VIEWERS of The Gathering have threatened to boycott the thriller after “absolutely vile” abuse scenes.
The Channel 4 drama follows a community in Merseyside that is left reeling after a brutal attack.
Sherlock actress Vinette Robinson, 43, plays “mother from hell”, Natalie.
Her daughter, Jessica (Sadie Soverall), is a teen gymnast who cannot do anything to please her mum’s strict standards and has been totally pushed to her limits in an effort to please her.
One scene on The Gathering shows Natalie burst in as Jessica is working, and demanding to see her phone.
Jessica retorts: “Mum are you drunk?”, as she sits at her laptop.
When the gymnast isn’t picked for the team, Natalie is totally indignant on her daughter’s behalf.
She even threatens to move her from Liverpool to Manchester.
Jessica is not keen to move away having made friends and forged social connections.
After watching these scenes, viewers went absolutely mad as they flocked to X – formerly known as Twitter.
They couldn’t help but label the character as “toxic” and “brutal” after witnessing the parental abuse.
Speaking of the character played by the former Waterloo Road star, one viewer wrote: “It’s pretty dire so far. I doubt that I’ll bother watching the next episode #TheGathering,”
A second remarked: “I can’t believe Natalie would do that to Kelly. She is brutal. #TheGathering.”
Another noted: “That mum sent that Video she’s absolutely vile! #TheGathering.”
A fourth exclaimed: “She’s absolutely vile! So pushy! Like Liverpool’s version of Ruby from #Emmerdale! #TheGathering.”
One more stated: “This is horrible. Turning her daughter into a show pony. #TheGathering.”
What is The Gathering plot?
THE Gathering follows the story of a violent attack on a teenager at a beach rave.
The programme features “toxic teenagers – and their even more toxic parents”.
Set in Liverpool, characters who may have been involved in the attack are introduced to viewers.
Warren Brown, who plays main character Kelly’s father in the show, said that the cast didn’t know during filming who the attacker was.
His daughter is an elite gymnast, who likes to take part in free running.
It explores class differences as Kelly and rival Jessica come from two very different backgrounds.
Viewers will be left not only asking whodunnit but why?
While another asked: “Does that mother from hell think that by grassing up Kelly that means Jessica will get on the team. Despite Jessica being nowhere near Kelly’s level #TheGathering.”
Referring to Jessica’s tumbling failure, one person wrote: “#TheGathering Her mother really is a b****! She could’ve been really hurt.”
For those still curious to see what happens, the second episode airs tonight on Channel 4 at 9pm.
It then continues on Tuesday and Wednesday next week, or you can stream all six episodes now on channel4.com.
