Documentary series Escaping Utopia to reveal how former residents fled Gloriavale

March 14, 2024: | Stuff | TV Guide | Local documentary Escaping Utopia explores the planning that goes into clandestine escapes from Gloriavale, with the help of the Gloriavale Leavers’ Trust. Screening across three nights, the series reveals new information from former and current members of the controversial religious community and seeks to…

Rosie Overcomer shares her story about growing up in Gloriavale

March 12, 2024: | NZ Herald: Grace Odlum | When Rosie Overcomer looked at her newborn daughter’s face for the first time, she was overwhelmed with fear. She was afraid of her daughter having the same upbringing as she had, in a place where women weren’t valued as highly as men – Gloriavale,…

Gloriavale docuseries to bring to light harrowing tales of escape

March 12, 2024: | 1News Reporters | The isolated West Coast commune of Gloriavale will again come into sharp focus as former members’ desperate attempts to escape air on TVNZ later this month. Across three nights, Escaping Utopia will reveal the careful planning involved in clandestine escapes from the fundamentalist Christian sect –…

Gloriavale ‘expose’ to screen worldwide

March 11, 2024: |Greymouth Star| Subscription Only | A new three-part investigation into Gloriavale will screen on TV One later this month. The brand-new docuseries — Escaping Utopia — is fronted by journalist Melanie Reid, who went undercover there in 1994. “I have done hundreds of television stories in the last two decades but this…

TVNZ Screens Worldwide Premiere Of Gloriavale Docuseries, Escaping Utopia

March 11, 2024: TVNZ Press Release: Scoop New Zealand’s most extreme religious cult, Gloriavale, and the true stories of people attempting to break free, are the subject of a brand-new docuseries – Escaping Utopia – screening this March on TVNZ. In a worldwide premiere, screening across three captivating nights, Escaping Utopia documents the intricate planning that goes…

Gloriavale’s surplus declines

March 6, 2024: | Greymouth Star |Subscription Only|Laura Mills Gloriavale’s charitable trust has reported a $766,000 surplus for the year. That is well down on a $3.4m surplus recorded last year, and $2.29m before that. Total income was $15.8m, compared to $27m last year. It had revenue of almost $16m, administration costs of $893,000…

Cell coverage comes to Gloriavale

March 5, 2024: | Greymouth Star | Laura Mills | Subscription Only The Gloriavale Christian Community is going to get a cellphone signal for the first time at its remote site inland of Nelson Creek. The Rural Connectivity Group (RCG) has applied to the Grey District Council to install a cell tower near Lake Haupiri.…