James Lester

« "You know, I could have been ambassador to Moscow by now. Maybe even Cabinet Secretary. Instead, I'm watching a dinosaur trash my office. Still, no regrets." »

— Lester on his job with the ARC.^[src]

James Peregrine Lester^[1] was the administrator of the Anomaly operation and a liaison with the British Government. He initially saw the Anomaly team as inadequate, but gradually came to respect and care about them.

Background[]

James Lester was born circa 1969. At some point in his life, he married and had three children. (Episode 2.6, Shadow of the Jaguar) He became a government official at the Home Office, working in management consultancy (Episode 1.6) before moving into planning civil contingency plans (planning for every crisis available including alien invasion). (Episode 1.1, Fire and Water) James worked with Tom Samuels, who once went over Lester's head and presented a contingency plan to the Minister, however he asked for Lester response so the latter pointed out all the weakness in Tom's plan which resulted in the Minister firing Samuels. (Fire and Water)

Original timeline[]

Episode 1.1[]

« "You prepare for just about every crisis imaginable, up to and including an alien invasion; then this happens. So much for thinking outside the bloody box!" »

— James Lester to Claudia Brown on the newly-discovered Anomaly phenomenon.

After Claudia Brown and Nick Cutter and the latter's team discovered an Anomaly in the Forest of Dean and the Home Office were called in to deal with the crisis, Lester was appointed the administrator of the Anomaly operation. Lester met with Claudia at the Home Office to discuss the crisis with her, and he was suspicious of Cutter and reluctant over the fact that civilians were being made part of the new Anomaly research team, but willing to tolerate it.

Lester subsequently discussed Cutter's theories about the Anomaly and what it could be with him (with neither of the two making any attempt to conceal their dislike for one another), and though Lester was slightly sceptical that the Anomaly was a portal to the distant past, he accepted Cutter's theories and had Rex tested on to confirm Cutter's theory. Lester observed the tests with Cutter, Claudia and Abby Maitland, until Rex escaped from the lab and began flying around the Home Office. Abby and Claudia eventually recaptured Rex by using Abby's skill with Rex to coerce him out of escaping from the building, but Lester then found to his chagrin that Rex had secreted on his suit during his flight around the Home Office.

1x1 LesterSeesRexHasSecretedOnHim — Lester finds that Rex has secreted on his suit. (Episode 1.1)

After the results from the tests on Rex confirmed that he was a Coelurosauravus from the Permian period, Lester agreed to authorise an exploration mission by Cutter through the Anomaly in search of Nick's wife Helen, and to allow Rex to be returned through to his home. The next day, after Cutter returned through the Anomaly before it closed with a camera belonging to Helen, when Lester, Cutter and Claudia saw that it contained photos of Helen in the Permian, Lester believed Helen to be dead. Lester then discussed what Cutter and Captain Tom Ryan saw on the other side of the Anomaly, and though he was worried over the fact that humans had been to the Permian before them, Lester felt that with the Anomaly gone the crisis was over. Cutter, on the other hand, was convinced otherwise due to how little they knew about the Anomaly, and then left the Home Office with the new Anomaly research team.

Episode 1.2[]

« "And how do you suggest I explain this to the Mayor? 'Excuse me sir, would you mind terribly throwing the whole bloody Underground into chaos because we think there might be a fare-dodging creepy crawly on the loose somewhere!?'" »

— Lester's opposition to closing down the London Underground.

After Claudia had the Forest of Dean Anomaly incursion covered up, Lester discussed with Claudia whether or not to keep Cutter on the team as the field team leader; Lester was growing sceptical of Cutter's unorthodox methods, but Claudia defended Cutter and Lester agreed to keep him on the team. Lester also wondered whether Claudia had taken to Cutter.

1x2 LesterArguesOverClosingUnderground — Lester argues with Cutter and Claudia on closing down the London Underground. (Episode 1.2)

Later, Claudia and Cutter went to Lester about an attack by a new, venomous creature on a London Underground pest controller, and Cutter wanted Lester to close the Underground down until the new incursion was dealt with, to stop the creature poisoning any more victims. Lester was strongly against this due to the chaos it would cause, and the fact that he felt the evidence of a new Anomaly incursion was too flimsy; but Claudia managed to convince Lester to simply close down the Arsenal Station area of the Underground where the pest controller was attacked, and Lester begrudgingly agreed.

Episode 1.3[]

« "I know the injustice stings, but the correct decision is often painful. That's the burden of government." »

— Lester defends his actions in the case of Diane Johnson.

After the London Underground Anomaly was contained, Lester and a board meeting of other Home Office officials learned from Connor Temple that the Anomaly was not weakening, and Lester and Cutter discussed and somewhat argued over the Anomalies and the seriousness of the situation. Lester then received word of a possible new Anomaly incursion at the Crystal Palace Diving Institute, and Cutter and Claudia went to investigate. When the police wrongly arrested Diane Johnson for Anthony Barton's death by a Mosasaur, Lester refused to drop the charges, and allowed the police to arrest Diane so that she couldn't expose the Anomalies to the wider public. Claudia was strongly against this, but Lester won the argument.

