The Gathering

Helen Walsh – novelist by trade – makes a very respectable televisual debut in her River Dee-based teen drama, The Gathering. Estuary life is rocked when an unconscious girl is found on the shoreline, calling a stark halt to the inane frivolity engaged upon by the local teen population. Eva Morgan stars as Kelly, an eager gymnast with a penchant for freerunning that is staunchly unsupported by her coach. Contrasting Kelly in life’s lottery of upbringing is Jessica (Sadie Soverall), who enjoys all the benefits and pressures of private education and resources that Kelly does not.

Matters seem low-key for a while, despite the knowledge that the discovery of an unidentified corpse is impending. The pair engage in falling out and reconnecting in a typical enough cycle of adolescence. The plot thickens, however, as the series develops and engagement ramps up accordingly. Gymnastic concerns fall by the wayside in favour of issues of poverty, depravity and intergenerational angst, not to mention that washed-up cadaver. A whole new television programme emerges from a bland overextended basis, popping with edgy themes such as class, xenophobia and criminality, a palpable build on what is essentially a murder mystery plonked upon a slightly disinteresting initial setup.

Would-be unimaginative characters are made vibrant by considered performances, notably from Morgan and Soverall themselves, though some inauthentic Mersey-region accents from the company are perhaps initially a little bit grating. The formulaic one-viewpoint-per-episode approach to perspective also works effectively, particularly tying in with exploring motive for the unsolved crime.

Primarily, The Gathering is tetchy and taut in all the right ways, albeit with something of a false start. A shadowy sense of dread pervades to good effect, the characters engage and the setting is fairly unique and intriguing. This Channel 4 offering is certainly worth inspecting.

Will Snell

The Gathering is released on 14^th May 2024.

Watch the trailer for The Gathering here: