is the real thing.

Nick: Connor, you should get out more. Go to a bar. Meet a nice girl. Life will seem a lot less confusing.

Connor: I’ve already got a girlfriend. Sort of.

Nick moves back behind his desk and takes his jacket off.

Connor: That’s not really the point. There’s an eyewitness, claimed to have seen it.

Nick: People claim to have seen the Loch Ness monster, that doesn’t mean it’s there.

Connor: Not now, obviously, because it died years ago.

Nick and Stephen share disbelieving looks.

Connor: The Government, they took the body away and covered up the whole thing.

Nick: This is just a hoax. Forget it.

Connor: Your wife wouldn’t have ignored it.

There is a moment of silence as Nick freezes.

Nick: My wife was a serious scientist. She wasn’t a gullible monster hunter.

Connor looks remorseful.

Connor: Sorry.

Nick: It’s OK.

Connor: I just thought you might want to check it out, that’s all.

Connor puts the newspaper back in his bag and starts to move towards the door.

Connor: It’s not as though the Forest of Dean is far away though.

Nick: The Forest of Dean?

Stephen suddenly straightens from where he has been looking at something with a microscope and turns to Nick. Slowly Nick turns to Stephen.

Stephen: If we leave now we could be there by lunch.

AT THE ZOO:

A young zookeeper, ABBY MAITLAND, is sitting in one of the lizard enclosures, trying to persuade two of the lizards (Brad and Angelina) to mate.

Abby: Come on guys, what are you waiting for? Soft lighting and a Frank Sinatra record?

Abby’s boss, TIM PARKER, walks up to the enclosure and taps on the glass partition.

Tim: How are Brad and Angelina?

Abby: Oh, totally gay, but otherwise fine.

Tim: They should be mating by now.

Abby: Maybe they just don’t fancy each other.

Tim: Abby, a word.

Abby stands up and moves out of the enclosure.

Tim: Abby, I’m sorry. The sponsor’s pulled out and I have to slim down the reptile programme.

Abby: And my job comes under the heading ‘instant weight loss’, right?

Abby storms out, Tim follows her.

Tim: There’s an attachment going at the bughouse. I could put in a word for you.

Abby: I’m a lizard girl, Tim. You know that.

Tim’s mobile rings, he turns to answer it and drops the armload of papers he was carrying.

Tim: Oh, sorry.

Abby: Oh.

Abby crouches to pick up the papers whilst Tim is on the phone.

Tim: Hello, Tim Parker. Uh, well, I’ll call you back, okay? Okay, bye.

Abby is looking at one of the papers Tim dropped, it is a letter from a boy called BEN TRENT, who has found a lizard and has sent photos.

Tim: Letters. From people wanting the zoo to collect their animals. Why do people buy exotic pets if they don’t want them?

Tim takes the pile from Abby, but she keeps the letter from Ben and smiles as she looks at the photos.

Tim: Is everything alright?

Abby: I’ll handle this one if you like. It’s my field. I know the Forest of Dean pretty well. Anyway, so about this attachment.

Abby and Tim start walking back the way they came.

Tim: Yes. Uh, a six-month project studying the life cycle of parasites in elephant dung.

Abby: Sounds unmissable.

THE FOREST OF DEAN TAKE 1:

A couple of shots of Nick’s 4x4 driving down the motorway, and into the forest.

Nick, Stephen and Connor walk up to a damaged truck with the eyewitness, a security guard in a reflective jacket.

Guard: I’d just finished my rounds when I caught a glimpse of it on the monitor.

The body of a red truck has been slashed open, leaving great gashes in its sides.

Connor: Can you imagine how much force it took to rip this thing open? Look at the size of the marks. If you want my opinion, I think it’s…

Stephen picks up a dead chicken, and Nick gives Connor an amused look.

Connor: You don’t, do you?

Stephen: Well, if I found these gouges in the wild, I’d be certain we were looking for a large predator.

Nick: But we’re in the Forest of Dean.

Guard: It was huge and it was so fast. It was gone across the yard in a second.

Stephen approaches the truck and looks at a red, liquid substance splashed across its side.

Stephen: Well, there’s blood.

Nick moves closer to the actual Forest. Stephen follows him.

Nick: Stephen. Come and give me a logical explanation for this.

Stephen: It’s a hoax, obviously.

Stephen catches up to Nick and stops as he too sees the twisted metal fence at the edge of the trees. Connor walks up behind them.

Stephen: Just a difficult one to pull off.

Connor: Can I say something?

Nick moves closer to the fence, leaving Connor and Stephen behind.

Connor: Is he alright?

