User reviews

"The Gathering," created by the same team behind Line of Duty, unfolds on a secluded island transformed into a vibrant party hotspot. The series delves into the experiences of a student who finds themselves entangled in a web of trouble at an illicit rave.

I came across this show that I found to be incredibly gripping and entertaining. The performances from the fresh, young cast were truly impressive. Eva Morgan's portrayal of Kelley was outstanding, and she truly embodied the role of the protagonist. Additionally, Sonny Walker's performance as Adam and Sadie Soverall's portrayal of Jessica were also remarkable. The storyline was engaging, and I particularly enjoyed how the different plotlines of each character were well-developed and well-written. I would definitely recommend this show to others, and I'm eagerly hoping for a second season to see more of these compelling characters.

I suppose this series was aimed at a younger crowd, but my 'kids' are 10+ years older than the characters and I very much enjoyed this. It was refreshing to watch a genre I wouldn't normally consider because of (what I perceive) as the target age of the series.

Of course, there are typical scenarios with young adults but it had REAL BONES. A very good story line and very good performances of all the actors involved.

It was nice to see. Warren Brown, who I remember in Luther, Good Cop (ANOTHER series that should have had a second season), Strike Back just to name a few.

It's very frustrating when a series ends and you're holding your breath for the next season. They literally left me/us on a cliff edge!

Why do the powers that be keep cancelling well plotted, well written, well acted series like this>> So frustrating!

Something a little different in this drama, free running and gymnastics. Quite a realistic portrayal of young people/teenagers.

Nice to see some new actors, not the same old bunch of luvvies.

I only recognised Warren, who always gives value for money.

In my opinion the City of Liverpool is the star of the drama. Nice to see different parts of the city, not the usual grubby parts.

I stumbled across this programme by accident, I just don't understand why, Channel 4 have bought and paid for a drama to be made and not bothered advertising it!! I've watched two back to back, so far. I mustn't be greedy and binge them!

1 star less for the random and unnecessary porn moments, please just cut the camera, if you want me to believe they are children then don't expect me to be comfortable watching them in adult moments!

Ignoring that, what a truly fantastic and believable unravelling of events, the contrast of the working class and the upper class was brilliant, the location and actors were 100% believable as Scouse or from the Wirral which is a refreshing change! The writing was brilliant, every twist and turn, the web of connections, I just loved it, best TV show I've watched in years! We ended up watching over two evenings. I'm not sure the synopsis does this TV show justice as to the content its clearly not just about social media, its social connections, social classes, the underbelly vs the elite, its just brilliant.

The lead actress playing Kelly was amazing, I cannot believe this is her first role, I'll look forward to seeing her in the future, the whole cast were brilliant but her and Adam (Sonny) really stood out as brilliant.

8/10. When I saw a trailer for this I thought it probably is a bit too teenagey for me. But I gave it a go anyway. And once started it quickly became binge worthy. Starting by looking at characters in the sports world, it quickly developed into other life problems as well. The writing allows you to love and hate certain characters and also tries to express why not to judge a book by its cover. Some brilliant acting performances and the best channel 4 drama in a good while. Personally for me Adam (sonny walker) and Kelly (Eva Morgan) were outstanding. But there's lots of characters other different ages and genders will warm too as well. Give this one a chance. You won't regret it.

I never have expectations when I watch any new drama series. Because to do so can set one up for disappointment.

So I was delighted to be gripped from start to finish. Firstly, the script was a knock-out, superbly written and created by Helen Walsh, copperfastened by very intelligent directing by Gareth Bryn. But is was the standard of the acting for me that truly astonished me: I was amazed at how so many new and young actors mastered their skill by delivering first-class and resoundingly authentic and believable performances. Bazi and Jess were excellent but Kelly ( Eva Morgan ) and Adam in particular shone in performances that had me hooked from start to finish. I hope and trust we will see a lot more of them on TV in the future.

I can most easily highly recommend this drama series which pulls no punches and can be an eye-opener for parents of teenagers...

Enjoy!

Absolutely fantastic six part drama series, really strong acting by the entire cast, some of whom have very little experience in tv or films, Eva Morgan as Kelly and Sonny Walker as Adam absolutely shine in their gritty roles. The story is well written with the story flowing darkly but beautifully to its surprise conclusion. I was a little hesitant at first as it's mostly a teenage cast but was hooked after the first 5 minutes. Highly recommend it even if you have to put subtitles on for some of the characters. This isn't one of those programs that you put on in the background while you play games on your phone, it needs and deserves your full attention.

A fascinating premise which sets up a thriller theme; at the "gathering" someone is being drowned/drowning.....we now retrace the events, behaviours and interrelationships from the months leading upto to the "gathering", presented as perhaps the key factors linked to the incident.

The key protaganists are unconventionally presented as gymnasts and or urban freerunners....this provides some insight into these unconventional activities , bringing some initial excitement. We are also introduced to the families, friends, as the narrative attempts to become more layered and complex.

Unfortunately now the drama becomes bogged down in social issue overload as boxes are ticked by the writers.....from social media sex/dating and appropriate parenting to dangerous dogs and private education. These become gratuitious, lacking depth or relevance to the plot. It is now becoming a low brow Hollyoaks!

The writers have tried to cram in far too many side themes thus undermining the core focus.....the classification of "thriller" is questionable; a coming of age drama is more appropriate. A shame.

The first two reviews absolutely sum up the quality of this engaging drama. There's very little to add - extremely well written, founded on some generational and social issues for relevance, has well paced and focused direction, and outstanding performances across the board - highlighted by the lead, Eva Morgan, astonishly in her debut role. There wasn't one weak or sub-par contribution from any of the cast. Industry stalwarts like Coyle and Brown add acting weight and grounding. Whilst all of the young talent on show here perform their socks off to suggest they have very bright futures indeed. Highly recommended viewing.

