When a young woman in a reclusive British cult has a chance encounter with an outsider, it makes her question whether life within the sect is the best thing for her and her daughter. That’s the plot of Netflix’s new psychological thriller Unchosen – and while the cult in the show is fictional, it’s based on the many real stories of genuine groups that exist in the UK.
The four-parter sees Rosie (Molly Windsor) navigate life within the Fellowship of the Divine – where technology is banned, men and women are separated during work and meal times and any outside literature is prohibited. After her brother-in-law is locked away and tortured for breaking the rules, Rosie begins to question the motives behind her strict, religious cult as her husband Adam (Asa Butterfield) rises up its sinister ranks.
The series is written by Intergalactic’s Julie Gearey, with the story informed by her research into real-life British cults. And it was this authenticity that drew director Jim Loach to the project.
“[Gearey] actually grew up in an area in the south of England where some people at school were going home to mums and dads who were in cults,” he told The Independent.
“I was really fascinated by that, because she’d spoken to people who’d come out of being in a cult about their experiences. I thought there was a huge amount in the script that resonated with contemporary society, and I felt it was a really brilliant time to do a story about people living in a cult.”
Before writing the series, Gearey spoke to people who had escaped cults across the UK, with many left “traumatised” by their time within the groups. While no one she interviewed is depicted specifically in the drama, some of the plot lines were based on what they had told her.
“It was important to reassure them as much as we could that, firstly, nobody watching the show would ever recognise them,” she told Netflix. “And, secondly, that whatever they had to say about the emotional experience of being involved, we would try to respect and reflect as truthfully as possible within the show.”
One true story uncovered by Gearey, about a woman who had been thrown out of a religious sect but missed it, proved to be particularly compelling for Loach, who previously worked on Lockerbie: A Search for Truth and Criminal Record.
“She was forbidden from going back to the meeting hall,” he told The Independent. “So she sat outside to listen to the singing because she missed it, unseen by the other cult members while she listened to them doing their service.
“Some people talked about the positive elements in the sense of community and solidarity and caring for each other. I found that incredibly fascinating – the push and pull between that and the unchecked power, patriarchy and a completely closed society where you’re not really allowed to ask questions.”
In one harrowing scene, Rosie’s brother-in-law Isaac is locked in a room for days and waterboarded with whiskey after being caught with a mobile device. Loach revealed that while this particular instance did not happen to a real-life cult member, former worshippers reported that alcohol was sometimes used as a tool in high-pressure prayer meetings and disciplinary visits by cult Elders.
“That was intense,” he said of filming the scene. “We had to keep reminding ourselves why we were doing that, what the character wanted to achieve and that they believe they’re getting closer to God. I’m not religious at all so putting myself in the shoes of people who are was an interesting challenge.”
While cults portrayed in the media have typically been those based in America, Unchosen’s Gearey found that there are more than 2,000 operating in the UK.
In February this year, three men – who were part of British life-coaching cult Lighthouse – were sentenced to 200 hours of community service for harassing a BBC journalist who investigated the group for a podcast. While in 2024, an investigation found that one in six children within the now disbanded religious Jesus Army cult had been sexually abused, with 539 alleged perpetrators within the UK-based group being identified according to BBC News.
“I’d always assumed that all cults are in North America, and there, they operate with a tyranny of distance,” Loach said. “We don’t really have that here, so they live parallel lives like the folk that were at school with Julie. They’re completely living adjacent and close by but not interacting with others at all.
“I find that so interesting as a nation because the distance is almost psychological rather than in North America’s case, where they are based just hundreds and hundreds of miles out in the middle of nowhere.”
Gearey said that some of the real-life cults in the UK could be “no more than an extended family”. She added: “When society is going through a period of extreme uncertainty – like we are now – that’s when these cults rise up.
“I think there’s a real comfort and support in these groups. You don’t have to worry about where you’re going to live, what you eat, whether you’ve got any friends. It’s a very, very secure social structure… When it works, it really works, but if you start to question their methods… that’s where the problems start.”
At one point, the cast and crew of Unchosen even got a chance to step into the shoes of a cult member. “We shot the big meeting hall scenes in a place that an organisation had left at some point in the past,” Loach said. “In its bone structure, it had something really informative for the piece.
“We reimagined it and filled it with supporting actors, and we had Christopher Ecclestone’s character, leader Mr Phillips, delivering the sermon. They were very memorable scenes to shoot because the building had no windows and only one door – an electric sliding door that sealed the whole place shut.”
He added that it felt “unnerving” to be in that space, and to imagine the power that’s given to someone if “you get 250 people in a room, seal it off from the outside world, you’re not allowed to ask questions or hold people accountable and you put one man in the middle telling us how to see the world”.
“Chris Ecclestone delivers it in such a magical way, you didn’t doubt for one moment he was the leader of this group. It generated its own power in those scenes.”
As for what he’s hoping viewers will take away from the story, Loach hopes people see the parallels between sect life and the modern world. “I think it’s always good when people find the current relevance in society now, where the evidence in front of our eyes is sometimes disbelieved in favour of a blind loyalty to something,” he said.
“Facts and evidence have got to win out in this period of history we’re living in.”
Unchosen is available to stream on Netflix from today.
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