“It’s such an emotional roller coaster.”
New Channel 4 thriller The Gathering comes from writer Helen Walsh and production company World Productions (Line of Duty), with the involvement of the latter in particular suggesting viewers should strap in for a tense watch.
The series focuses on a group of teenagers and their parents, and details the days before one of the teens, an elite gymnast from a working class Liverpool background called Kelly, is attacked at an illegal beach rave.
As we learn across the series, a vast number of the characters have a motive for attacking Kelly – but who was it that committed the assault?
RadioTimes.com caught up exclusively with two the show’s stars – Warren Brown (Luther), who plays Kelly’s dad Paul and Eva Morgan who plays Kelly herself – and the former explained what it was that drew him to his role.
Brown explained: “I just thought Helen’s script was fantastic, and the world that she created and these characters that were in the same world but with different dynamics. It just felt so authentic, and so real, and really gripped me. I guess also knowing it was World Productions, they’ve got pretty good track record of doing decent things.”
Brown also teased what viewers can expect from the show, saying: “At times it is dark and harrowing, and you are pushed, and it’s such an emotional roller coaster. But I do think there’s plenty of fun in there. I think Kelly is hilarious, and little Tate.
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“They say don’t work with children and animals, and on this obviously we’ve got the younger brother, young Tate, and we also had a giant, giant dog, which is the biggest dog I’ve ever seen, which was quite interesting as well at times.”
Meanwhile, Morgan spoke about working with Brown to craft their characters’ father-daughter relationship.
“I loved Paul and Kelly’s relationship from the start, and I felt a duty to stay truthful with that,” she explained. “And working with Warren was brilliant because we both had that sense of passion and an appreciation for the way Kelly and Paul were written in the script, and we really wanted to honour that.
“And I built great trust with Warren, which is brilliant when you’re working in scenes because you have that comfortability. I could just tell that we both really cared about the script and Paul and Kelly’s relationship.”
As well as Brown and Morgan, the six-part series also stars Vinette Robinson (Boiling Point), Sadie Soverall (Saltburn), Richard Coyle (Then You Run), Sonny Walker (The Responder), Ryan Quarmby (The Last Kingdom) and Luca Kamleh-Chapman.
The Gathering will air on Channel 4 from Tuesday 14th May at 9pm.
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