Top 20 Louis Theroux Documentaries: From Savile and Scientology to Prisons and Painkillers | television

IIt has been almost 30 years since Louis Theroux began producing documentaries for the BBC. Few would have predicted that the goofy character who created his first series, “Weird Weekends” — which threw himself gonzo-style into bizarre American subcultures — would become as famous a public figure as many of the celebrities he interviewed.

With nearly 100 BBC titles under his belt, Theroux is now moving to Netflix. Inside the Manosphere, his first show for broadcast, delves into the world of the men’s rights movement, and explorations of masculinity, in the very Internet age. Ahead of its release on March 11, we’ve selected 20 of Theroux’s best docs to date.

20. Louis Theroux’s Strange Weekends: Survivors (1998)

A fascinating dive into a world where people are preparing for the worst-case scenarios of societal collapse. Theroux gets drunk and sleeps at the house of an environmentalist who lives in an underground bunker, shoots heavily armed right-wing patriots and learns of the plans of the Aryan Nation Church, which is preparing to face a possible invasion from the “New World Order.”

19. When Lewis Met Max Clifford (2002)

Before Clifford was convicted of indecent assault, Theroux teamed up with the famous publicist to explore the dark art of tabloids. Not playing ball, Clifford sets Theroux up with salacious stories by inviting him to a meeting at a dance club, only for the presenter to find himself in the pages of The Sun. It ends badly when Clifford rips off his microphone and walks out, caught in yet another cunning PR stunt attempt. It’s clear that making the show was a frustrating experience for Theroux, but it’s a journey worth seeing nonetheless.

18. Louis Theroux’s Strange Weekends: Rap (2002)

That film, which sees a young Theroux trying to break into the rap game, was the source of his 2022 viral hit, Jiggle Jiggle, based on a song he penned for a rap battle (“My money ain’t jiggle, jiggle, it rollin'”). It also features wannabe gangster rappers, pimps, and industry heavy hitter Master P. “Did you say you were going to perform a proctectomy on someone?” asks a bemused Theroux, about a complex anatomical assault that the rapper raps about at one point, in this fun, slightly frivolous outing from his early years.

17. My Scientology Movie (2016)

Movies about Scientology always face the same problem: access. The church is hostile to perceived critics—as Theroux finds out here when they start hounding him with their own cameras—so he changes tack. It borrows from Joshua Oppenheimer’s film The Act of Killing by employing actors to reenact the disturbing scenarios that allegedly occurred. Stylistically, and as his only feature film to date, it remains a strange anomaly in Theroux’s filmography.

16. A Place for Child Molesters (2009)

Theroux visits a purpose-built hospital housing sexually violent predators, including child abusers. A topic full of challenges and troubling stories, but one that he handles with kindness and sensitivity, opening up conversation rather than simply spewing fiery condemnation.

15. Lewis, Martin, and Michael (2003)

In many ways, this is a failure of the documentary. It sees Theroux running in circles trying to reach Michael Jackson but losing out to Martin Bashir and his infamous documentary. But his attempts to break into Jackson’s elusive world, including a nervously negotiated interview with his father through the singer’s personal magician (a con-like character called the Majestik Magnificent), mean it remains an entertaining undertaking.

14. Because of Madness (2015)

A two-part series set in an institution for people who have committed horrific crimes but have been diagnosed with serious mental illness. Theroux is in fine form as a sensitive but curious interviewer. He asks tough questions about dark situations, and the open, calm, and judgment-free conversations that flow feel like a rare look into minds we rarely hear about.

13. Louis Theroux’s Strange Weekends: Porn (1998)

In 1998, pornography wasn’t as ubiquitous as it is now, so behind-the-scenes peeks into the industry were rare. True to his style at the time, Theroux is playfully looking to make it a star himself. He strips naked to take modeling photos and appear in a gay adult film. The doc is filled with unforgettable characters, both good and bad: from likable young man JJ to nasty provocateur Rob, who ends up in prison. Theroux returned to them in 2012 in Twilight of the Porn Stars.

12. Miami Mega Jail (2011)

A two-part story that delves into the American prison system, Theroux gains access to every part of a sprawling Miami prison, even inside the cells. It houses some of the most “dangerous” prisoners in the United States, a world that is brutal, violent, territorial – and often inhumane – as he shows us.

11. Louis Theroux’s Forbidden America: Extreme and Online (2022)

An exploration of a new generation of definitively online far-right figures, featuring the likes of Nick Fuentes (whose trajectory has since become even more toxic). Theroux has the cameras turned on him — “You hate white people” and “You’re a disgrace,” screams one interviewee who is livestreaming their conversation — but he does a solid job of getting the trolls to respond.

