Ruth Kearney is back as field coordinator Jess Parker in the fifth series of time-travelling dinosaur drama Primeval, airing at 8pm on Tuesdays, exclusive to Watch.

> Order the Series 5 DVD on Amazon.

Watch the trailer…

The new Field Coordinator of the ARC, Jess is young but dispays outstanding levels of organisation and efficiency.

What does Series 5 hold for Jess?

“Series 5 is really exciting for Jess, because as well as carrying on with her really important role back in the ARC, she gets to have a bit more fun in the field and play with guns, like the rest of the team. She gets to see some of the dinosaurs too. But she’s not trained and definitely not military; very ill-equipped for that kind of thing.

“That lends itself to quite interesting scenes and episodes. But in general, her relationships with the team have developed and she’s more at ease with people.”

Talking about relationships… there’s one member of the team who she’s particularly fond of.

“Yeah. She has a massive, unrequited crush on Becker. She gets a bit bolder with her flirting in Series 5. Ben (Mansfield) is great fun to work with. Her never-ending crush on Becker is a bit sad, but it definitely livens up the workplace!”

As the series goes on Philip seems to be developing his cunning plan. How aware is Jess that this is happening?

“She’s really not too aware of it at all. She’s a very trusting and nice person, and because he’s her boss she would never suspect anything. But when Philip does star t to show some odd signs, she goes on full alert. She’s very loyal to Lester, so she’s happy to report everything that’s going on back to him.”

It sounds as though Jess really does become part of the team. How much fun was it going out and playing with guns?

“I’m totally inexperienced with that sort of thing, but it works because Jess is also very inexperienced. She’s a very quick learner though, so not a bad person to have around. But she’s no Connor or Abby or anyone like that. I really had so much fun doing that and I said to one of the producers after I first went out I really want to do that stuff again.

“I felt like Lara Croft running about there. It’s really interesting working with green screen – I really had no experience with it, but it was so much fun. Angelina Jolie had better watch out!”

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