Shortly after, a bolus of Anthony Barton's remains appeared at a reservoir, and left the Home Office puzzled as to how they went to there from Crystal Palace. Lester believed that Diane probably had indeed murdered Anthony, but Cutter believed otherwise due to overwhelming evidence otherwise, and theorised to Lester and Claudia that the new Anomaly was mobile and had moved from Crystal Palace to the reservoir. Cutter's theory was subsequently confirmed, but after the Anomaly was found in the reservoir, it closed again.

Cutter discussed the mobile Anomaly with Lester, Stephen and Claudia at the Home Office, and theorised that the Anomaly was running along a temporal fault line and could reopen again anywhere along the fault line. Lester was highly sceptical of this theory and optimistic that the Anomaly would not reopen again, but Cutter believed otherwise. The Home Office later discovered, to Lester's misery, that the Anomaly had indeed reopened along the temporal fault line, when a Hesperornis attacked a plumber in a flooded basement. Lester and Claudia then began discussing getting the mobile Anomaly incursions covered up, when Claudia was called and they learned that the body of the Special Forces diver that went through the Anomaly in the reservoir had appeared at the Anomaly site, upsetting Lester further.

1x3 LesterDiscussesHelen — Lester discusses making contact with Helen. (Episode 1.3)

After Claudia learned that Helen Cutter was in fact alive and living in the past through the Anomalies, and Nick had kept it secret, Lester came to the Dexter house and revealed the newly-discovered truth about Helen to the rest of the team. Lester decided that the team had to make contact with Helen and gain her much more extensive knowledge on the Anomalies so as to better contain and control the Anomaly crisis in the present. Lester also wanted Nick Cutter to be the one to go through the mobile Anomaly to find and make contact with Helen on the other side, threatening to completely remove Cutter from the Anomaly operation and have the Special Forces find Helen if Cutter refused. Cutter begrudgingly agreed to go through in search of Helen, on the condition that Helen would not be forced to come back to the present if she refused.

While Cutter was on the other side of the Anomaly making contact with Helen, Lester wanted to break the agreement with Cutter and send the Special Forces through to capture Helen and bring her back to the present by force if she refused to come back with Nick. Claudia was strongly against this, but Lester won the argument, and got Claudia to bring in a team of Special Forces divers, and send them through the Anomaly to capture Helen after Nick returned. Once the Special Forces returned with Helen, Lester and Claudia left and took her with them to the Home Office for questioning on the Anomalies.

Episode 1.4[]

Lester and Claudia subsequently interrogated Helen at the Home Office, with Lester trying to force her to cooperate and tell them everything she knew about the Anomalies. However, Helen refused and remained collected and laid-back, finding loopholes in Lester's claims about why Helen had to cooperate with them, until Lester quickly began to tire and get frustrated, and threaten to resort to having Helen's Anomaly knowledge tortured out of her. When Helen claimed to Nick Cutter that an open Anomaly would soon release a pride of Smilodon onto Central London, Nick went to Lester and Claudia about this. Both of them did not trust Helen and suspected it to be a trick, but Nick managed to convince them to let Helen lead the team to the alleged Anomaly site by warning Lester and Claudia of the risk of doing nothing if Helen was indeed telling the truth.

1x4 LesterInterrogatesHelen — Lester interrogates Helen on her Anomaly knowledge. (Episode 1.4)

Later, after Helen escaped through the Anomaly from the team and a flock of Dodos came through, when Cutter, Stephen and Abby learned that the Dodos were infected with a Parasite, Cutter showed this discovery to Lester and how the Parasite's life cycle worked; the latter leaving Lester repulsed and disgusted. When Tom was infected by the Parasite and went on the run in London from the team, Lester discussed the Parasite's potential for a pandemic with Cutter, Stephen and Claudia. Lester also openly believed that Helen had deliberately sent the Parasite in its Dodo hosts to the present to spark a pandemic, and when Cutter denied it, Lester accused Cutter of knowing but simply refusing to admit it, before sending Cutter and the team off to find Tom.

Episode 1.5[]

A month after the Parasite incursion, Lester became impatient with Cutter and with the team's lack of progress and wanted to see results. When Claudia and the team were investigating a possible Anomaly incursion at the Forest Heights Country Club, Lester at one point called Claudia to hear what had happened, but she chose not to answer and to pretend she hadn't gotten the call in time.

Episode 1.6[]

After talking with Cutter, Claudia was confident and fully convinced that they could rely on Cutter for the Anomaly-containing operation, but Lester did not share Claudia's confidence in Nick and hoped that Nick would be able to make progress soon before they faced a major Anomaly incursion.

