For many of the young cast of new Channel 4 drama The Gathering, it was their first time in professional acting roles – not that viewers are likely to be able to tell.
The secret to eliciting such quality performances from newcomers is to leave them to get on with it, lead director Gareth Bryn told the Liverpool premiere audience.
Stephen Butchard has written a “sharp, fast-paced and brilliantly observed” series, says Executive Producer Andy Harries of Left Bank Pictures. Across eight parts, it follows Michael Kavanagh, played by James Nelson-Joyce (Bird), who has spent his entire life flooding the streets of Liverpool with cocaine from Columbia.
Lloyd gave an in-depth look into the commissioning process, from the significance of producers – “one of the most important relationships a writer will have is with a producer” – to the time a show spends in development: “On average, [it’s] three to four years before it hits the screen.”
Channel 4’s remit was key, said Lloyd: “[Our shows] need to deliver on so many fronts… inclusivity, regionality, [they should] be revelatory, funny, have something to say… We do need to tick all those boxes, because that’s what makes us different from every other channel.”
Catherine Tate (The Catherine Tate Show, Doctor Who) will be succeeding the likes of Amanda Holden, Richard Osman, Mel Giedroyc and Nigella Lawson as the UK spokesperson.
However, unlike her predecessors, Tate will be delivering the UK’s National Jury scores live from the very same arena the contest is taking place in - making UK Eurovision history.
Joining Tate in the arena will be the official hosts Graham Norton (The Graham Norton Show), Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso), singer Alesha Dixon and Ukrainian rock star Julia Sanina.
At the heart of G’wed is the superficially disobeying Reece, who, despite appearing as a loud mouthed anti-hero, has a surprising knowledge of John Steinbeck, can quote Mother Teresa, and has a very mature take on grief. Alongside him is Aimee, emotionally mature and fiercely determined, and Mia-Louise, a manipulator of men who don't deserve any better.
Liverpool. The global port that Carl Gustav Jung dubbed the “pool of life”. The UK’s most-filmed location outside the capital. From Lita Roza’s No 1 hit How Much Is That Doggy in the Window? through to the Beatles; football dominance; comedy, both singular and sitcom; the backdrop for socially realistic drama, from Days of Hope and Z Cars through Blackstuff, Brookside and Hollyoaks to the BBC’s Time and Channel 4’s Help, with its Rose D’Or drama award, keeping the flame lit.
Based on Juckes’s real-life experiences, Care follows Jenny (Smith) a single mother of two, raising her children with the help of her widowed mother Mary (Steadman). When Mary suffers a devastating stroke and develops dementia, Jenny’s world falls apart, and everything changes for her and her sister Claire (Keenan). Torn between caring for her mother and following her own path, Jenny soon discovers that there could be another option, but it’s one she’ll have to fight for.
When we were making Accused, Danny Brocklehurst wanted to include a story about a taxi driver who takes a woman to the airport and then goes back and burgles her house. It was the stuff of urban nightmare.
For a long, long, long time the problem with being a TV producer in Liverpool was very simply that there was no one to trade with. In other words, there was no TV culture.
I’m happy to say that I was one of the founding fathers of a show that ignited a new TV culture. Brookside began on 2 November 1982 at 8:00pm on the channel that gave birth to independents, which was, of course, Channel 4.
