On the TVNZ website, the documentary producer and director, Amanda Evans said production company Pacific Screen had cultivated a relationship with the secretive community over many years.
"Viewers may well find aspects of life here hard to understand or accept. However there's no denying the extraordinary things the community is able to achieve as they work together bound by their strong faith and a really strict set of rules. In 21st century New Zealand there's nothing quite like it."
In an opinion piece in today's New Zealand Herald, Paul Casserly (who directed satire current affairs show Eating Media Lunch) called the documentary makers' choice to put aside awkward questions about leader Neville Cooper's (now Hopeful Christian) criminal convictions "a delicate dance that easily sashays into propaganda."
The show was the second of a three-part series, which received $459,033 through NZ On Air.
Last night's episode used $170,000 of the total. The first part of the series, Gloriavale: A World Apart, aired in July 2014 and cost $119,033.
Just over 11% of New Zealanders aged over five watched last night's show, according to Nielsen data, compared to just 224,700 (5%) who tuned into TV One's Indian Summers and 254,900 (6%) who watched The Heat on TV3.
HOW IT RATED:
TV One: Indian Summers, 8.30 - 10pm
5+ 224.7 (5.3%)
25-54 64.9 (3.5%)
TV2. Gloriavale: Life and Death - 8.30 to 9.30
5+ 476.5 (11.3%)
25-54 217.2 (11.7%)
TV3. The Heat 8.30 - 10.50pm
5+ 254.9 (6.1%)
25-54 153.9 (8.3%)
Source: Nielsen