1x6 Lester+TeamDiscussHelensMeeting — Lester and Cutter discuss Helen's latest message and the recent disappearances. (Episode 1.6)

After a spate of three disappearances occurred over a couple days and coincided with the Forest of Dean Anomaly reopening, Stephen relayed to Cutter, Lester and Claudia a new message from Helen; she demanded that they meet her in private without any thugs or ambushes to hear what she had to warn them about a creature behind the disappearances. Lester suspected Helen would manipulate and deceive them again and was sceptical that a creature was responsible for the disappearances, but he agreed to play along on the warning that Helen would be wanted again if she lied to them again.

Lester, Claudia, Nick and Stephen met up with Helen in private at a park as she'd demanded, and she revealed to them that the creature was an agile and deadly Predator from the future - a fact which left Lester distressed and exasperated that they were now facing creatures from the future as well as the past. Helen explained that she'd encountered the Future Predator in the Permian after it had theoretically come to there through a future Anomaly, before coming through the reopened Forest of Dean Anomaly to the present.

After the team tracked down and killed the Future Predator and captured its infant young, Helen and Nick tried to convince Lester and Claudia that they had to keep the Predator young alive to use them to locate the future Anomaly in the Permian, so that a permanent mission into the Permian could contain the Anomaly and stop any more future creatures coming through and interfering in the past. Lester reluctantly agreed to this plan, and set about having the Cutters lead Ryan and his men on this mission into the past through the Forest of Dean Anomaly.

The following day, Lester was present with the team at the Forest of Dean Anomaly site as the Cutters and the Special Forces prepared for the mission through the Anomaly. Lester thought aloud to Claudia about making a 'one small step for man' speech about the mission through time, and commented that she was being unprofessional after she gave Cutter a departing kiss. Nick and Helen then went through the Anomaly into the Permian with Ryan and his men, leaving Lester, Claudia and the team waiting at the Anomaly site in the present for them to return.

Post-original timeline[]

1x6 LesterPerplexedDoesntKnowClaudia — A perplexed Lester doesn't know or remember Claudia Brown in the new timeline. (Episode 1.6)

In the new timeline created during the second mission into the Permian, Lester's biography up to the mission was apparently the same, except he and the field team, at some early point, moved from the Home Office to the Anomaly Research Centre, and Lester was a less distant administrator of the Anomaly operation.

Episode 1.6[]

Eventually, Nick and Helen returned through the Forest of Dean Anomaly to the present, with the mission having failed and everyone else having died. Before Helen went back into the Permian on her own to continue searching for the future Anomaly, she revealed in front of the entire team how she and Stephen had had an affair in the past, causing Lester to feel awkward at the mood between Cutter and Stephen. Once Helen had gone, Cutter demanded to know where Claudia Brown was (even threateningly grabbing Lester), but neither Lester nor anyone else knew who Claudia was or what had gotten into Cutter, due to the change in the timeline having removed Claudia from history.

Episode 2.1[]

« "Leek, has the concept of personal space ever been explained to you?" »

— Lester does not like Leek near him

« "Keep in touch, you know I worry when I don't hear from you." »

— Lester still thinks Cutter is trouble

In the new timeline, Lester runs the ARC where his team have moved to. He doesn't believe Cutter's claims that the timeline is different after his return through the Permian Anomaly, thinking he is beginning to lose his mind. His assistant, Oliver Leek, annoys him constantly by speaking out of term and questions the Minister's decision to appoint a PR representative to assist in the operation, but warmed to the idea when Cutter informed him of Raptors in a shopping centre. he later introduces the PR, Jenny Lewis to the team.

Episode 2.2[]

« "Yes, I think I can understand the implications, Leek" »

— Lester reminds Leek, he is not stupid

2X2 LeektouchesLesterschair — Oliver Leek unintentionally touches Lester's chair, he quickly removes it after Lester notices Episode 2.2

After he had introduced Jenny to the team, he was disappointed in Cutter's reaction, who was claiming that she was the Claudia they had worked with from the start. Cutter and Connor then announced their idea to create a detector for Anomalies, and agreed, without needing the prompting Leek had made. When Leek announced a possible Anomaly in a skyscraper, Lester was prepared to write it off as an ordinary fire until possible creature sightings were mentioned. Jenny kept in contact with him, but she had little to report.

Shadow of the Jaguar[]

Jaime Bairstow, the son of Sir Charles Bairstow, whom was one of James Lester's superiors was killed by a Thylacosmilus, in Peru, while back-packing with his brother, Cam Bairstow. After hearing about it, and getting an anomaly alert, Lester announced to Cutter that there was a creature incursion. Cutter, Stephen, Connor, and Abby all travelled to Peru, in order to deal with it. When they came back, it was revealed that a Future Bird was responsible for the Thylacosmilus' aggressive behaviour. Cutter then theorised to Lester that the creature might possibly have been seen by the Incas, and incorporated into their mythology, eventually becoming the Incan god, Pacha Kamaq.

The Lost Island[]

When the ADD picked up numerous anomalies on Guns Island, off of the coast of Ireland, Lester sent the ARC Team over there, to investigate. Meanwhile, back at the ARC, Lester is again having significant problems, with the press. Now, Lester must struggle to keep the anomalies a secret, as the story keeps inching ever closer to the front page of the leading local newspapers.