Stephen: Helen Cutter came to this area eight years ago to investigate a creature sighting. She disappeared in the forest. The body was never found. Just a rucksack. No blood, no clues, nothing. She just vanished.

MEETING BEN AND REX:

Abby is driving (in a mini) onto a close on a modern housing estate, which borders the Forest of Dean. She pulls onto a drive and is greeted by MRS TRENT, Ben’s mother.

Mrs Trent: We never expected a personal call.

Abby: All part of the zoo service, Mrs Trent.

Mrs Trent: It’s only a lizard.

Cut to Ben’s room. He has model dinosaurs on his shelves and hanging from his ceiling, dinosaurs painted on his walls, and one of those beds, which are like bunk beds but without the bottom bunk.

Abby: I see you like dinosaurs, Ben.

Ben: [Laughs] Yeah. They’re awesome.

We hear chirping. Abby looks around and sees a lizard on Ben’s bed. REX.

Ben: His name’s Rex. I found him in the forest. Looked him up in a book and it said he was a flying lizard from Southeast Asia.

Abby: Draco Volans.

Abby looks at Rex closely and gets a confused look on her face.

Abby: He’s not a Draco Volans.

Ben: No?

Abby and Ben watch as Rex jumps from the bed to a bedside cabinet, then to a chest of drawers and then to a high shelve, knocking things over as he does.

Abby: In fact, I don’t know what he is.

Ben: I thought you were an expert.

Abby: I am. If I’m right, you’ve discovered a completely unique species.

Ben: Oh, cool.

Abby: I need you to show me exactly where you found him.

FOREST OF DEAN TAKE 2:

Abby and Ben are walking through the forest. Abby is carrying Rex, who is wrapped in a purple blanket.

Abby: It’s too cold for him here. He must have escaped from a private zoo or something.

Ben: I found him around here somewhere. This way.

Ben sees something and suddenly stops.

Ben: Abby.

Abby turns to him, and sees what he has seen. A dead cow has been lifted into the branches of a tree and left there (as leopards do with their prey). Abby and Ben look around nervously.

Cut to Ben and Abby running through the forest.

Abby: Slow down. Wait for me.

Ben: Maybe it was a leopard. They sometimes drag their prey into trees and come back for it later.

Abby: Don’t be silly, Ben. How many leopards are there in the Forest of Dean.

Ben: I don’t care. It’s weird. I’m getting out of here.

Abby: Ben, hold on. Wait for me!

EDDINGTON HOTEL, THE FOREST OF DEAN:

The 4x4 is parked outside the hotel.

Nick is at the bar, drinking a glass of water.

CLAUDIA BROWN is sitting on a sofa, being chatted up by a guy with a bad toupee. She doesn’t look too impressed.

Toupee Guy: No ones as pretty as yours [[Not good grammar, but that’s what the subtitles say]]. I must admit though, I’ve never seen you around here myself. And hey, why don’t we have a drink afterwards.

Claudia has seen Nick at the bar over Toupee Guy’s shoulder. Nick is looking at a picture of Helen in his wallet when Claudia taps him on the shoulder.

Claudia: Excuse me.

Claudia kisses Nick.

Claudia: Don’t panic. I just told that slime ball over there you were my boyfriend. One more sleazy chat-up line and I was going to have to kill him.

Nick: Well, I’m very glad I was here to help. Uh, I’m Nick Cutter.

Claudia: Actually, I know who you are. Claudia Brown, Home Office. I saw you at the Hotel. I’m hoping you can do me a favour Professor.

Nick: Another one?

Claudia: I suspect this is why we’re both here.

Claudia takes a white envelope out of her bag and reveals the picture that had been in the newspaper.

Claudia: We get dozens of rogue animal sightings every year. You’d be doing me a great favour if you could just confirm all this is nonsense.

Nick: I can’t dismiss the evidence out of hand.

Claudia: Surely you’re not giving this whole monster story credibility, Professor?

Nick: I’m just trying to keep an open mind.

Claudia: People always say that as though it’s such a good thing.

Nick: Well, you see, that depends on how you define ‘monster’. A wild panther might look pretty terrifying on a dark night.

Claudia: Is that what we’re dealing with?

Nick: My best guess, if it exists at all. The last sighting was somewhere near the forest. Would you care to join the search?

Claudia: I suppose I owe it to the taxpayer to do more than sit in my room and suck the mini bar dry.

Cut to Stephen and Connor at the 4x4 outside the Hotel. Connor has his laptop open and is showing Stephen his database.

Connor: This database contains constantly updated information on all non-extinct vertebrates. I’ve been building it every spare second since I was 14.

Stephen: It’s impressive.

Connor: It’s pretty cool, huh.

