| Genre: | Thriller |
| Creator: | Helen Walsh |
| Director: | Gareth Bryn Amanda Blue |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
| Num Series: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 6 |
| Producer: | Graham Drover |
| Network: | Channel 4 |
The Gathering is a British mystery thriller television series for Channel 4 written by Helen Walsh. The series was broadcast from 14 May 2024.
A girl is attacked at a rave in Merseyside, with the perpetrator being from a group of suspects from a wide range of backgrounds.[1] The producer Simon Heath called the series "an exploration of toxic teenagers - and their even more toxic parents".[2]
The six-part series marks the television writing debut for novelist Helen Walsh.[3] The series is produced by World Productions and was commissioned by Channel 4 in 2022. The series is directed by Gareth Bryn and Amanda Blue, and produced by Graham Drover, with executive producers Simon Heath, Laura Cotton, alongside Walsh and Bryn.[4]
Filming got underway in Liverpool in July 2023.[5] Filming locations in Liverpool included outside the Liverpool Empire Theatre on William Brown Street.[6] By October 2023, filming had moved to The Wirral. Filming locations included Red Rocks in Hoylake, King's Drive in Caldy,[7] the Witley estate in Moreton, Black Horse Hill Junior School,[8] and Benllech in Anglesey.[9]
The six-part series aired in the UK on Channel 4 from 14 May 2024.[10]
Lucy Mangan of The Guardian awarded the series three stars out of five, remarking "It all works well enough, while remaining slightly underbaked. You feel as though a decision should have been taken earlier on to decide which, among the many things it almost is, it should have properly been. A murder mystery? An interrogation of class and its barriers? A drama for and about teenage lives and concerns? A portrait of the toll elite sports take on their participants? It gestures towards all of these but doesn’t deliver satisfactorily on any count."[11]
Steven McIntosh of the BBC, while bemoaning the clichéd flash-forward in the opening scene of the series, said, "but once the plot spools back and the series finds its groove, it is superb. The Gathering is filled with well-rounded, believable characters who grapple with a smorgasbord of contemporary themes."[12]