BBC - Escaping Utopia (2025)


BBC - Escaping Utopia (2025)

The fight to break free from a New Zealand Christian cult. Gloriavale hides the darkest of secrets - as the promise of heaven on earth descends into seclusion and subordination.

Chapter 1

In 1969 an Australian preacher set up a religious community in New Zealand known as Gloriavale. Today it is home to 650 people who live a closeted existence away from the rest of society. This documentary examines the dark secrets at the heart of this Christian sect and the allegations that its followers are indoctrinated to an oppressive existence for life.

Chapter 2

Focuses on what life was like for the second and third-generation members of Gloriavale, growing up in a world where every decision is made for them. New Zealand journalist Melanie Reid recounts her experience of going undercover inside the community in the 1990s, and the work she did to try to stop the abuse she discovered.

Chapter 3

Charts the impact of the loss of Gloriavale's charismatic leader Hopeful Christian and his successor's struggle to keep the community running. Meanwhile, an underground network helps one member leave, while two former children of Gloriavale expose one of its most shocking secrets.

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Snippet from Wikipedia: Gloriavale Christian Community

The Gloriavale Christian Community is a small and isolated cult located at Haupiri on the West Coast of the South Island in New Zealand. It had a recorded population of roughly 468 as of the 2023 census. It has operated on a property owned by the registered charitable Christian Church Community Trust since 1991.

Gloriavale was founded in 1969 by travelling evangelist Neville Cooper ("Hopeful Christian"). Originating as the Springbank Christian Community, the group established a settlement called Gloriavale in the South Island's West Coast Region during the 1990s. Gloriavale Christian Community became a self-sufficient cult with its own school and various agricultural, tourism, and transportation businesses including a short-lived airline called Air West Coast.

Gloriavale Christian Community is known for its fundamentalist Christian beliefs and practices. Key beliefs and practices have included an emphasis on large families and female submission to male headship. Members (also known as the Cooperites) wear distinctive uniforms; with males wearing long-sleeve blue shirts and trousers, and females wearing long blue dresses and scarves. Gloriavale has also controversially shunned members who have left the community over disagreements with the leadership.


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