The third series of the British science fiction programme Primeval began on 28 March 2009 and concluded on 6 June 2009 after airing ten episodes.

Primeval follows a team of scientists tasked with investigating the appearance of temporal anomalies across the United Kingdom through which prehistoric and futuristic creatures enter the present.

The departure of Douglas Henshall, who played the main character Nick Cutter, forced extensive revisions to the intended storyline which left several plot threads ultimately unresolved.

Several reviewers considered the third series to be the strongest of Primeval yet and some favourably compared it to the Jon Pertwee era of Doctor Who (1970–1974) on the basis of the suspenseful storylines and new team dynamic.

[4] The production team wished to replace Nick Cutter with a leading man who was very different; whereas Nick Cutter was an academic and driven loner who only thawed somewhat in the company of his team, Danny Quinn was a policeman with little to no expertise on prehistoric animals but a natural leader and good at making decisions and seeing the big picture.

According to Hodges, whereas Henshall had "patented a kind of passionate intensity", Flemyng was "naturally very warm and outgoing", which they wanted to reflect in his character.

The greater length was used to go off in more different directions, including playing into the idea that some mythological creatures could be the result of prehistoric animals stepping through anomalies.

The third series also introduced Christine Johnson (played by Belinda Stewart-Wilson) as the head of a rival government department to the one run by James Lester (played by Ben Miller, Steward-Wilson's husband at the time); the idea of the character was that there is rivalry between different government departments in the real world and that the production team wanted to see Lester in new and different situations where he would not be as sure of himself as in previous series.

[4] Another new addition was the "Camouflage Beast", a future creature capable of blending into any surface,[9] which appears in the haunted house-horror inspired second episode.

[8] The competition ran from 30 January to 7 April[11] and the winning entry was the "Megopteran", a future carnivorous giant insect designed by then sixteen-year-old Carim Nahaboo.

Framestore made use of several new technologies for the third series, including a dynamic system to fluff up feathers and fur originally developed for the film The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008), 3D motion blur, custom shaders for all the creatures and a newer version of the 3D rendering application Mental Ray.

[16] Among the many filming locations were La Palma in the Canaries, where the cast spent two weeks, the British Museum,[15] the St Pancras railway station,[17] and Wokingham.

[24] In the game, players were recruited by the mysterious Eve[23][b] and greeted by a cast member of the fictional Anomaly Research Centre (ARC) and could interact with various items in the home lab.

Primeval had during preceding series been much discussed by fans on Twitter and the integration of the feed on the ITV website was done to make this a more visual experience, showing the comments alongside the content itself.

[5] Elliot Thorpe of Den of Geek gave the third series a positive review, noting that although it had even though it incorporated "clichéd set pieces", cheesy and clunky dialogue and wood acting, he still greatly enjoyed the programme.

Thorpe felt that the greater number of episodes did not mean that the series outstayed its welcome, but that it instead was able to incorporate more characterisation and expand on its central story.

Thorpe liked the addition of Sarah and Becker to the roster of characters and also felt that Jenny's departure was "a necessity" after Nick Cutter's death.

[34] Both Simpson and Thorpe of Den of Geek criticised the character Jack Maitland, Abby's brother, and the subplot involving him late in the series as "not working"[5] and being a "weak link".

Byrne lamented the departure of Nick Cutter due to the series almost revolving around him but also felt that Danny Quinn was a "worthy replacement character".

[41] Although the third series still received good ratings, Primeval was cancelled after its broadcast by ITV executive Peter Fincham for financial reasons.

[45] Upon receiving the news of the cancellation, the production team of the series stated that they had "every intention of keeping Primeval alive in other ways".