This delicate, remorseless documentary looks at the apparent coercion, isolation and bullying of the members of Lighthouse – an organisation that made millions from its devotees
You might hope – briefly, and only if you hadn’t been paying attention to the world – that a programme called A Very British Cult was a sitcom, set in the suburbs, based around a sect designed as a cover for a deeply unattractive man to have sex with other people’s wives in a cul-de-sac. But alas, as is so often the case with optimistic interpretations, you would be wrong. A Very British Cult is a careful, delicate, remorseless investigation and anatomisation of the real suffering seemingly caused by an organisation known as Lighthouse.
Journalist Catrin Nye takes us through it step by step. First we meet the people who are willing to go on camera to talk about their experiences. There is Jeff, who was full of ambition but lacking direction when he crossed paths, during a self-improvement webinar, with a man called Jai Singh who was with Lighthouse and offered him personal mentorship. Singh told Jeff that he was very open, very teachable and had a great work ethic, and under his guidance Jeff did learn to speak and write better than before. It seemed only sensible to sign up for the £10,000 “Discipline programme” for a year of more intense mentoring. And to “invest” £25,000 after that to become an associate member and gain better access to the revered founder of the movement, Paul Waugh.