Stephen: And slightly sad.

Connor: You know we’re not talking about a wild cat, don’t you?

Nick and Claudia arrive before Stephen can respond.

Nick: This is Claudia Brown from the Home Office. She’ll be coming with us.

Connor: I knew it. It’s a cover-up.

Claudia: What’s he talking about?

Nick: Connor never met a conspiracy theory he didn’t like.

THE FOREST OF DEAN TAKE 3:

Ben is still running through the forest. Abby is as well, but she has fallen behind, and they have become separated.

Abby: Ben! Slow down!

Abby is standing in a small clearing with Rex still in her arms. Rex chirrups quite regularly through this scene.

Abby: Ben!

Abby starts running again, but is knocked off balance when Rex jumps out of her arms and starts gliding around. She watches him for a bit, and then follows him into an area of denser undergrowth when he lands.

Abby: Rex! Not now Rex. Please come back.

Rex moves further into the undergrowth, Abby follows.

Abby: Oh Rex! For goodness sake.

Ben is running through the woods, when something shiny catches his eye. He comes to a stop a few metres from an ANOMALY. He walks up to it and sticks his head through. On the other side is a prehistoric landscape, with some volcanoes erupting and some of Rex’s family (COELUROSAURAVUS) flying around. Ben pulls his head back through the anomaly, amazed. He is about to go back through, when he hears a roar. He runs back into the trees.

Ben: Abby!

Abby is climbing through the undergrowth to get to Rex.

Abby: Rex. Come here. Stop messing around.

Slow footsteps are heard. Rex chirrups nervously and Abby looks around for their source. A low growl is heard and the gorgonospid’s reflection appears in a nearby stream. Abby and Rex stay very still until it moves away.

FOREST OF DEAN TAKE 4:

Stephen, Claudia, Nick and Connor are travelling through the forest. Stephen has a map. Connor has a compass.

Claudia: If there really were some creature around here, wouldn’t the journalists have found it by now?

Nick: They wouldn’t know what they were looking for.

Claudia: But you do?

Nick: Hmm. I’ve seen Stephen track wounded animals through the rainforest for up to 10 days at a time.

Connor: Not to mention wrestle an anaconda and save a whale.

Connor moves forwards so he is walking with Stephen and Claudia and Nick are behind them.

Nick: Maybe there is something here, and maybe there isn’t. Frankly, I doubt it.

Stephen: Cutter!

Stephen has found the cow in the tree that Abby and Ben saw earlier.

Nick: Okay, now I’m getting interested.

Connor: Professor, the compass is going haywire.

Connor passes the compass to Nick. The compass needle is spinning around madly.

SETTING THE BAIT:

Ben has run to the edge of the forest, and is back at the estate where he lives. He climbs a stile to get onto the estate, sighing with relief.

Ben: Ow.

Ben pricks his finger on a thorn. He shakes it off and runs into his house and to his room, locking his bedroom door behind him. He dives onto a beanbag chair and studies his finger. The thorn has made it bleed. Outside, some of his blood is splashed on a leaf, a shadow falls over the leaf. Inside, Ben’s window starts to steam up in time to some growling from outside.

Ben turns his head to look and scrambles out of the way and onto his bed just as a huge set of gorgonopsid jaws smash through his window.

Ben: No. Ah!

The gorgonopsid grabs Ben’s bed and shakes it. Ben scrambles back as far as he can get and starts grabbing things and throwing them at it. He throws the remote control for his stereo at it and the loud music confuses the gorgonopsid for a moment, allowing Ben to get off his bed. Ben crawls out of the way and grabs an electric ball (one of those things where electricity is trapped in a glass globe) and throws it. The electric charge is enough to sting the gorgonopsid, and it retreats. Ben grabs a lightsaber and slowly moves towards his window, which has been completely destroyed, the gorgonopsid is gone, and Ben’s mother has heard the noise.

Mrs Trent: Ben, what on earth is going on in there? I want this mess tidied up now!

FOREST OF DEAN TAKE 5:

Abby has managed to reclaim Rex, but it has gone dark, and she has gotten lost in the forest.

Abby: Okay, Rex. Which way now?

She stops in a clearing, and hears a growl behind her. She turns around to see a SCUTOSAURUS. She backs up as it turns towards her and roars. Rex jumps out of her arms again as the scutosaurus repeats itself.

Abby: Rex!

Nick and the others come up behind her.

Nick: Don’t move.

Abby: Is it real?

Nick: Some kind of experiment, maybe. Hybrid, throwback. Who are you?

Abby: Abby Maitland. I’m a keeper at Wellington Zoo.

Nick approaches the scutosaurus, shining his torch at it.

