Oliver Leek

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Oliver Leek

Oliver Leek
First appearance Episode 7
Last appearance Episode 13
Portrayed by Karl Theobald
Episode count 7
Information
Gender Male
Occupation Deceased (4 March 2007)

Oliver Leek was a fictional character in the ITV science fiction TV series Primeval. He is played by Karl Theobald.

Leek works for the ARC (Anomaly Research Centre) which investigates time anomalies and stops creatures of the past and future from coming through them. He is James Lester's assistant, replacing Claudia Brown from the first series.

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[edit] Characterization

According to the official Primeval website, Leek is "slightly nerdy, intelligent and eager to please". He went as far as buying suits from exactly the same tailor as Lester, a feeble attempt to impress his boss. At school Leek was overlooked and the last picked at sports.[citation needed] As an adult, he goes to the same restaurant every morning and eats at the same table, while the waiter still fails to recognize him. Apparently he is 33 years old, 170 cm (5 ft, 8 in) tall, and was born in Birmingham.

According to the website "There is more to Leek than meets the eye", pointing towards a sinister side of him.[1] This sinister side is first shown in Episodes 9 and 10, where he appears to be employing at least two individuals (a mysterious cleaner and Caroline Steel) to follow the team and find out as much as they can. He also appears to be consorting with Helen who seems to have placed her trust in him for some objective. In episode 12 it is revealed that Leek is overseeing a private menagerie of animals, to establish a powerful place for himself in the future. Caroline eventually steals Rex, who is then used as bait to lure Cutter's team to Leek's secret facility.

Leek is highly adept at manipulating people, seeming very much in control in episode 13, and is able to use this ability to engineer situations to his own advantage. In addition, although Cutter realises early in series two that there is a traitor within the ARC, Leek manages to avoid suspicion until he chooses to reveal himself in episode twelve, having set an elaborate trap for the team based on his knowledge of Connor Temple's working methods. He seems to dislike taking orders, and reminds Helen Cutter that he is in charge multiple times throughout episode 13.

He seems to have a great disregard to other people's feelings and human lives - he finds the fight between Abby and Caroline entertaining, and doesn't seem to care when Cutter tells him that if a predator was to escape it could wipe out mankind. Lester and Connor both refer to him as a small, insignificant or irritating man because of his aloof nature.[citation needed]

His plan of releasing creatures to take control of mankind fails when a virus sends Lester all the information required. If Cutter had escaped with the others, then Leek would have almost certainly been arrested, but because Cutter remains Leek still seems to think he is unstoppable. He threatens to kill Cutter using his army of future predators, but before he can command the predators to kill him, Cutter throws a neural clamp used to control the predators into an electric box, which short-circuits all the other clamps. Cutter escapes and shuts the door to the room. Leek is then killed and eaten. Lester watches the death of Leek, before leaving.

Although he is never seen at a computer terminal, it is apparent that Leek has considerable hacking skills, which he has used to install spyware on Connor's "anomaly detector", and to set a booby-trap which initiated the countdown on a bomb when Connor attempted to access Leek's personnel files.

[edit] Character history

[edit] Pre-Crisis

Leek did not appear in the first season of the series. He may have existed, but just not as he did in the second series.

[edit] Post-Crisis

Due to alterations in the timeline, the cause of which is unknown, Leek was made as a replacement for Claudia Brown, who changed into Jenny Lewis, for reasons unknown.

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[edit] References

  1. ^ 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