Louis Theroux

Louis Theroux was born in Singapore and moved to the UK where he was brought up in London from the age of 4. He started to get interested in films and how they are made when he went to Magdalen College in Oxford where he gained a first class degree in modern history and was noted for his film reviews for the Grapevine magazine.

In 1992 he was hired as a writer for Spy magazine. He was also working as a correspondent on Michael Moore's TV Nation series, for which he provided segments on off-beat cultural subjects, including Avon ladies in the Amazon, the Jerusalem syndrome, and the attempts by the Ku Klux Klan to rebrand itself as a civil rights group for white people.

When TV Nation ended he found himself being signed to a development deal by the BBC, out of which came Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends. So that’s where he started but that’s not where it all ended for him.

Since starting his career Louis Theroux has managed to take his documentaries mainstream and opened the gate for following documentaries. As well as managing to make documentaries mainstream he has also won many awards as well as being nominated.

Emmy Awards
1996
	Nominated	Emmy (Outstanding Informational Series)
Bafta Awards
2001
	Won	BAFTA TV Award (Richard Dimbleby Award for the Best Presenter (Factual, Features and News))
2002
	Won	BAFTA TV Award (Richard Dimbleby Award for the Best Presenter (Factual, Features and News))
	Nominated	Flaherty Documentary Award (TV)
Royal Television Society, UK
2002
	Nominated	RTS Television Award (Best Presenter)
2010
	Won	RTS Television Award (Best Presenter)

The reason why Louis has done well in his career is because he is never one to shy away from really trying to get to grips with his subject matter and Louis is renowned for getting immersed in the stories he covers. Examples include when he got a role in a gay porn film for one documentary and in another he slept in Jimmy Savile's mother's bed.

The documentary The Most Hated Family In America includes footage of members of the Westboro Baptist Church picketing at funerals of United States soldiers. At the funerals the organisation members hold signs blaming deaths of U.S. soldiers on the country's tolerance towards homosexuality. Westboro Baptist Church members believe that these deaths are caused by God as retribution for the immorality of the U.S. They stated in many circumstances that the soldiers were "struck down by God for fighting for a depraved nation".

They attend the funeral of a soldier Kevin Zeigler who died at the age of 31 while attempting to disable a bomb in Iraq. Referring to improvised explosive devices the Westboro Baptist Church members held signs reading "Thank God for IEDs". Other protest signs carried by the organisation including six year old children read "Thank God For Dead Soldiers", "Don't Worship The Dead" and "Fag Marines", "Royal In Hell Whore"(referring to Princess Dianna), "God hates fags", "Thank God for Dead Soldiers", "God is America's Terrorist" and "Fag Troops". The Westboro Baptist Church members revealed in the September 11 attacks and stated they were punishment for the country's "fornication and lust". The group also protests outside the local synagogue and holds signs which state that, "Jews worship the rectum".

Louis interviews members of the Phelps family including Fred Phelps (called "Gramps" by members of the organisation) and Shirley Phelps-Roper. Louis asks Fred Phelps, "Isn't it an act of presumption, when you don't have all the information about all the other churches, to assume you have privileged access to Grace?” Phelps responded "Oh, I know all there is to know about 'em." When Louis asks him how he knows this Phelps answered "I'm not going to keep on talking to you. I know what you are. You're an evil. I don't even wanna go there. Good luck to ya!”

Throughout this documentary Louis Theroux didn’t really need to use any skills or techniques to air his opinion about what the Phelps family views as they turned every viewer against them themselves through what they said.

However what Louis did do he did excellently, this is him setting them up for a fall. He did this by asking specific questions that he had obviously researched in detail so that he understands and can question them further depending on their answer. Example include when Louis was interviewing “Gramps” and he asked how many children he had. Louis knows that he had disowned two children as they left the church.

Other aspects that Louis could have done is edited the recorded footage by only showing the footage that paints the family in a negative light, even if this is true there is no argument or any possible way of defending them because of what they believed and how they aired their views.

For the Under The Knife documentary Louis travelled to California to explore the obsessive world of plastic surgery. He met those who are desperate for surgery and the surgeons. Whilst in California Louis decided to take the plunge and undergo a procedure himself.

This documentary was just like any other for Louis as he found himself immersed in the story that he was covering. Louis says "I started this film with an open mind about experiencing the world of plastic surgery at first hand. To begin with, I'd thought I might get something minor like botox injections in my forehead but some of the surgeons I met suggested I needed a nose job, and others said I'd benefit from a brow lift. I wasn't keen as I've got rather used to the way my face looks! A leading surgeon then told me I'd be a good candidate for lipo on my stomach and love handles."

By this point, Louis had already met some interesting and intriguing characters but still felt he was experiencing the subject from the sidelines.

Thinking through the offer, Louis explains: "I decided that, with lipo, the worst that can happen apart from the usual risks involved in surgery is you get some lumps under your skin. I felt it a risk worth taking as I really wanted to understand how this kind of surgery can make you feel afterwards, if I'd feel like a new and improved man!"

"In general, I try to get involved in these sorts of stories as a way of understanding the motivations of the people I meet so I can experience what they experience and see if it does the same for me. Hopefully it's also a way of showing that I'm not overly judgemental of their choices, if I can belly up and do it too."

He eventually went through with the procedure and came out the other end feeling very sore and a bit slimming. The surgeon made sure to make Louis feel like he is slimmer now than before. In my opinion this is one reason why the regular patients like the receptionist at the surgery keep going back for more as they get big compliments about how their physique has improved and nudged towards what they should get done next. Right or wrong the surgeon is making big money and regularly down to the naive patients that visit his surgery.