So enjoyed this drama, with a very modern & realistic setting (Free Running, drugs, human trafficking & more) & I really thought that the script & the way the characters' lives were interwoven in different ways worked extremely well. Some people complained about the accent but its real! Besides you can always switch on subtitles. Excellent acting all round but especially Kelly & Adam, however when youre watching a performance and you hate the character, that says a lot. I could hardly wait for the next episode (but I did), however was sorry when it ended. Great ending! Well Done CH 4 on a superb production.

Update: I've now seen all 6 episodes, I gave it 8 stars because the endings of these dramas are usually weak but now it gets a 10 (and I never give 10s!). I never thought I'd type this but: It's better than Happy Valley.

None of us know what we will do in a situation until that situation arises, this drama tells us that we will probably behave very badly. One character in this drama could be described as a 'high functioning sociopath' all the rest seem like ordinary people who find themselves behaving very badly to each other.

I've seen the first 2 episodes and will definitely be watching the rest.

Good acting, strong and original plot and interesting sub-plots make this one worth watching. Be warned that the language is bad and the 'sex acts' quite realistic (traditional sex seems to have gone out of fashion).

Absolutely loved this superb six part drama. A highlight was the outstanding performance of the young female actors - Eva Morgan was truly brilliant and Sadie Soverall was likewise first rate. The young male actors were also so well cast. The complexity of growing-up in multi-faceted 2024 society was sharply and keenly focused put under a uncompromising lens. The amazing use of stunt doubles to add visual vibrancy and the excellent portrayal of every character added so much credibility to the well-written storyline. I truly loved how the production team filmed and presented the conclusion. This is the very BEST drama I have seen for such a long time. And, as a former teacher from Liverpool, I can genuinely vouch for the underpinning authenticity of The Gathering's characters, setting and complexity of growing up in 2024.

Loved the gathering, watched season 1 in one go as I couldn't stop. Gutted to hear there won't be a season 2 as it was really good! Hopefully ch4 will have a change of heart. Watch it as you won't be disappointed. Great acting and a brilliant story line. Come on ch 4 get your act together as there's so much more to be told! The characters were amazing and really good actors and the story line was so good. There's so many things still to play out! Don't usually like things that go back in time as I get confused but this was different class. It's absolutely worth a watch if you've a spare 6 hours as you'll be hooked!

I was initially interested in watching this because of the setting of Hilbre Island, (in the Dee estuary), near where I grew up. TBH I was surprised that they kept the island's real name in case it encouraged people to try and go over there for a similar event (don't do it - the RNLI have got better things to do).

But as for the show itself - I liked the way several storylines intertwined. I also liked that the first few episodes left me wondering if I'd missed something because the stories developed later on. It reminded me a bit of the way Tarrantino put together Pulp Fiction - it all links together in the end. A fresh cast with modern problems - pushy parents, anxiety of growing up, perils of social media, the refugee angle, drink, drugs - it's got the lot and kept me guessing until the end (I thought I had it sussed....... I didn't).

I thought it was amusing that I had to put the subtitles on at one point, but not for the local accents - it was Jules and his solicitor friend having lunch - mumbling. Played it back 3 times and couldn't work out what they were on about lol.

Channel 4 don't do regular dramas these days but when they do they are generally pretty good unlike the tripe Channel 5 tends to churn out.

I just had to bingewatch this. It was good once you got beyond thd suspect accents plus just a few recognisable actors (I did have to check imdb to refresh my memory on the woman from Boiling Point while Warren Brown is in everything) so you were able to concentrate on the warts and all story about credible characters that you could believe in and empathise with. Throw in the cattle of the classes too and the writers knew they were onto a winner.

Yes, you had to have the obligatory gay scenes (this is channel 4 the home of It's A Sin after all!) but the rainbow flag wasn't crammed down the viewers throat as in so many films and shows these days.

The gathering in question only really took up small sections of each episode before the finale while the perpetrator wasn't obvious and it was realistic as in it was far from a happy ending for everyone.

A great production surprisingly shown at this time of year when viewing figures are generally low. It was, just the jumping time frames which were a bit off putting.

I watched Episode 1 and was not overly impressed, but decided to give Episode 2 a chance, but with the same result. Episode 3, I gave up part way through. Decided to go straight to Episode 6 and discovered that I hadn't missed anything important.

'The Gathering' is way too disjointed and confusing with far too many storylines running at the same time. Elite sports, free running, clubbing, drug & alcohol addiction, mental illness, homosexuality, refugees struggling to be accepted and a beach party that we got fleeting glimpses of. Not to mention some extremely bad and unconvincing acting.

It was difficult to find any empathy for the characters in this one dimensional drama. None of the storylines ever seemed to get any closer to a resolution even up to the final scenes of the last episode.

A teenage girl is attacked and left for dead on a beach, during a drink and drug fuelled party attended by teenagers.

So good I binge watched it one episode after another, I gave up on it when it first went out, foolishly thinking it was a drama for teens only, I was so wrong.

It develops multiple threads, and at about episode three of four, it seems to switch from a story about Jessica and Kelly, to one about Charlie and Bazi, it seems a little odd, but it works, all of the threads are neatly concluded.

It's very nicely produced, it's well filmed, the sound is great, plus they play some great music, including Shadows by Chromatics.

The acting is superb, sure there are some seasoned performers like Vinette Robinson and Warren Brown, but all credit to the younger cast members, Sadie Soverall and Eva Morgan were phenomenal.

8/10.