The six-part series will follow a team of scientists who travel back to prehistoric times and other worlds through black holes.
The team is led by Professor Cutter, whose wife disappeared through a black hole, and each hour-long episode will follow his mission to find her.
The series is being made by Impossible Pictures, which made the BBC's award-winning 'Walking with Dinosaurs', and will feature digitally created dinosaurs and monsters.
It has not yet been decided when 'Primeval' will air but an early evening Saturday slot, against 'Doctor Who', or Sunday slot is likely.
ITV has always enjoyed massive ratings success on Saturday nights with shows like 'Pop Idol', 'X Factor' and 'Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway', but faltered when the BBC brought the Time Lord back on to screens earlier this year.
Its debut terrestrial outing pulled in a peak of 10.5m viewers, representing a 44.3% share, leaving ITV1's 'Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway' with 8.5m viewers, or a 35% share despite securing England captain David Beckham as a special guest.
BBC One's ratings continued to soar throughout the 10-part series and ITV's suffered as a result. A second series of 'Doctor Who' with new doctor David Tennant has been commissioned and a Christmas special has already been filmed for broadcast next month.
The cast of 'Primeval' has not yet been selected. The series is likely to air until late in 2006 alongside other family dramas that ITV reportedly has in the pipeline.
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