The thing is, I think the writers on Primeval were pretty decent writers. It was the story editors, producers, show-runners that made the mistakes.

You’re right about economies, though. Many of the shows I love were kept to their budget through the power of suggestion. I remember how one of the directors who worked on The Avengers recollected in a documentary creating a set in bank simply by shooting through some bars representing the tellers’. Where are the expensive sets in Ultraviolet? On the other hand, you can tell immediately where all the money spent on special effects in Torchwood has been saved from (writers, script editing, coherence).

Interesting etymology for the term “Watershed”! Twenty years ago you’d have had to wait until after midnight for some erotically cascading water. 9pm was just the dividing line between when you were and were not allowed to say bugger.