Where to go next must be an increasingly fraught question for Louis Theroux. His early work relied on his being an unknown quantity. Not familiar with his style, his subjects spoke freely, repaying the presenter’s probing curiosity with eye-opening disclosure. The issue he has had for some years now is that everyone knows who he is. That’s Louis off the telly, they think. It’s a kind of documentary quantum problem. Not only do the interviewees behave differently under observation, but they behave differently specifically for Louis Theroux, Britain’s most famous documentarian.
For his new three-part series, Forbidden America (BBC Two), looking at extreme subcultures in the US, Theroux has turned his fame to his advantage. His first subject is the young far right, as seen through some of its most influential bloggers and streamers. These guys – and one woman – hate mainstream journalists, but love publicity, so welcome Theroux in part because he is the famous guy from the BBC. One of them, Beardson Beardly, turns up for the interview wearing a T-shirt with three pictures of Theroux on it. After Theroux shows him footage of him giving a Nazi salute, Beardly terminates the interview in a fury and goes straight down to his studio to broadcast against him. Later another streamer, Baked Alaska, broadcasts Theroux live. His followers make donations. Theroux, as he acknowledges, is part of the show, helping to make them money.
