James Peregrine Lester

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James Peregrine Lester

Lester overseeing the team's activities.
First appearance Episode One
Portrayed by Ben Miller
Episode count 11
Information
Gender Male
Occupation Senior UK government official
Title Sir
Spouse(s) Wife and three children (unnamed)

Sir James Peregrine Lester is a fictional character in the ITV science fiction TV series Primeval. He is played by Ben Miller .

Lester works for the British government, and is leader and ultimately responsible for the team of scientists, lead by Nick Cutter, charged with investigating the appearance of time anomalies. A ruthless and sarcastic individual, he's been given the task of uncovering the secrets of the anomalies and to prevent mass panic and he intends to do that by whatever means are necessary.

Contents

[edit] Characterization

According to the official site he is without any real political allegiances although he believes that the ends justify the means and has no problems with torture. He is also hinted to be a British patriot with a distrust of the EU.[1]

While remaining, for the most part, stubborn, paranoid, slow to face facts and willfully ignorant, he has also displayed surprising bursts of astonishing foresight and knowledge as he guesses correctly that his assistant has personal reasons for wanting Cutter to remain close by, and that Cutter was hiding something from them.[2] He also guesses that Helen Cutter was lying in order to escape, "I think I'd trust her just about as far as I can throw a Stegosaurus", but is convinced otherwise by Claudia and Cutter, which proves to be a mistake on their part. He's usually right in the final analysis, especially on matters of human nature, when Cutter is usually wrong.[3]

However he has also shown a softer side when he promises to have the charges against a young girl dropped, when Claudia brings the matter to his attention, even though he can simply do nothing.[4] Like Professor Cutter, Lester has slowly mellowed out over the course of the series and become far more active and reasonable when dealing with the team.[5]

He is a snappy dresser as he owns over 50 suits, all made to measure, all dark colours with colourful ties because someone once told him it was trendy.[6] He also plays squash and tennis as a hobby.[7]

[edit] Character history

[edit] Pre-Crisis

Little of Lester's background has been revealed, other than he has a family.[8] While his exact role and position in the government is unclear, he has free run of Whitehall and command of intelligence and security forces. He has spent his entire career "planning for just about every crisis imaginable — up to and including alien invasion."[1] He describes himself as "a trouble shooter without portfolio in the PM's office" and agreed with Cutter's assessment that he is a "government backed hatchet man."

For most episodes he remains a sedentary leader and problem-solver; everyone has to go to him at Whitehall, and he operates through agents like Claudia Brown and Tom Ryan. However this is apparently not due to any lack courage in the face of danger, he has no fear going out in the field and once met up with the team[4] in order to confront Cutter personally and ensure the capture of Helen Cutter. During her later interrogation he is quite happy to use torture to gain information.

While having an intense dislike of Cutter, and believing his team members (Connor in particular) to be annoying,[4] he remains professional except for regular sarcastic comments. Later in the series his relationship with Cutter did reach a breaking point; he questions Cutter's role in his wife's escape and the reason for his pursuit[3] and claims he causes more problems than he solves, which is, as usual, an accurate assessment. By the end of the first series, however, he was prepared to forgive and forget and put his neck on the line for the Professor and, when push came to shove, was prepared to actively join in the effort to find a future predator and the anomaly it came from.[5] James Lester's middle name is Peregrine, which he keeps a closely guarded secret.

[edit] Post-Crisis

Due to alterations in the timeline, the cause of which is unknown, Lester is now the agent in charge of the A.R.C. He now also has a personal assistant, Oliver Leek, who is apparently working for Helen Cutter. Connor later discovered that his new girlfriend, Caroline Steel, is really working with Leek and Helen.[9] Also in an interview with Ben Miller about the second series, he claims that Lester has been made a bit more macho, and gets to fire several rounds from a Sub-machine gun. In Episode 12, Lester is trapped alone inside the ARC by Oliver Leek, who attempts to kill him using a future predator controlled by "neural clamp" (some kind of external control) on its spinal column. Lester foils the attempt by releasing a Columbian mammoth which is being kept safe inside the ARC, which impales the predator on its tusks. Lester later jokingly suggests keeping the mammoth as a pet for his kids, if the team was unable to find the creature a home. This is the first time Lester mentions having a family. Lester then decides to take charge of the next anomaly investigation himself, however it turns out to be a false alarm, set up as a diversion by Leek while he lures Cutter's team to his secret facility. Lester arrives at the scene of the false alarm to find only a note reading "BAD LUCK". In the final episode, Lester shows a lot much more support and concern for the team, and goes to the extent of calling Stephen to try and help out. However, he is set up by Helen, and portrayed as a bad guy throughout the final episode (by Stephen and Helen's perspective). He also sides with Cutter, who seems willing to die to prevent anyone else from being killed. When Cutter destroys the neural clamps, releasing the predators from Leek's control, Lester insists on watching Leek being devoured by his former pets. He also discovers the secret locations of Leek's menagerie, and mops them all up one by one. He also attends Stephen Hart's funeral, but has to leave early because of a "high-priority anomaly".

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b "Episode One". Primeval. ITV. ITV1. 2007-02-10. No. 1, season 1.
  2. ^ "Episode Two". Primeval. ITV. ITV1. 2007-02-10. No. 1, season 1.
  3. ^ a b "Episode Four". Primeval. ITV. ITV1. 2007-03-03. No. 1, season 1.
  4. ^ a b c "Episode Three". Primeval. ITV. ITV1. 2007-03-03. No. 1, season 1.
  5. ^ a b "Episode Six". Primeval. ITV. ITV1. 2007-03-03. No. 6, season 1.
  6. ^ Character profile on Official Primeval website
  7. ^ Character profile on Official Primeval website
  8. ^ Character profile on Official Primeval website
  9. ^ Primeval 2:Primeval ITV Series 2: ITV Publicity Q & A
v • d • e
Primeval team members
Series Series 1 Series 2 Series 3
Episodes 1 6 7 13 14 23
Team members Nick Cutter
Stephen Hart Sarah Page
Abby Maitland
Connor Temple
James Lester
Claudia Brown Jenny Lewis
Captain Tom Ryan Oliver Leek Captain Becker
Danny Quinn