Louis Theroux's dweebish persona manages to perfectly put his subjects at ease, letting them slowly reveal themselves to the camera. Whether he is speaking to victims of head trauma or members of the Westboro Baptist Church, he treats people as actual human beings, making films that can be times hilarious, or moving, or shocking - and often all three.
And while there might have been a hint of ironic detachment in his earlier
Weird Weekend films from the late 1990s, he has only grown as a documentarian, covering a wide range of both serious and off-beat subjects in recent years, from alcoholism to extreme plastic surgery to high rollers in Vegas.
His films are incredibly rewatchable, and plenty of them are on Netflix. However, there are quite a few that are not available at all at present, either on disc or streaming, outside of the odd re-run on cable.
Thankfully though, the BBC have just uploaded a ton of classic Louis Theroux docs onto iPlayer - meaning that they are free to watch if you are in the UK and have a TV license.
The selection spans the whole of Theroux's career - from his recent
Dark States series, all the way back to
Weird Weekends (and yes, the rap episode is on there!)
Here is the entire list of films
now on iPlayer:
- Law and Disorder in Lagos
- Law and Disorder in Philadelphia
- Weird Weekends: Self-Fulfilment
- Weird Weekends: India: Enlightenment
- Weird Weekends: Whites
- Weird Weekends: Body Building
- Weird Weekends: Looking For Love
- Weird Weekends: Rap
- When Louis Met Paul and Debbie
- When Louis Met The Hamiltons
- When Louis Met Ann Widdecombe
- When Louis Met Chris Eubank
- When Louis Met Keith Harris and Orville in Panto
- Louis and the Nazis
- Louis and the Brothel
- Louis, Martin and Michael
- Gambling in Las Vegas
- The Most Hated Family in America
- Under the Knife
- Behind Bars
- African Hunting Holiday
- Law and Disorder in Johannesburg
- A Place for Paedophiles
- The City Addicted to Crystal Meth
- America’s Medicated Kids
- America's Most Hated Family in Crisis
- Miami Mega-Jail: Part 1
- Miami Mega-Jail: Part 2
- America’s Most Dangerous Pets
- Extreme Love: Autism
- Extreme Love: Dementia
- Twilight of the Porn Stars
- LA Stories: City of Dogs
- LA Stories: Edge of Life
- LA Stories: Among the Sex Offenders
- By Reason of Insanity: Part 1
- By Reason of Insanity: Part 2
- Transgender Kids
- A Different Brain
- Savile
- Dark States: Heroin Town
- Dark States: Trafficking Sex
- Dark States: Murder in Milwaukee
