The insular Greymouth community of Gloriavale has kept Kiwis enthralled as testimonies keep emerging.

A new TVNZ documentary, Escaping Utopia, promises to unveil the stories of people who've left the community- and the struggles they've endured.

Co-director Justin Pemberton says Gloriavale is going through a transitionary period following the death of their former leader.

"The community is now imploding, it's going through some sort of- either regeneration or collapse, and we don't really know which yet, it's very much a live story. I think that's why we felt so compelled to need to go and visit."

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The insular Greymouth community of Gloriavale has kept Kiwis enthralled as testimonies keep emerging.
A new TVNZ documentary, Escaping Utopia, promises to unveil the stories of people who've left the community- and the struggles they've endured.
Co-director Justin Pemberton says Gloriavale is going through a transitionary period following the death of their former leader.
"The community is now imploding, it's going through some sort of- either regeneration or collapse, and we don't really know which yet, it's very much a live story. I think that's why we felt so compelled to need to go and visit."
LISTEN ABOVE

News, opinion, analysis, lifestyle and entertainment – we’ve got your Sunday morning listening covered with The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin on Newstalk ZB.

The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin

Justin Pemberton: Escaping Utopia director explores the inner workings of Gloriavale through interviews with escapees

Pod Save America is one of the world's most successful news and politics podcasts and the team's set to take their show to our shores.

The Hopefully Just Visiting tour will have live shows across Australia and New Zealand, with the one-off Auckland show taking place at Bruce Mason Theatre this week.

Founder and podcast co-host Tommy Vietor says it's hard to encourage people to pay attention to politics, and he's hoping the podcast can help with that. 

"We're noticing that after the 2016 election - there are people who have never thought about politics before, never knocked on a door, never made a phone call... the challenge is, around the presidential elections, the electorate just looks totally different." 

LISTEN ABOVE

Pod Save America is one of the world's most successful news and politics podcasts and the team's set to take their show to our shores.
The Hopefully Just Visiting tour will have live shows across Australia and New Zealand, with the one-off Auckland show taking place at Bruce Mason Theatre this week.
Founder and podcast co-host Tommy Vietor says it's hard to encourage people to pay attention to politics, and he's hoping the podcast can help with that.&nbsp;
"We're noticing that after the 2016 election - there are people who have never thought about politics before, never knocked on a door, never made a phone call... the challenge is, around the presidential elections, the electorate just looks totally different."&nbsp;
LISTEN ABOVE

Tommy Vietor: Pod Save America founder and co-host ahead of the team's one-off NZ show

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/e7e71e1f-0663-4782-b956-b3eb0008ebdd/transcript

In 2023, comedian Tom Sainsbury released his award-winning murder mystery podcast Small Town Scandal.

The podcast is being re-launched as a television show coming to Neon and Sky, with the series following disgraced journalist Toby Buchanan as he investigates the murder of his millionaire uncle.

The show stars Sainsbury himself, as well as Kiwi actress Morgana O'Reilly.

"It's changed from the podcast, there are some characters that are exactly the same and some storylines that are the same - but we've had to expand it, change it, change the ending, all that kind of stuff."

LISTEN ABOVE

In 2023, comedian Tom Sainsbury released his award-winning murder mystery podcast Small Town Scandal.
The podcast is being re-launched as a television show coming to Neon and Sky, with the series following disgraced journalist Toby Buchanan as he investigates the murder of his millionaire uncle.
The show stars Sainsbury himself, as well as Kiwi actress Morgana O'Reilly.
"It's changed from the podcast, there are some characters that are exactly the same and some storylines that are the same - but we've had to expand it, change it, change the ending, all that kind of stuff."
LISTEN ABOVE

Tom Sainsbury and Morgana O'Reilly: Small Town Scandal actors on the podcast making the jump to television

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/33af91c3-9b5b-4a5a-b184-b3eb0002f747/transcript

The Sisterhood Rules by Kathy Lette, who must be one of the funniest women in the world. It’s about twin sisters who have been estranged for five years, ever since Verity stole Isabel’s husband - but they come together to take their mother in hand when they discover that she’s taken up with a much younger man and is having a fabulous time, running through the money which might otherwise be their inheritance. It’s full of jokes, puns and Kathy’s trademark wit but she’s making a serious point - that the bonds between women are what keep us all sane, and that we need to have one another’s backs.

Seed by Elizabeth Easther, who is a New Zealand journalist, book reviewer, playwright and author. This is also about the bonds between women - in this case between four women, each of whom is struggling with conception or pregnancy and the various modern ways by which those things might happen - fertility treatments, dating apps, autonomy over decisions affecting their own bodies and the impacts of these things with the people in their lives. It will speak very strongly to readers of a certain age - specifically, women who find themselves in the midst of those years, and it feels very true, and very real. 

LISTEN ABOVE

The Sisterhood Rules by Kathy Lette, who must be one of the funniest women in the world. It’s about twin sisters who have been estranged for five years, ever since Verity stole Isabel’s husband - but they come together to take their mother in hand when they discover that she’s taken up with a much younger man and is having a fabulous time, running through the money which might otherwise be their inheritance. It’s full of jokes, puns and Kathy’s trademark wit but she’s making a serious point - that the bonds between women are what keep us all sane, and that we need to have one another’s backs.
Seed by Elizabeth Easther, who is a New Zealand journalist, book reviewer, playwright and author. This is also about the bonds between women - in this case between four women, each of whom is struggling with conception or pregnancy and the various modern ways by which those things might happen - fertility treatments, dating apps, autonomy over decisions affecting their own bodies and the impacts of these things with the people in their lives. It will speak very strongly to readers of a certain age - specifically, women who find themselves in the midst of those years, and it feels very true, and very real.&nbsp;
LISTEN ABOVE

Whitcoulls Recommends: The Sisterhood Rules and Seed

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/7ea22faf-2912-4728-ac9a-b3ea0189e461/transcript

Justin Pemberton: Escaping Utopia director explores the inner workings of Gloriavale through interviews with escapees

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