Episode 2.4[]

« "That's not good news, good news makes people happy." »

— Lester on the current creature incursion

Following the discovery of a Future Shark, Lester assumed the creature had killed a missing teenager and that the problem was solved, Cutter insisted something else was out there, because Cutter had heard something that sounded like singing in the canal and found no vocal cords in the shark, so he agreed to have the canal searched again. When Abby was taken by a creature, he had the distraught Connor sent home and berated Cutter for not sharing his theories, and had him fired before putting Stephen in charge. After Abby was rescued from the Mer Creatures in the future by Cutter and Connor, he reinstated Cutter after saying that he shouldn't have put Stephen in charge, and decided the Anomaly site should be sealed with concrete.

Episode 2.5[]

« ""Are you out of your mind, Cutter and I loathed each other." »

— Lester corrects one of Leek's many mistakes

After being told by Abby and Connor that Cutter and Stephen had been lost in the Silurian Desert whilst rescuing a girl, he reluctantly put the pair in charge of the operation, and stated that if the Anomaly reopened, they would attempt a rescue mission. Leek offered his sympathies, but Lester didn't accept them. After a new Anomaly opened to a prehistoric-themed amusement park, he approached the returned Cutter and Stephen, and said that given the choice between him and Connor, Cutter was the better man to lead the team.

Episode 2.6[]

« "You're on your own, James. There's no one there but you." »

— Leek proclaiming Lester is alone and is left to fight on his own

Lester was furious to learn that a Columbian Mammoth (not that he cared about the exact species) was on the

M25 in broad daylight, so the team departed quickly. When it was brought back to the ARC, Lester joked about selling its tusks before Abby warned him that it'll attack if it senses danger. Later Lester was alone in the ARC and while searching for the staff, Leek appeared on the Anomaly Detector's screen and set a Future Predator on him, which had been smuggled into the ARC earlier. Lester took up arms alone, because everyone else was already dead and everyone else was absent, to combat the lethal creature, tearing into it's body with several rounds of an M249. Failing to kill the predator through firepower, he went on to free the mammoth from it's holding pen, which promptly killed the creature via impaling. Angered by Oliver Leek's remarks and comments, Lester travelled personally to the building where Leek was supposedly hiding out. However, Leek once again had the upper hand, trumping Lester once more by leaving the remote used to control the future predator in a completely abandoned building. Attached was a note of mockery, which simply read: "Bad Luck". Furious, Lester shut off the body camera on one of his soldiers that was focused on him.

Episode 2.7[]

« "The government does not negotiate with hostage takers!" »

— Lester on Leek"s threat against Cutter

2X7 LesterattheARC — Lester talking to Oliver Leek about the latter's creature army. (Episode 2.7)

Lester was angered by the disappearance of Cutter, Jenny, Connor and Abby, and demanded his assistant Loraine do something to find out Leek's plans. After Leek contacted the ARC and taunted Lester, a Giant Scorpion was released by Leek into a populated beach, so Lester convinced a reluctant Stephen (who assumed Lester was the traitor) to do something. After a virus Cutter and Connor had planted inside Leek's computer system sent the ARC information, Lester's people began clearing up his menagerie. Leek demanded Lester's men stay away from his base or he would have his controlled Future Predators kill Cutter, but Cutter freed them, and Lester watched as Leek was killed, before calmly telling Loraine to shut it off. He later appeared at Stephen's funeral, and when informed there was a new Anomaly, somewhat unsympathetically told the team to head off.

Extinction Event[]

Lester is first seen inside his chauffeur-driven car just off Oxford Street, along with Jenny Lewis. He awaits the results of an anomaly incursion, witnessing an enormous mob of people running for their lives and screaming. Soon, the Team finds out that they are up against an Entelodon, a deadly prehistoric pig-like creature. It attacks Jenny, but she manages to escape. After the Oxford Street incident, Lester is angry at Cutter for wanting to keep the creature alive, thinking that he should just shoot it and kill it, right there, on the spot. Later on, when Cutter, Abby, and Connor are kidnapped by Nikolai Medyevin and Koshkin, Lester contacted the Foreign Office, and MI5. Both of them decided that Medyevin was in the U.K. on an illegal Visa, and so, presumably, is the other kidnapper. Afterwards, when Lester finds out that the three of them were rendited into Siberia, he decides that the entire situation is inherently hopeless, due to political and tactical issues in attempts to retrieve them. Soon Helen was captured and while Lester interrogated her she revealed she knew how to get into Siberia, and offered to take them to the team. Lester reluctantly agreed, but wasn't happy about the idea of Jenny going too. However, he eventually gave in; Jenny, Hemple, and Helen then travelled to Siberia, and they managed to return the kidnapped Cutter, Abby, and Connor back to England.

