Compelling new doc reveals damaging legacy of the Jesus Army movement

Congratulations to Stern & Wild filmmaker Katie Buchanan, Series and Executive Producer of the powerful two-part documentary INSIDE THE CULT OF THE JESUS ARMY which launched on BBC Two this week.

Directed by Ellena Wood, the series charts the rise and fall of the Jesus Fellowship, an evangelical Christian church led by charismatic preacher Noel Stanton which began as a small group of idealistic worshippers in rural Northamptonshire in 1969 and developed over the following decades to become one the UK’s most abusive cults. By the 1980s the movement had over 3,000 members living in a network of puritanically run communal homes and had become widely known for the work of its outreach group the Jesus Army whose brightly coloured battle buses and gaudily dressed recruiters were used to attract young people, the homeless and drug addicts. Beneath the ‘happy-clappy’ façade, however, was a history of unreported physical and sexual abuse of hundreds of women and children which was covered up by the church’s leadership. Investigations into the abuse led to the closure of the Jesus Fellowship Church in 2019.

Filmed over three years, this gripping series charts the history of the church interspersed with filmed counselling sessions with former members conducted by psychotherapist Gillie Jenkinson, who was once in a cult herself. For the series, Ellena interviewed more than 80 survivors, in addition to relatives and family members. One of the former members who appears in the series is Philippa Barnes, who was interviewed recently for the Guardian’s Long Read section and attended the premiere of the series at last month’s Sheffield DocFest. “The feeling of relief was immense,” she is quoted as saying of watching the story unfold on screen. “I had been carrying that burden by myself for all that time.”

The series is a Big Sister Films and Docsville Studios production for BBC Two. In addition to Katie as Series and Exec Producer, Helen Littleboy is Exec Producer. Ellena is a Producer as well as Director; other Producers are Esme Ash, Polina Borshchevska and Sophie Daniel.

Episode 2 of the series will air on BBC Two on Sunday 3 August at 9:00pm while both episodes are available to stream on BBC iPlayer now. The story also features in the newly launched BBC podcast series THE JESUS ARMY CULT which is available at BBC Sounds.

Noel Stanton, the late founder the Jesus Army. Photograph: BBC/Docsville Studios/John Angerson