Louis Theroux has confirmed that his upcoming interview with Pete Doherty will address the death of Mark Blanco.
“I did ask him about the death of Mr. Blanco. And I had the strong impression that he was being truthful,” Theroux told a crowd at a Q&A to promote the upcoming second season of his show Louis Theroux Interviews..., in which Doherty appears.
Mark Blanco died after falling eleven feet from a balcony at the house of Paul Roundhill, an artist and writer close to Doherty, in 2006. His death was the subject of a Channel 4 documentary earlier this year. Titled, Pete Doherty, Who Killed My Son?, it interviewed Blanco’s mother Sheila and explored her 17-year battle to find the person responsible.
“I mean, it's actually quite a long section of the interview… in terms of factually I felt he was truthful. Emotionally, what he said was that he feels that the idea that he had something, there was a case to answer… [with regards to] Sheila, Mark Blanco’s mum, he says he understands that she feels the way any mother would in those circumstances. But that the idea that that Pete had something to do with it is unfair," Theroux said.
Blanco had been drinking before the incident, and allegedly became aggressive towards Doherty, who was a fellow guest, before being escorted out of the flat; he was later found dying on the street outside, having fallen from the balcony. Though neither Doherty nor Roundhill were considered suspects in his death, Blanco’s family are still trying to get the police to reopen the investigation.
The interview will form part of the latest season of Louis Theroux Interviews…, which will be airing soon on BBC 2. Alongside Doherty – a teaser clip for the show showed him walking through the French countryside with Theroux – guests will include boxer Anthony Joshua, Top Boy alumnus Ashley Walters and Dame Joan Collins.
He also teased what else audiences could expect from his interview with the former Libertines frontman. "I was surprised how funny he was... and I would say that maybe I was also surprised by his level of openness," he said.
“With everyone in the public eye, there's some sort of a narrative and… you have to sort of address that. But then for me, the pleasure and the creativity comes from subverting it or disrupting it and challenging it and presenting parts of the story that feel much more surprising.”
In Doherty’s case, that came from exploring the musician's love for UK eighties hip hop artist Derek B.
“Pete recited the whole of a Derek B [track] – it’s not in the programme – [it was] something slightly unexpected. He said that when he heard that Derek B was working as a used car salesman in East London, he went out there to meet [him].
“Something about that felt like – well, we know about the war poetry, we know about The Libertines and the drugs and Kate Moss, but Pete Doherty the hip hop head and Derek B fan feels different.”
With such sensitive material to address, choosing the right guests was a delicate balance. “We consciously choose people who I think I'm going to, in the broadest possible sense, like and feel that what they're doing is kind of positive and laudable,” Theroux said.
“But I also have to take the conversations, I mean a bit like Pete Doherty and Mark Blanco, you know, those are uncomfortable areas that you have to go into… when the guests sign up, I think they realise that you have to sort of take the rough with the smooth a bit. And that's just the way it is.”
