“I wanted to make space for the people who carry these traditions—the custodians, not commentators. By listening rather than explaining, we discover something deeper: our instinct to gather, our need for belonging and our connection to place.” Dave Brewis
Britain is home to the most extraordinary living folklore and seasonal events. This unique documentary series takes you deep inside these practices, capturing how they are prepared, performed and passed down through time. Gatherings is a front row seat for the sights, sounds and intensity of ritual.
Gatherings is a six-part documentary series exploring Britain’s most extraordinary folk rituals and seasonal customs. Through compelling interviews, unseen archives and visceral action, the series offers a front-row seat to the sights, sounds and intensity of ritual. Told entirely by the voices of those who organise and participate—without presenter or narration—Gatherings is an honest record of living traditions as they are prepared, performed and passed on within their communities. Each episode reveals how these practices connect people to identity, place and belonging, showing why rituals that have endured for centuries continue to thrive today.
Ten80 Productions are thrilled to announce the release of Gatherings, a six-part documentary series launching 6 October on Apple TV, YouTube, and Amazon Prime Video.
Gatherings dives into Britain’s most enduring folk traditions – ancient rituals, games, and customs that continue to unite communities. Filmed entirely on location and told only through the voices of participants, the series offers an intimate, unfiltered portrait of living folklore.
Blending unseen archives with present-day footage, filmmaker Dave Brewis takes a unique, observational approach—no narration, no voiceover—just the people and their traditions, speaking for themselves. Shot across England and Scotland, the series features six extraordinary events, including The Burry Man of South Queensferry, Rushbearing at Sowerby Bridge, and the Haxey Hood in North Lincolnshire.
Since 2006, filmmaker Dave Brewis has captured over 100 seasonal events and traditions, building a rich video archive of folklore across the UK and France. Through his company TEN80 Productions, he develops TV projects like Gatherings and provides video and marketing services to a wide range of clients.
Originally from Northumberland, Dave studied Fine Art and Mathematics in York before moving into London’s 1990s “new media” scene, creating early websites for The Economist, Channel 4, and The Guardian. After retraining in Paris, he launched TEN80 in 2004, producing for the BBC, CNN, Shine, and Arte, while also making his own internationally distributed folklore series.
Since returning to the UK in 2015, Dave has balanced commercial work with his passion for documenting living traditions—always seeking to tell stories with authenticity and cultural insight.
Doc Rowe, born in Torquay, Devon, has spent a lifetime capturing the living traditions of Britain. Inspired in the 1950s by BBC folk broadcasts, and later by a pivotal meeting with radio producer Charles Parker (of the famous Radio Ballads with Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger), he developed a passion for preserving oral tradition and popular culture through sound and image.
A first visit to Padstow Mayday in the early 1960s set him on a lifelong path of documenting seasonal festivals and folk customs. Armed with camera, film, and tape recorder, he has built an extraordinary archive of Britain’s cultural life—past and present.
With a Fine Art background, Rowe has taught widely, contributed to TV and radio, and collaborated on landmark projects including Philip Donnellan’s The Other Music (BBC2, 1981) and Channel 4’s The Future of Things Past (1986). His photographs appear regularly, and his books—We’ll Call Once More Unto Your House, With a Crash and a Din, and Mayday: The Coming of Spring—have become touchstones for folklore enthusiasts.
Rowe has also created educational materials for the EFDSS, filmed children’s games, and worked internationally, most notably with artists Alan Kane and Jeremy Deller on the British Council’s Folk Archive (2010) and on Lore and the Living Archive (2018).
Release Date: 6th October 2025
Platforms: Apple TV, YouTube & Amazon Prime Video
