SEE NO EVIL

* * * * * ‘Chilling’ THE DAILY MAIL

* * * * ‘Immaculately made, deeply harrowing’ THE GUARDIAN

* * * * ‘Remarkable television… a profoundly disturbing but excellent exposé... The storyteling in this documentary is expert and extremely moving’ THE TIMES

‘Extraordinary’ THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

FILMED & SERIES DIRECTED BY: BENEDICT SANDERSON

EDITOR: OTTO BURNHAM

COMPOSER: MAT DAVIDSON

PRODUCER: AMELIA GRIFFITHS

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: KIRA PHILLIPS, HAMISH FERGUSSON

PASSION PICTURES FOR CHANNEL 4, 2025

Part horror film, part investigative thriller, part family drama, this two part feature drama documentary recounts the extraordinary and disturbing story of John Smyth. Masquerading as a moral crusader, this renowned 1980s barrister and Christian minister drew 20 young public schoolboys into a secret & sadistic pain cult, encouraging them to ‘bleed for Jesus’. In 1982 Christian camp leaders & Church of England ministers discovered what was happening., but rather than report Smyth to the police, they covered up the abuse, and encouraged Smyth to leave for Zimbabwe. In Africa, Smyth went on to abuse hundreds of boys, and was implicated in the death of Guide Nyacharu.

The story is told from the perspective of the journalists who exposed the story in 2017, multiple UK and African victims, & John Smyth’s very own family. John Smyth’s wife speaks for the first time.