Nick: It’s a reptile. Five or six tonnes at least. Large supratemporal bosses. Huge oesteoderms on it’s back.

Stephen and Connor also start to approach the scutosaurus as well.

Nick: It must be some kind of anapsid.

Abby: A tortoise?

The scutosaurus roars, Nick backs up, as do Stephen, Connor and Claudia.

Abby: Stay in his field of vision, you’re making him nervous.

Connor: I was right. It was a dinosaur in that warehouse.

Connor takes a picture of the scutosaurus with his camera phone. Claudia snatches it off him.

Claudia: Whatever it is, it’s classified until I figure out what the hell to do about it.

Rex comes out from where he was hiding. Nick shines his torch on him as he and Stephen crouch down to get a better look.

Stephen: Bloody hell, there’s two of them.

Nick: Where did that come from?

AT THE TRENT’S HOUSE:

Claudia is outside on her phone.

Claudia: No, I can’t use the police. This is too sensitive. [pause] There are lives at stake here. [pause] Listen, I don’t need you to tell me how junior I am, okay? You’re just going to have to trust me. Now get somebody down here fast.

Claudia ends the call.

Nick, Claudia and Abby are in Ben’s room with Ben and his mother. Nick is examining the damage done to the window. Mrs Trent is trying to remake Ben’s bed. Nick leaves the window as Mrs Trent starts talking.

Mrs Trent: I’ll be making a complaint. She’s filled his head with all sorts of stupid ideas. Just look at the state of his room!

Ben: It was the dinosaur.

Nick: The simple truth is Miss Maitland got carried away. Ben’s pet was nothing more exotic than Draco Volans. It’s a Southeast Asian flying lizard.

Ben: There was a monster though. It chased us. Tell them Abby.

Abby: I don’t really know what happened Ben. We just got frightened, that’s all.

Ben: But I saw the past. Prehistoric times. I was there.

Nick: You saw the past?

Ben: There was desert and rocks and things.

Ben storms out of the room.

Mrs Trent: I blame the telly. Excuse me.

Mrs Trent leaves the room.

Outside the Trent’s, on the way to the car.

Claudia: I know you feel bad about lying, but if word of this gets out, who knows what the consequences might be. You’re both going to have to sign the Official Secrets Act.

Nick: Whoa, when did this become an Official Secret?

Claudia: About ten minutes after I finally persuaded my boss not to have me sectioned.

Nick: Yeah, well, right now we have a far more urgent problem. That creature we saw may be many things, but it’s certainly not a ruthless predator that drags its prey up into trees.

Claudia: Well you can’t be sure of that.

Abby: He can. It’s a herbivore. Pure veggie.

Claudia: You mean there’s another one out there?

Nick: What did Ben mean when he talked about seeing the past? These animals have to be coming from somewhere.

Claudia: What are you saying?

Nick: I’m saying that the answer is in that forest and maybe Ben found it.

FOREST OF DEAN TAKE 6:

Stephen and Connor are in the forest, watching the scutosaurus. Stephen is sitting against a tree and Connor is standing next to him, staring at the scutosaurus.

Connor: You know this is going to win me the Nobel Prize.

Stephen: You don’t know what we’re dealing with yet.

Connor: Come on. It looks like a dinosaur. It behaves like a dinosaur. It’s a dinosaur. It’s the missing link to the ancient past. And I discovered it.

Nick: Stephen!

Nick and the others come running towards them, waving torches. The scutosaurus gets scared and starts to walk away. Connor and Stephen scramble out of its way.

Connor: Whoa, where’s it going?

Nick: Let him go! It’s scared. Let’s see where it thinks it’s safe.

They follow the scutosaurus until it goes through the anomaly. They slow down and stare at the anomaly.

Claudia: Where’s it gone?

Nick: Home.

FOREST OF DEAN TAKE 7, THE NEXT MORNING:

The area around the anomaly has been secured by Claudia’s backup. Nick and Connor are watching the anomaly, it’s obvious neither have been home. More soldiers arrive.

Random soldier: Come on lads. Look lively.

Scientific equipment is taken out of jeeps, Abby is sitting on a pile of it, she hasn’t been home either. We get our first glimpse of CAPTAIN TOM RYAN. Connor’s pen starts being pulled towards the anomaly.

Connor: My pen.

As Nick and Claudia watch, Connor lets go of the pen, and it flies into the anomaly.

Connor: That explains the compass going crazy.

Nick: What could cause a magnetic field so powerful?

Connor: Maybe it’s an alien spaceship.

More soldiers unloading jeeps under the supervision of Capt. Ryan. Stephen brings Abby a hot drink.

Stephen: How are you feeling?

