The Monastery is a series of
reality television programmes originally made in the United Kingdom in 2005. The
format involves a number of individuals, who are not necessarily religious, spending a period of time in a place of religious
retreat.[1] It has since been copied for UK sequels and in the United States and Australia.
United Kingdom
The UK series The Monastery was produced by
Tiger Aspect for the
BBC, and filmed at
Worth Abbey. It was first transmitted in May 2005.[2]
People
The Abbot
The
Abbot,
Christopher Jamison, and the community of 22
Benedictine monks provided guidance to the laymen. Jamison became well known through the series and went on to make further television programmes.
The laymen
Tony Burke, 29, single and from
London. Worked in the world of advertising and production of television trailers for
sex chat lines. Of the five, it was Tony whose experience on the show was most profound. After the completion of the series, Tony continued to make frequent visits to the monastery.
Peter Gruffydd, 69, married and a retired teacher from Bristol. The published poet wanted to re-examine the faith in which he was raised as a child, having rejected religion in his youth.
Gary McCormick, 36, single and from
Cornwall. Originally from
Belfast, he joined the
loyalistparamilitary group, the
Ulster Defence Association (UDA) at 18 years of age. He claims to have been falsely accused of
fire bombing a shop and vandalising a Catholic home which in turn led to time in prison. Now a committed
Christian who found
God at the age 23. Struggling with alcohol and low self-esteem as a consequence of his troubled past, Gary decided to participate on the show to come to terms with issues prior to marrying his
fiancée.
Anthoney Wright, 32, single and from
Nottingham. Working for a legal publishing company in London, he was raised by his
Baptist grandparents, he was in search of a way to deal with issues surrounding his mother and alternatives to his
hedonistic lifestyle. After the series Anthoney became a practising Buddhist and is now a published singer-songwriter;[5] his debut album Feet on the Ground was released in March 2009.
The BBC commissioned a follow-up episode, The Monastery Revisited, broadcast in June 2006;[6] this was immediately followed by a four-episode series, The Convent, in which four women spent 40 days in a convent of the
Poor Clares at
Arundel;[7][8][9][10][11][12] and The Retreat in 2007, in which a group of men and women lived together in a
Muslim school of prayer.[13][14]
United States
The US version, also called The Monastery, was made by the
Discovery Channel and broadcast on
TLC. It debuted on 22 October 2006 and aired on Sundays at 10:00 pm. In the first season, five men of various backgrounds who were facing personal crises volunteered to live at a
Benedictine monastery, the
Monastery of Christ in the Desert in northern
New Mexico, for 40 days.[15] There was also a series made at Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey in Iowa, but it was never broadcast.
Australia
ABC in Australia made a similar series, The Abbey, in which five women spent 33 days living the life of an
enclosed Benedictine nun.[16]