Episode 3.1[]

« "You'll be dealing with a highly strung and and temperamental team of rank amateurs who just happen to be brilliant at what they do. Your job's to stop them getting themselves killed...Oh, by the way, Professor Cutter won't like you, and he'll go out of his way to make your job as difficult as possible. Don't take it personally" »

— James Lester telling Becker about the team^[src]

Lester showed Captain Becker around the ARC, not wanting another death in the team. Later, fellow civil servant Christine Johnson was assigned to be the military liaison for the ARC. The two rivals met and spoke briefly at White Hall, before he was sent away. When the team returned to the ARC, Lester greeted the witness to the events, Sarah Page, and when she and Connor were talking, Cutter got an idea about creatures affecting mythological beasts, which might help in trying to predicting Anomalies. Lester agreed to hire Sarah, and when queried about the Sun Cage in which the Anomaly was contained, Lester said that it was moving on.

Episode 3.3[]

« "You are so fired." »

— Lester when the Cutter Clone threatens him

When checking on Cutter's prediction Matrix, the two briefly wondered about Helen, and then inspected Connor's work on a device to lock Anomalies, and was far-from-convinced by Connor that it would work. When the Nick Cutter Clone infiltrated the ARC, Lester assumed he was the real Cutter, and was baffled by his strange responses, and made a mental note to get psychological tests done for all staff. He spoke with Jenny about Cutter's unusual behavior when Helen and her Cleaner clones invaded. Lester demanded the Cutter Clone explain

what was going on, only to get a gun pointed in his face. Although he briefly assumed that Cutter had betrayed them, Jenny and Sarah had both noticed how Helen was commanding the Clones, so they used archive footage from Helen's arrest to create a voice command that would get the clones to stand down. While Connor and Becker went to play the sound-byte on the ARC's speaker system, Lester was knocked out by a Cleaner Clone, and when he was rendered out-of-action, Lester took revenge and knocked the clone out. After Helen set off a bomb in the ARC, he evacuated with the others, and when Connor brought out the dead Nick Cutter, who had been shot by Helen, he tried to get an ambulance for help, but it was too late.

Episode 3.4[]

« "Keep things calm, controlled and if you can manage it, slightly dull" »

— Lester does not like things too exciting

Following Cutter's death, he appoints Jenny to take over the team until a replacement could be found. He seemed unsympathetic to Abby and Connor, but told Jenny it was better that they work because it would keep their minds focused. When the team returned from Christine's base where an Anomaly had been detected, he was extremely angry and contacted Christine and was assured (though far from convinced) that she had nothing that would threaten the anomaly operation, and he warned her that the ARC operation was his.

Episode 3.5[]

« "I have a feeling I'm going to profoundly regret this." »

— Lester on his decision to allow Connor to move in

When he first arrives at the ARC in the morning, he mocks Connor for keeping so many spare clothes in his office, unaware he was currently living in it. He was furious with Connor when he learnt one of his pet Diictodont had chewed through a cable in the Anomaly Detector, and Christine Johnson chose that moment to come to the ARC for a tour. He did so reluctantly, and when she later asked if they knew where the Artifact was, he denied knowing. He took much pride in sending Christine away when one of her men had become infected with the Future Fungus and died. Lester watched the attempts to stop the fungus from replicating inside the ARC, and Jenny and Danny's confrontation with the Fungus Creature. Afterwards, he appoints Danny to be the new team leader after Jenny decided to leave, and did so in front of Christine to spite her, as she had wanted her own bodyguard, Captain Wilder, to take the position. At the end, Lester, who is displeased with Connor's breach of health and safety guidelines by living in the ARC, allows him to stay with him until he can find somewhere else.

Fire and Water[]

Lester travelled to a South African Safari Park, along with Danny, Sarah, and Sophie, in order to investigate an anomaly there. He rode in the back of the car, with Sophie driving, and Danny sitting in the passenger seat, right next to Sophie. During the ride, Lester was extremely annoyed with Danny, because he believed that Danny was acting overly stupid. When they finally arrived at the hotel that they were going to be staying in, Lester was shocked to find that it was surrounded by lions. Afterwards, they had an encounter with a Eustreptospondylus, but Danny managed to drive it away, by acting as sort of a "matador", for it. After the Eustreptospondylus left the lodge, it fought with some lions, before finally retreating. When Lester again left at night, for a stroll around the park with Danny and Sophie, he witnessed the Eustreptospondylus getting killed in a fight with a Postosuchus. Afterwards, when that Postosuchus killed Sophie, Lester was somewhat insensitive towards her death, making several rude comments, about it, which angered Danny, whom had a crush on her, before she was killed. As usual, on his visit to the Safari Park,Lester was overly preoccupied with Christine Johnson. This was shown when he asked Tom Samuels if he was working for her. Samuels was shocked. He responded by saying that he hadn't heard anything about her in years, he didn't even know if she was still alive. As usual, Lester's response to him was overly riddled with sarcasm.