Abby: Confused, frightened. Exhilarated.

Stephen: Snap.

Rex gets taken away in a cage.

Abby: You don’t think they’ll hurt him?

Stephen: Of course not.

Nick: Everything we’ve seen about the animals so far is consistent with vertebrates that last appeared in the fossil record hundreds of millions of years ago.

Claudia: You mean they’re like creatures from the past?

Nick: No, I mean they are creatures from the past.

Connor lets something else fly through the anomaly with a giggle.

Connor: Brilliant. Just brilliant. Oh, that was my front door key.

Connor grimaces.

Claudia: Cutter, we have to go now.

Nick: You’ve got your own experts.

Claudia: They didn’t see what we saw, and they don’t know what you know.

Claudia walks off and Stephen approaches Nick.

Stephen: You’re thinking about Helen, aren’t you?

Nick: It explains everything.

Stephen: Except why she didn’t come back.

HOME OFFICE TAKE 1:

Nick and Abby are in an office, doing some paper work (the Official Secrets Act maybe) Claudia is standing outside the office, watching them through the glass walls. Claudia is approached by JAMES LESTER.

Claudia: Claudia Brown, Home Office.

Lester: Yes, I’ve seen your file. James Lester, I’ll be in charge of co-ordinating our response. You shouldn’t have brought them here. They have no security clearance. I don’t like civilians in these situations.

Claudia: How many situations like this have you had?

Lester: How do we know they’re not responsible for all this in some way?

Claudia: That’s not possible.

Lester: You spend your entire career planning for just about every crisis imaginable, up to and including alien invasion, then this happens. So much for thinking outside the bloody box.

FOREST OF DEAN TAKE 8:

Stephen and Connor are walking through the forest. Stephen is tracking something, Connor is tripping over things, and sounding like he has a blocked nose.

Stephen: Something large has been through here, recently.

Connor: I’m not, um, really outdoorsy. I have sinus issues and allergies. I’ll write you a list.

Stephen holds his finger to his lips, indicating the need for silence.

Stephen: We can’t rely on the army to find this creature, so just keep looking. It’s so close I can sense it.

Connor: Shouldn’t we just wait for the Professor.

HOME OFFICE TAKE 2:

Lester, Nick, Claudia and Abby are walking through the Home Office building into a room where they can view the tests being carried out on Rex.

Lester: This phenomenon Professor, Claudia tells me you have an explanation.

Nick: A theory. The boy’s experience proves that there’s a concrete landscape on the other side of the anomaly. And I think it’s the Earth many millions of years ago.

Lester: And this, anomaly, as you call it, is a door between time zones in the world’s history?

Nick: Hmm.

Lester: Suppose this remarkable theory is correct, what are the immediate risks?

Nick: Famine, war, pestilence. The end of the world as we know it. You know, the usual stuff.

Lester: I think I could do without the facetiousness.

Nick: Well I could do without standing in some anaemic office in Whitehall, talking to a civil service pen pusher, when I should be exploring the most significant phenomenon in the history of science.

Lester: Technically, I’m not actually a civil servant. More a troubleshooter without a portfolio in the PM’s office.

Nick: You mean you’re a Government hatchet man.

Lester: Colourful, but surprisingly accurate.

Nick: And there’s something else you should know. I intend to find out what happened to my wife, whatever the risks, so I’m going through the anomaly, and if you want to stop me, you’re going to have to shoot me.

Lester: I hope it won’t come to that.

FOREST OF DEAN TAKE 9:

Stephen and Connor are still looking for the creature. Connor is still having sinus issues.

Connor: So, what do you think of Abby?

Stephen: She’s okay. Why?

Connor: I was picking up some heat between us. You get an instinct for these kind of things.

Stephen: I though you already had a girlfriend.

Connor: She’s more of a pen pal really. She, um… She lives in the Gambia.

Stephen: That’s practical for a night out.

Connor: Yeah. So do you think Abby likes me.

Stephen turns and steps in front of Connor, forcing him to stop.

Stephen: Why don’t you ask her yourself.

Connor: All right. I might.

Stephen starts walking again, Connor goes into a little daydream.

Connor: It’s not everyday you meet a potential girlfriend. And find a dinosaur.

Connor realises that he has lost sight of Stephen for a second.

Connor: Stephen? Stephen!

HOME OFFICE TAKE 3:

Rex is being examined by a bunch of people in white suits. Nick, Abby, Claudia and Lester are watching through a window.

Abby: You really shouldn’t handle a lizard like that.

Lester: Let the experts do their job.

Abby: They don’t know what they’re doing.

A scientist is poking at Rex with a swab, trying to get a saliva sample, and failing, and getting Rex annoyed.

