‘Real Handmaid’s tale’ community that forced young girls to watch their parents have sex

February 17, 2025: | Lad Bible | Michael Slavin | The community has been exposed in a new documentary called Escaping Utopia Warning: The following article contains discussion of child sex abuse that some readers may find disturbing A cult community which horrifically forced young girls to watch their parents having sex has…

Hell on Earth

February 16, 2025: | The Irish Sun | Jim Mahoney | We were made to watch our parents have sex & abused from 7 in cult run by ‘shepherds’ who performed sick marriage ‘prep’ Far from being a promised Utopia, Gloriavale was set up by a sex offender who systematically abused the children.…

Escaping Utopia, review: a refreshingly old-fashioned documentary about a disturbing cult

February 16, 2025: | The Telegraph | Anita Singh | Netflix transformed the documentary genre so profoundly that it feels unusual to come across something made in the old style. Escaping Utopia (BBC Two) doesn’t have glossy cinematography or a dramatic soundtrack or people talking directly into the camera. It is not edited in the…

Escaping Utopia review – there’s so much terrible detail about this cult it barely fits into the show

February 16, 2025: | The Guardian | Lucy Mangan | Escapers from the Gloriavale sect open up about living in constant fear of damnation, its abuse of women – and a landmark court case brought by female ex-members Hello and welcome to another entrant in the popular television genre Do Try to Be…

BBC Picks Up New Zealand Cult Doc ‘Escaping Utopia’

October 31, 2024: | Deadline | Max Goldbart, Jesse Whittock | The BBC has picked up a premium doc series on a group of people’s clandestine escape from a New Zealand cult. Escaping Utopia is a three-part investigation into Gloriavale Christian Community – New Zealand’s extreme religious cult – and the true stories of people attempting…

‘Gloriavale: New Zealand’s Secret Cult’: Doc On Notorious Religious Group Lands Sales Deal Ahead Of EFM

February 13, 2023: By Zac Ntim | International Reporter | Deadline EXCLUSIVE: MetFilm Sales has acquired world rights, excluding Australia and New Zealand, to Gloriavale: New Zealand’s Secret Cult, Fergus Grady and Noel Smyth’s feature doc about a notorious kiwi religious cult. MetFilm will shop the doc to international buyers at the upcoming European Film Market. Billed…

Inside New Zealand’s secretive Gloriavale Christian Community

November 2, 2022: RN Drive By Nick Baker and Sky Kirkham for The Drawing Room Like many New Zealanders, Fergus Grady knew about the disturbing stories that were coming out of the Gloriavale Christian Community. This secretive group, located in one of the most isolated parts of the country, has long made headlines there, with numerous…