Episode 3.6[]

« "You know, this isn't over Christine." »

— Lester isn't going to give up being in charge of the ARC so easily

When he and Connor first arrived at the ARC, he kept Connor out of sight in his car as he didn't want people to know that he was sharing an apartment with him. When Danny and Becker reported that they were sure there would be no more security issues, he berated Becker for allowing Danny to abseil down the ventilation shaft. Danny soon realised there was an extra camera in the ARC, and found another in Lester's office. Knowing Christine was behind it, he tried to contact the Minster, only for his

James-3 — Lester confronting Christine moments after he retained his position in the ARC. *(Episode 3.6)*

nemesis to arrive and take control of the ARC from him, though he said that it wasn't over. As he left, he nodded to one of the technicians, who sent Danny, Connor, Abby and Sarah the location of a safehouse he had decided to send them to. When they were captured, he returned to the ARC as he had been reinstated by the Minster, as Becker had recorded Christine insulting the Minister and passed it on to Lester, who in turn sent it to his superior. He pointed out that he'd been right when he'd said it wasn't over, and Christine assured him it wasn't. As she was escorted out, Abby said she thought Lester had returned because he cared about them, but Lester denied this and was then applauded by the ARC staff and seemed pleased that they preferred his leadership.

Episode 3.8[]

Lester was preparing to head off to a dinner with the Chinese ambassador, and was learning to bluff his way in mandarin with a CD. Connor jokingly asked if he could go as his plus one, and when looking for his invitation, Connor said it was probably in his jacket pocket. He couldn't find it, and heard the Diictodon Nancy nearby, and found she had chewed off part his invitation and most of his jacket. Furious, he snarled at Connor, who had clearly tried to cover it up. When the team returned from the Future City Anomaly, Danny reported seeing Captain Wilder and a mysterious woman as they were leaving. Lester told Danny an Anomaly had been detected at Christine's Headquarters, but that she had insisted nothing was fine. Assuming she had access to an Anomaly and a cloaking device of some sort, Lester decided to meet with the Minster to discuss the situation, and told Danny to stay away.

Episode 3.9[]

« "We can't let her kill Christine, it contravenes with health and safety" »

— Lester lets Helen Cutter go with Christine

Lester called Danny as he was informing him he had a meeting with the Minister, and wanted to know where he was. Danny claimed to be stuck in traffic, and as he started to hang up, Lester asked him not to do anything that he would regret. Danny later rang to say he was bringing someone with him to meet him, and before Lester could inquire as to who, Christine arrived with an arrest warrant for Danny as he had broken into her facility. Danny tried to cover this up, and Lester looked out his office window and saw the mysterious woman Danny had talked about. As the woman took Christine at gunpoint, she suddenly changed into Helen Cutter. With Lester's men pointing guns at her and with her threatening to kill Christine, he reluctantly told his soldiers to stand down and for Connor to hand over the Artefact, as Lester couldn't allow Christine to be killed as it would go against health and safety.

Series 4 Prequel Webisodes[]

After the disappearance of Connor, Abby and Danny, the ARC operation is suspended. Lester later is interrogated, he is made to give out their names. He is asked if he believes he they are still alive, he replies since they went into the future, they are technically still alive as even if they were killed in that world they would still be alive for another x number of centuries. He says that although the rescue attempts failed, the mission achieved it's goal as there is no sign of Helen, the questioner doesn't know who she is so Lester describes her simply as a "nasty woman". When asked if he feels that the ARC should be allowed to continue in the first place, he says that it was colossal mistake to suspend them in the first place, a decision that minster already has good cause to regret, noting the incident when a Stegosaurus appeared in the Members Bar at the House of Commons. Becker wants to resign as he believes Danny, Connor and Abby are dead, though Lester thinks they're still alive. Becker is told that Lester is needed, and Lester wants him. Lester is informed that the ARC will be allowed to carry out it's work, "in one form or another", Lester doesn't like the sound of that. (Webisode 1)

As Jess Parker explains, the ARC is 50% privately owned and 50% government owned; Lester is still allowed to choose the staff. He chooses Matt Anderson as the new team leader. Lester is forced to keep both the Minister and Philip Burton satisfied. (Webisode 2) Lester bears witness to Matt's speech to the ARC personnel, where Matt states that hope is not lost for Danny, Connor and Abby and they aren't giving up on them, Lester gives him a pleased look when he finishes. (Webisode 4)

Episode 4.1[]

« "Trust Connor to bring a pet back with him" »

— Lester hides his relief that Connor and Abby are back

When the Dracorex is accidentally set free by Jess and rampages through the ARC, Lester was elsewhere in the ARC, and unaware of the exact nature of the situation. He arrived to find the Dracorex roaring at him, but Matt managed to lure it to Lester's office, to his displeasure, with water and traps it in there. It trashes Lester's office before it is knocked out by tranquiliser darts and contained. He assumed Jess was responsible, but Matt took the blame. Philip Burton then arrived, saying that the Minister had agreed to add extra budget to the ARC operation, and Lester asked Jess to warn him if there was a meeting between the pair again, but she replied that she wasn't allowed to.