Abby: You really shouldn’t mess with an angry lizard.

Lester: I’m terrified.

Abby: Do they even know he can fly?

Lester: Fly?

Rex starts flying around the lab.

Lab guy: Watch the door!

Another lab person accidentally opens the door, and Rex flies out. Nick is amused. Abby and Claudia go to try and catch Rex.

Abby: Rex!

Lester: He can fly.

Nick: Hmm. Pretty well.

Rex flies down to the bottom floor, and gets in an elevator going up, just as Abby and Claudia arrive on the bottom floor.

Claudia: It’s going up.

Rex gets out of the elevator, scaring the people who were waiting for it. Lester is on the phone as Rex flies through the room he is in.

Lester: Well, we’ll really have to take a view on that…. Christ, look out!

Rex flies through several offices, followed by Claudia and Abby.

Man: Where did that come from?

Claudia and Abby spot Rex on a windowsill, about to leave the building. Abby tries to coax him down with words and treats. Nick and Lester join them.

Abby: Rex. Don’t do it Rex. It’s not your world out there anymore. Try some of this [a treat], you’ll love it. I promise. Rex, come back! That’s it, oh, hello. Good decision Rex.

Rex has of course, landed in Abby’s arms.

Nick [to Lester]: Oh, those risks you were talking about. There’s one I didn’t tell you about running down your back.

Lester sees what Rex has done to his jacket, sighs and leaves.

Nick: It’s so perfect.

FOREST OF DEAN TAKE 10:

Stephen and Connor, still walking through the forest looking for the creature. Stephen finds a footprint in the mud, and whistles Connor over.

Stephen: What’s this?

Connor: I think the scientific term is ‘really bad news’.

HOME OFFICE TAKE 3:

Lester, Nick and Claudia are in Lester’s office.

Lester: The lizard’s DNA confirms your theory. The creature’s a living fossil. Under the circumstances, I’m going to allow your exploratory mission into the anomaly.

Nick: I’m taking the lizard back. Creatures that don’t belong here should be returned to their natural habitat.

Lester passes over a piece of paper.

Lester: It’s a disclaimer. We don’t want any nasty lawsuits if you don’t come back.

FOREST OF DEAN TAKE 11:

Connor is sitting on a log, his laptop on his knee. Stephen is crouched next to the footprint.

Connor: Okay. My best guess? The creature we found was some kind of scutosaurus, late Permian era. That footprint? Definitely not the same animal. If we are talking late Permian, then this little charmer is the prime suspect.

Stephen stands up and goes to crouch next to Connor, who shows him the page of his database that he has brought up.

Connor: It’s a gorgonopsid. It’s a compact killing machine, and it’s got incredible power. Stephen, if it is still out there, then you have to find it. Fast.

Stephen: What about you?

Connor: You, mighty hunter. Me, I’m more logistics and, you know, backup.

Connor pats Stephen on the shoulder.

Stephen goes off by himself, and tracks the gorgonopsid, following a trail of broken logs.

DETENTION:

Ben is sitting in a classroom in a school, alone apart from his female teacher. There’s a big, yellow, cardboard dinosaur on the windowsill.

The gorgonopsid emerges from the trees at the edge of the school’s playing field, growling and drooling.

Stephen is standing in the forest. He senses something.

Ben is sitting at a desk, doing some work. His teacher approaches him.

Teacher: The sooner you finish your detention Ben, the sooner we can both go home.

Ben glances up and sees the gorgonopsid outside the window.

Ben: Miss. Miss, there’s a dinosaur in the playground.

The teacher turns to look, but the gorgonopsid has already gone.

Teacher: Really Ben, how old are you now?

The gorgonopsid is padding down the corridor. There is a paper dinosaur on the wall.

Ben is starting to panic; he stands up and starts to move towards the door. His teacher is not impressed.

Ben: No, we’ve got to get out.

Teacher: Ben, sit down now.

Ben: There’s a dinosaur!

The gorgonopsid has heard Ben’s yell, and starts to move quicker.

Ben: Miss, come on!

Teacher: Ben, sit down. Settle down.

The gorgonopsid knocks a plant pot over, smashing it. The teacher hears and moves towards the door. Ben tries to stop her.

Ben: Don’t open the door. Don’t open it!

She does, and the gorgonopsid is there. The teacher screams, closes the door and locks it, before grabbing Ben and moving to the other side of the room. The gorgonopsid head butts the door (and wow, that door must be really strong considering how easily the gorgonopsid ripped through that truck and the fence). Ben and his teacher use a table to try and barricade the door as it starts to splinter.

The gorgonopsid turns as Stephen throws a plastic chair at its head.