10. A Different Brain (2016)

“Did you support Arsenal before the brain injury?” asks Theroux in a clip that now regularly appears on social media to taunt football fans. But its exploration of living with the long-term effects of brain injury is heartbreaking. In particular, the fractured post-injury relationship between Amanda and Rob—the former moving back in with her family after two years in residential rehab, but never fully communicating with them again—hit home with enormous weight.

9. Louis Theroux’s Strange Weekends: Wrestling (1999)

A fun classic from the early Theroux era, where engagement and playful goofiness were the essence of his style. Visits the World Wrestling Championships A boot camp in Atlanta, Georgia, where hopefuls go to make it happen, looking like an ant in a room full of unicorns. He immediately annoys the head trainer with his naive questions about whether wrestling is real or not, and he is forced to practice until he vomits while screaming: “I’m a dying cockroach!”

8. Dark States: Heroin City (2017)

A devastatingly bleak picture for Huntington, West Virginia, a once-thriving industrial city where one in four adults are now dependent on opioids. Aside from looking at the lives of the people it affects, the program doubles as a powerful indictment of how the profit-focused industry has over-prescribed painkillers leading to a horrific drug addiction epidemic.

7. When Lewis Met the Hamiltons (2001)

A film that was undoubtedly intended as a bizarre romp through the lives of an eccentric couple – former Conservative MP Neil Hamilton and his wife Christine – who go horribly awry when they find themselves accused of sexual assault during filming (which they deny, and the investigation is dropped; the accused is later jailed for perverting the course of justice). Chaos ensues, and a media frenzy ensues, but there’s only one person at the center of it all, with inside access: Theroux.

6. Tough Love: Dementia (2012)

Anyone who has had dementia knows the heartache it can cause. Here, Theroux spends time in an American residential facility for those suffering from the condition, and exploits this pain at near palpable levels. But it is also a film full of love, care, beauty, tenderness and humour, as it unflinchingly depicts one of life’s harshest ills.

5. When Louis Met Jimmy (2000)

Before his disgusting crimes were revealed, Theroux went to stay at Jimmy Savile’s house. Hints of a darker personality, beyond his eccentricities used for cover, are revealed here through confessions of off-camera violence while Savile is still holding his head high. When Theroux brought up tabloid accusations of pedophilia, Savile responded coldly: “How do they know if I am or not? How can anyone know if I am?” Savile’s victims later accused Theroux of being a “dishonest” for failing to question him more thoroughly. It is a wonderful, grim document, but a dark shadow now hangs over it; Theroux revisited the topic in 2016 (Savile) to wrestle with his guilt.

4. The Settlers (2025)

After a series of disappointing — and at times too convenient and friendly — celebrity interviews with Louis Theroux, this ostensible follow-up to 2011’s The Ultra Zionists was a notable return to form. Theroux’s on-the-ground coverage of the growing illegal settlements in the West Bank, and the ideologies that drive them, is painful and frustrating viewing, but it’s a late-career highlight that depicts him at his journalistic best.

3. Lewis and the Nazis (2003)

While spending time with Tom Metzger, the man once called “the most dangerous racist in America,” this feature-length documentary is a firecracker. From an extremely tense confrontation with neo-Nazis, in which Theroux boldly refuses to reveal whether he is Jewish, to his meeting with the Nazi pop duo – made up of twin boys Lynx and Lamb – this is an unsettling dive into the dark side of the United States.

2. Drinking to Oblivion (2016)

Possibly inspired by one of Theroux’s favorite documentaries, Paul Watson’s Rain in My Heart – about alcoholism – here he embeds himself within the hospital’s specialist liver centre. The result is a powerful, eye-catching yet incredibly moving watch. In particular, the torturous plight of a young man battling addiction, Joe, creates a wonderfully emotional story at the heart of the film. Joe’s desperate plea for Theroux to embrace him, as the journalist appears clearly morally torn, remains an indelible moment.

1. The Most Hated Family in America (2007)

The deranged, anti-gay rhetoric at Westboro Baptist Church seems quaint compared to current standards of conservative discourse in the United States. However, before the Netflix era of true crime documentaries and endless documentaries flourished, this film, about a family church in Kansas who like to picket the funerals of dead soldiers, was a sensation when it arrived. A terrifying watch, with incredible reach and almost unbelievable characters, its success spawned two films in a row.