Later when an Anomaly was being secured, Jess reported to Lester that Connor and Abby had come through the Anomaly from the Cretaceous, and though he asked about Danny, he didn't get an answer. He wasn't surprised that Connor had wanted to bring a pet back, and soon the team was dealing with a Spinosaurus in the streets. Lester, wanting the pair back at the ARC as soon as possible, attempted to get Jess to put Connor and Abby through to him after learning they had taken off after the dinosaur, but she didn't want him touching her equipment despite his threat to replace her. After the crisis was over, Lester greeted the pair, stiffly recuperating Abby's hug, but not Connor's attempt. Philip arrived, and they went into Lester's office, where the pair were told that their jobs as field operatives were no longer necessary as the job was now for military operatives, and though Connor begged Lester to reconsider, he told him that it had been his idea after their disappearance and Sarah's death, but he did offer them a place to stay until they could get themselves sorted.

Episode 4.2[]

« "I'm doing all I can, things are difficult now" »

— Lester still wants Connor back

Connor and Abby arrived back to be interviewed about their experience, and Lester convinced Philip to give Abby a job looking after the creatures as she was the best candidate. When the pair collect their things from their untouched lockers, Lester offered Abby the minor job, but there was nothing that could be done for Connor, and while saying he'd see what he could do for him, asked him to keep a low profile for the time being. But after Connor went out on his own to investigate a creature at the docks, a Kaprosuchus that came through an Anomaly years before the detector was made, and helped kill it, and with Matt's prompting, he convinced Philip that as Connor and Abby had already been field team members before they disappeared, the new policy didn't affect them. Connor, unaware of this, came back and demanded Lester for his job back, and Lester agreed without argument, but when when he asked for a raise as well, Lester told him not to push his luck.

Episode 4.4[]

« "You know what I think? Underneath it all, you're actually quite nice."
"Repeat that disgraceful slander and you'll be hearing from my lawyers." »

— Abby to Lester who tries to keep up outward appearances in the government

Philip later decided to have the creatures being contained put down due to the inconvenience and supposed cruelty of allowing them to live in a world they didn't understand, brought on by his experience. Lester didn't quite agree with Philip, claiming that what had happened included a certain human's error, but had no choice as such. Jess later came to Lester and told him of Abby's plan to take the creatures elsewhere to keep them from getting killed, and he told Abby to stop what she was doing, seeing as there was no way she could get them out and that he didn't want to have to call security in on her. Abby spoke of how they were being given the chance to see these creatures alive and that if they were killed it would not look too good on humanity. Lester decided not to co-sign an agreement with Philip, saying that if the public were ever to find out about this, he certainly wouldn't be the scapegoat, essentially blackmailing Philip. He changed his mind, but told Lester he wouldn't forget about it. Abby was extremely grateful and hugged Lester again, this time leading him to say it would lead to others talking, and when she said that beneath his sarcastic exterior and was actually nice, he gave a light threat to involve his lawyers about the slander. As he left, he told Abby that her overfed Mammoth had saved his life and that he would have thought it rude if he didn't return the favor.

Episode 4.5[]

« "Try turning the volume up" »

— Matt helps Lester with his computer

Matt and Abby told Lester about Emily Merchant, a Victorian era woman who had come through an Anomaly and had been staying with Matt before she disappeared. Lester wasn't happy that they had kept this from him, and said that despite what Becker said would be done with her, she would have only been temporarily contained until they could figure out what to do with her. Then an new Anomaly was detected, but the signal was fluctuating, preventing a location lock. Philip was intrigued and ordered the team to get down there, before remembering it was Lester's call. Despite being unhappy with Philip, he agreed to send the team down. Jess later showed Lester a security capture of Ethan kidnapping Emily, and when Philip managed to hone in on the Anomaly he ordered Abby and Connor to go after it, but Lester told them to go after the creature, but Philip convinced Connor to find the Anomaly. Lester told Jess to help Connor while he helped Matt locate Emily and Ethan, but only after asking for her help on a few simple computer problems. He sarcastically told Matt he was the new Jess when he began guiding a surprised Matt. He tracked a Black Box Emily had taken, and led Matt to the Tower Hill Cemetery, where Emily was rescued but Ethan escaped.

Episode 4.6[]

« "By the power invested in me..." »

— Jenny and Michael get married by Lester

Emily, Matt and Becker were in Lester's office, with Emily telling them about Ethan, and tasked Becker with seeing if he had a police record. Lester suggests she go finds her friends back on the other side of the anomaly, but Matt insisted she stays, even though Lester will have to go to the Minister and Philip. When Emily asks what will happen to her if that happens, Lester says that he doesn't know and won't be able to protect her from what they decide. Lester is asked to preform the marriage vows for Jenny Lewis and her fiancé Michael at their wedding, and he does so via video link form the ARC, using the power invested by the Minister at his request to make the union official.