Stephen: Pick on someone your own size.

The gorgonopsid turns and starts chasing Stephen as he runs back down the corridor. Stephen knocks over a trophy cabinet and a couple of cupboards, trying to slow it down, but it doesn’t work. Another plant pot pays the price.

Stephen runs down a flight of stairs, narrowly avoiding being squashed by a metal locker that the gorgonopsid throws. He ends up running towards a fire exit, which turns out to be locked for some stupid reason. The gorgonopsid approaches its trapped prey, growling. Stephen grabs a fire extinguisher and uses it on the gorgonopsid’s head, blinding it. The gorgonopsid charges forwards, throwing the doors open and knocking Stephen through. He falls out, and ends up lying unconscious on the grass next to the door as the gorgonopsid runs off.

FOREST OF DEAN TAKE 12:

Everyone but Stephen and Lester are at the anomaly site. It is raining, and several tents have been set up. Connor is on the phone, and Nick is being checked over by a medical person.

Nick: Will you call Stephen again?

Connor: He’s not answering.

Claudia: It’s 18:55. I want you back no later than 20:00 hours. If the first contact works out, we’ll go from there.

The group are approached by Captain Ryan, who is wearing full gear and is carrying a big gun.

Nick: What’s he doing here?

Claudia: This is Captain Ryan. He’s a Gulf war veteran with extensive desert experience. We don’t know how dangerous it will be on the other side of the anomaly. No arguments, Cutter. He goes as well.

Nick and Ryan shake hands as Abby approaches with Rex. She hands him over to Nick as Claudia and Ryan move away.

Abby: Please take care of him. Look after yourself too.

Nick: Yeah, we’ll be fine.

Claudia [to Ryan]: Whatever happens, bring him back.

Ryan moves away from Claudia, and he and Nick walk towards the anomaly. Ryan accepts a canvas bag (probably of supply type things) from someone, Nick glances back, and then they step through the anomaly. (By the way, Ryan is now carrying a big gun, the canvas bag and a rucksack full of gear, as well as being fully kitted out in black cammies and a tac vest, Nick is just carrying Rex).

They step through into the landscape that Ben saw earlier. Think the Lanzarote National Park, boiling hot, full of black volcanic rock, and a few trees and bits of scrub bush.

On the other side of the anomaly, Claudia, Abby and Connor are watching the anomaly. Connor gets a note pad out of his pocket, dropping his pen. It falls to the floor rather than being attracted to the anomaly.

Connor: My pen. The magnetic field didn’t take it. The anomaly is getting weaker.

THROUGH THE ANOMALY:

Nick has released Rex. Ryan has dumped most of his gear and is sorting through it whilst Nick stares around in amazement.

Nick: Give me an hour. One hour on my own.

Ryan doesn’t look sure.

Nick: I’ve got a radio.

Nick walks off. Ryan doesn’t look especially pleased, but lets him go.

Nick walks to the top of a hill, where there is a pretty impressive view. Rex flies past, and there are a family of scutosaurus’ on a nearby hill.

Nick: Helen!

Ryan: Professor!

Nick turns around and sees Ryan a little way away, waving at him.

Ryan: Professor! Over here!

Nick walks down the hill and Ryan shows him what he has found. There is a ruined campsite there.

Nick: My God.

Nick crouches down by a metal tin and opens it. Inside are food and medical supplies. Nick picks up a Yorkie bar.

Nick: People. Somebody’s been here before us.

Ryan: Well whoever it was they didn’t get far. Over here.

Ryan takes Nick to the other side of the camp and shows him a skeleton; Nick crouches down by it. Ryan spots something and unearths a camera, in its case, from the ground. The leather camera case has the initials HC on it.

Nick: It’s ‘HC’. It’s ‘Helen Cutter’.

Nick and Ryan stand. Nick looks shocked.

Ryan: Is it her?

Nick crouches down again and appears to count the skeletons ribs.

Nick: No, it’s a man.

Ryan: How did he die?

Nick: I don’t know, uh…

Ryan checks his watch.

Ryan: It’s time to go.

Nick: Yeah, I can’t help that. I’ve got to find my wife.

Ryan: We have to go.

Nick: I’m staying.

Ryan: Sorry Professor.

Ryan takes a pistol out of a side holster and hits Nick over the head with it, knocking him out. Ryan carries Nick back to the anomaly over his shoulder. He also has the camera. As they near the anomaly, Nick regains consciousness and takes the camera. Ryan helps him the rest of the way.

They stop when they get there and catch their breath. Nick takes a swing at Ryan, misses, and Ryan punches him in return, knocking him over.

