Stephen Hart (Primeval)

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Stephen James Hart
Stephen in promotional media for Episode 2.
First appearance	Episode 1
Last appearance	Episode 13
Portrayed by	James Murray
Episode count	13
Information
Gender	Male
Age	32
Occupation	Deceased (4th March, 2007)
Spouse(s)	Helen Cutter (girlfriend)

Stephen James Hart was a fictional character in the ITV sci-fi drama Primeval. He is played by James Murray. He is part of a team of five people, who investigate a series of anomalies in space and time through which prehistoric and extinct creatures are travelling. Stephen is Nick Cutter's lab technician and was the object of fellow team member Abby Maitland's affections. He is currently deceased.

Contents 1 Characterisation 2 Character history 2.1 Pre-Crisis 2.2 Post-Crisis 3 References

[edit] Characterisation

According to the official site Stephen is passionately committed to wildlife conservation and firmly believes that humanity is destroying its own environment through unchecked industrialisation. On average, he runs about 30 miles a week.

He remains a cold and aloof individual, but one with surprisingly loyal and brave tendencies as he willingly braves the jaws of a Gorgonopsid^[1] and an Arthropleura^[1] in order to save his friends and innocent bystanders. He is also not afraid to stand up to Cutter as he confronts him about the way he withheld information about his wife from them. In Episode 2, Cutter risks his life to get an anti-venom which will save Stephen's life. This appears to demonstrate a closely-bonded relationship between Stephen and Cutter.

While he tries not to show any emotion and keep his personal life secret, he does ask Abby out for dinner^[1] and later admitted that he has a girlfriend although their relationship appears to have broken down^[2] and the official site states that he "had his heart broken when he fell in love as a student and never really got over it."

In the first series, Stephen seemed to act as a punchbag for the monsters, often being badly injured or stranded on his own.

He also seems to have a big brother relationship with Connor whom he constantly puts down and yet looks out for at the same time.^[2] In Episode 13, Stephen is killed by a collection of animals that Leek had captured. He was killed preventing the animals from escape, and his funeral was the only one in the history of the show. It is revealed that his middle name is James which is ironic due to his hatred for James Lester. The name may also be a reference to his portrayer, James Murray.

Despite speculation to the contrary, Tim Haines and Adrian Hodges have confirmed that Stephen will not be returning in the third series ^[3].

[edit] Character history

[edit] Pre-Crisis

According to the official site, Stephen was once a junior fencing champion and also a junior shooting Olympic prospect. He later gave up both to study natural history. He appears to have had a long relationship with Nick Cutter going back at least eight years as he states that he knew Helen himself, in the last episode it is revealed that he had an affair with her.^[1] Whether or not she is the former girlfriend,Alison, who broke his heart is unclear but it is shown in Episode Six that it was a short lived affair which he has regretted ever since, mainly because of his guilt over betraying his friend and partly because Helen is, as he calls her, "a real bitch".

When the series begins it is established that he is working alongside Nick as a teacher and lab assistant. He later follows both Nick and Connor and becomes ensnared with them in the sinister events unfolding in the Forest of Dean.^[1]

He then reveals that he has some training as a tracker and in stealth combat, as he vanishes under Connor's nose to begin the hunt for the Gorgonopsid personally. He later tracks it to a school and is wounded trying to lure it away from a teacher and her student.^[1]

When brought into the anomaly team, he is then sent to the underground vaults and bunkers beneath Parsons Green Station. He is then attacked, poisoned and left for dead by an Arthroplura^[4] while trying to find Cutter. It is during this time he is visited by Helen, although she also left him for dead, she gave him a message for her husband. He later remembers nothing of the incident, however.

Subsequently his memory returns, he confronts Cutter and is angered by his unconcern for his wife, stating that if she was his wife he would have gone looking for her. He later helps prepare Cutter for his trip into the underwater anomaly, arming him with a spear gun. He also tries to make amends with Abby for asking her out and then forgetting about it.^[2]

He once again proves his concern for her welfare when he runs to her rescue in episode four when she is captured by Connor's parasite-ridden friend.^[5]. However Claudia (who is also angry for his running into trouble in the subway) and Lester appear to have lost patience with him during the hunt for the Pteranodon.^[6]

[edit] Post-Crisis

Stephen appears to have undergone the least change of all the characters since the alterations in the timeline, with most of his history remaining the same including his affair with Helen. Thus he and Cutter still have a lot of issues to work through. In the final episode, he is called by Lester to handle the threat posed by a Silurian scorpion that was unleashed on a beach resort by Leek. He managed to spear the creature and left it for the ARC (or Leek as it is hinted later that Leek's collection includes the presumed dead smilodon from episode 9) to deal with after which he received a call from Helen who told him her location, telling Stephan that Nick had died and that Lester had kidnapped her.

Stephen arrived at Leek's base only to discover that Helen had lied to him and that Nick was alive. Despite feeling betrayed by Helen, Stephen showed anger towards Nick as well believing that he was wrong on how he dealt with the Anomaly crisis. Stephen, Helen and Nick tried to deal with the freed creatures by luring them into the central chamber where they were all held, luring them by ringing the bell that the creatures associated with feeding time. While doing this, a Deinonychus attacked Helen which Stephen killed with his pistol but then Helen kicked the door mechanism which could only be closed from the inside. Nick attempted to sacrifice himself but Stephen punched his mentor and entered the chamber, sealing it from the inside. The last sight of him was being killed by the assembled predators who killed each other after feasting on him. Having been relieved of his ARC duties some time earlier, and being fed disinformation by Helen, it appears that Stephen died still believing James Lester to be the traitor in the ARC (though Cutter told him that Lester wasn't the enemy moments before his death), and unaware of both Leek's role and fate.

His funeral was held by the members of the ARC but after they left, Helen arrived to visit the grave and stated that there was nothing to worry as there were ways to return. At this moment The Cleaner appears, along with 14 of his clone--under the control of Helen. This suggests that a version of Stephen from (or in) an alternate timeline might return in a future series. However, an interview with Tim Haines confirms that Stephen will definitely not be returning in the Third Series, and a new character will be introduced - Captain Becker.

[edit] References

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