Episode 4.7[]

« "Helen Cutter, dead?"
"As a dodo."
"Excellent." »

— Lester couldn't be happier about Helen's death

Lester arrived back at the ARC after speaking with the Minister, who had decided to use other services to track down Ethan, and Matt protested since Ethan came through an Anomaly, meaning it was their department. Matt convinced a reluctant and stressed-out Lester to give him a day to track down Ethan himself. Following an incursion at a prison, Danny Quinn came through the Anomaly and met Ethan, who turned out to be his brother, Patrick. Lester greeted the frustrated Danny, and when he was told that Helen Cutter was as dead as a Dodo he couldn't have been more pleased. He proceeded to update Danny on the changes since his disappearance and the situation with Ethan/Patrick. Philip later spoke with Danny and Lester interrupted to let Danny know he could speak with his brother. Philip told Lester that Danny didn't seem quite alright, being erratic and unbalanced because of his time alone, and Lester said he'd keep an eye on him.

Episode 5.1[]

James Lester in his Jaguar XK — Lester, trapped in a major traffic jam, yells at road workers from the relative comfort of his Jaguar XK.

« "Why don't I just give you a tank!" »

— Lester is against real guns

Lester was stuck in heavy traffic, and asked Jess about "the greatest anomaly" ever; workers never doing any work. After yelling at the roadworkers, the ground collapsed under one of the workers, who then disappeared in the tunnel below. After the incident, Jess told him that he had two messages from the Cabinet Office about a knighthood, and he assumed it was for him. Lester proceeded to tell Jess that a man has apparently been snatched by a creature, and though no anomalies had been detected, she sounded the alert. Lester then asked her for a helicopter to get to the meeting. Lester arrived at the ARC, and wasn't as concerned with the mission as his meeting. He later met with the interviewer Ms Reece in his office, and despite some mission status reports from Jess, he refused to let it distract him for too long. When the interview was over, he learned that the knighthood was actually for Philip, and he had inadvertently set any worries aside. Lester kept calm until she left and was in his office before he began yelling in frustration. Despite not being happy with a shopping centre being blown up, he said he'd clear it up with the right people, as apparently that was the only thing his name was worth.

Episode 5.2[]

« "Now we know how the dinosaurs went extinct" »

— Lester angry at the Admiral's actions

When a new anomaly was detected in the North Sea, Lester received a call from the Admiralty, informing him of a situation involving the anomaly and a submarine. He was unimpressed as a Navy Admiral arrived at the ARC to oversee their operations, and could only watch as the mission fell apart and the submarine the team were on went through the anomaly. When the Admiral decided to try blowing up the anomaly Lester wasn't happy, and attempted to have the Minister overturn the decision, however this didn't work. Instead he tried to delay the launch, which failed just as the sub came back through and almost hit them, who in turn launched their torpedo to seal the anomaly. He watched with great pleasure as the Admiral was berated on his phone by the Minister.

Episode 5.5[]

5x5 LesterShootingATreeCreeper — James shooting a Tree Creeper in order to protect his car. (Episode 5.5)

Lester wasn't happy when he returned, as Matt admitted to everyone that he was from the future trying to stop a catastrophe caused by Philip, while Connor had nearly destroyed the ARC. He decided to speak to the Minister about Philip to shut him down in case Matt's sabotage plan failed, and shooed everyone away when Philip arrived. He soon learned from Jess that a Tyrannosaurus was in the city, and their little secret was out. While several anomalies began opening up, as part of the convergence, Lester informed the Minister about Philip's plans, though the Minister was more concerned about the creatures roaming the streets. When he told Matt, he told him to do whatever it took to stop Philip. When Jess was becoming overwhelmed by the situation, he offered her kind words of encouragement, and helped in organising the field teams. When another anomaly opened in the ARC's car park, Lester was horrified as his new Jaguar XK was down there. Saying it was now personal, he took an EMD with him, and attacked an Arboreal Raptor that was investigating it. After presumably sending it back, he went to the hub to learn that all of the anomalies were closing, and he wondered if that was a good thing.

Episode 5.6[]

Lester and Jess were trying to make sense of the situation and contact the others. After an EM surge caused by Philip's anomaly caused the power to go off in the ARC, Lester was amazed that they still had mobile reception when they received a call from Becker, and ordered him to get to New Dawn. When Jess told Lester she had no new news, Lester doubted it was the end of the world. As Lester decided to get them some whisky, Jess noticed that there were Mutated Future Predators in the ARC's hub, having come through Connor's reopened anomaly. Lester told her not to make any noise, and they made their way to the armoury to seek out EMDs. However he accidentally dropped a case and drew the Predators to them with the noise. They survived the attack, although Lester was badly wounded.

James-Lester-PowerPacks — James with a power pack in hand just before dropping a case and being found by a Future Predator *(Episode 5.6).*

When the rest of the team arrived, they left Lester in the medical bay until he could receive proper help and the Predators were killed. Later, after the team had successfully closed Philip's anomaly, Lester was seen to by medics and was reduced to the use of a cane. As the team was contemplating the possibility of there being no more anomalies, Lester received a call from the Prime Minister, and told the team that a train had disappeared at Kings Cross station and sent the team to investigate. As everyone got ready, he lightly ordered Jess to get back to work.