Ryan: Don’t do that again. The anomaly! It’s disappearing!

Ryan runs towards the anomaly but Nick stays where he is. Ryan stops when he notices.

Ryan: Quick! Do you want to be trapped here forever?

Nick: I’m staying here to look for my wife.

Ryan: I’m not leaving you behind.

Nick: Well what do you want to do? Shoot me?

Ryan goes to kneel next to where Nick is kneeling.

Ryan: All right. You stay, I stay.

Nick: That’s … that’s just childish.

Nick looks between the anomaly and Ryan.

Nick: Oh God. All right.

Nick grabs Helen’s camera and runs through the anomaly, Ryan is right behind him.

They emerge on the other side and hit the ground. It has gone dark. Claudia, Connor and Abby run towards them to help them up. Everyone is talking over the top of each other.

Connor: Cutter?

Abby: Look!

Connor: Cutter.

Abby: They’re back.

Claudia: You okay?

Abby: You okay?

Claudia: Can I have a medic?

Abby hears a chirruping noise. Rex runs out from the trees.

Claudia: Well done Ryan. [To Nick] What did you see?

Abby moves away from the main group towards Rex, who no one else has noticed.

Ryan: There’s a camp. Looks like a military camp. You’re not going to believe it.

The anomaly disappears.

Connor: What was it like?

There are laughs of relief. Abby goes and picks up Rex. The gorgonopsid watches from the trees growling.

Ryan: God, you’ve got to see it.

Claudia: Well done Ryan.

A roar sounds. Everyone starts running, military personnel towards the sound, civilians away from it, as the gorgonopsid races out of the trees towards them.

Abby: Oh my God! Run!

Claudia: Run!

There is gunfire. The soldiers have really bad aim.

Soldier: Moving target! Hold your fire!

Claudia: Ryan! Clear the area!

Connor trips, but scrambles back to his feet. Everyone is running now, Connor and Abby in one direction, Nick and Claudia in another. A soldier screams as the gorgonopsid tosses him. Rex is hidden under the scarf that Abby was using to pick him up when the gorgonopsid arrived. The gorgonopsid knocks over one of the floodlights. Claudia trips over and Nick goes back to help her.

Claudia: Cutter!

Nick: Claudia. Quick.

Nick pulls Claudia to her feet as the gorgonopsid turns towards them and starts to advance.

Headlights and a car horn distract the gorgonopsid as Stephen arrives in the 4x4. He meets the gorgonopsid in a head on collision. The gorgonopsid goes down and the front of the 4x4 is severely dented, but Stephen gets out unharmed.

Stephen walks towards Nick and Claudia, who are looking at him in shock. The gorgonopsid’s eye opens and it roars.

Nick: Stephen! Catch!

Nick tosses a discarded machine gun to Stephen, who uses it to kill the gorgonopsid.

HOME OFFICE TAKE 4 – THE NEXT DAY:

Lester, Claudia and Nick are in an office in the Home Office. There is a screen showing several pictures of Helen Cutter in the prehistoric landscape.

Lester: We developed the film in the camera you brought back.

Nick: It’s her. It’s Helen.

Lester: I’m sorry for your personal loss, Professor. This camp that you discovered. There were no clues as to who made it, or what it was for? The thought that someone was there before us is far from reassuring. And I used to think the EU Common Agricultural Policy was far-fetched. Still, at least the immediate crisis is over.

Nick moves over towards the window, gesturing.

Nick: Some, force, out there, ripped the boundaries of space and time to shreds. Maybe it’s happened before, in which case, every single thing we thought we knew about the Universe is wrong. Or, this is the first time. In which case, what changed? What happens next? Believe me, it’s very, very far from over.

Nick brushes past Lester and Claudia and leaves the office. Abby, Connor and Stephen are waiting for him outside the office. They fall into step with him.

THE FINAL SCENE:

Nick is sitting alone in his office at the university. It has gone dark outside and the room is lit only by a couple of desk lamps.

Nick is sitting staring into space. He picks up picture of Helen up from his desk and looks at it. He shakes his head and places the picture face down on his desk. He stands up and walks into a small lab at the side of the office. There is a noise in the office, and a shadow moves across the room. Nick comes out of the lab.

Nick: Hello?

He moves back to his desk. The photo is gone, and a living ammonite is lying in its place. Nick hears footsteps running away from his office. He follows them, and ends up on a walkway nearby to where he and Stephen met Connor at the start of the episode (I think). Helen is standing under a streetlight on a nearby road. When she sees that Nick has seen her, she starts to move away.

Nick: Helen! Helen!

Nick runs towards her, but she has gone by the time he gets closer.

Trailer for next episode.

End titles.

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