Louis Theroux - Season 9 / Year 2016
Season 9 / Year 2016
Episodes
Drinking to Oblivion
Louis Theroux spends time at King's College Hospital in London - a specialist liver centre - where he immerses himself in the lives of patients in the grips of alcohol addiction and the medical staff trying to make them better.
Most people associate addictions with illegal substances, but it's alcohol which is the most common addiction in the UK.
Many of us drink - sometimes more than we ought to - but the patients Louis meets at King's are drinking far more than normal, sometimes to the point of self-destruction. Louis explores the effects this is having on the patients' lives and the consequences for their loved ones when drinking loses the social aspect and becomes a potentially fatal compulsion.
It's hard to know why people become addicted to alcohol and why it is impossible for some to stop drinking, even when it is killing them. To outsiders it may seem like an easy decision, but it is nowhere near that simple. Louis spends time with patients and their families as they struggle to find a way out of their addiction to alcohol before it's too late.
A Different Brain
An estimated one million people in the UK are living with the long-term effects of a brain injury. In A Different Brain, Louis takes a look at the issues that some of them have to deal with
Louis spends time with staff and service users at the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust, one of the UK's largest providers of neuro-behavioural rehabilitation, in an effort to understand how individuals and their families come to terms with this life-changing condition.
Often called a 'hidden disability' because those affected can show little physical signs of change, individuals with Acquired Brain Injury face enormous cognitive, behavioural and personality challenges. Those affected are left to reconstruct who they are - from relearning the basics of walking, talking and eating, to redeveloping complex personality and behavioural traits, often in the shadow of who they once were. Family members are often caught between grieving for the loved one they've lost and learning to love the person they are now.
Savile
In light of the unmasking of Jimmy Savile as a predatory sex offender, and 15 years on from the BBC documentary When Louis Met Jimmy, Louis Theroux sets out to understand how a man who was at the centre of British entertainment and charitable fund-raising for decades was able to get away with a long litany of crimes.
In this reflective 75-minute film, Louis talks to some of Savile's victims, to people who worked closely with him, and re-examines moments from the original film as well as footage that's never aired before on television.
In 1999 and 2000, Louis spent about two weeks, spread out over a number of months, filming with the man then merely known as an eccentric and enigmatic television and radio personality with a passion for charity work and an obscure private life. In that original documentary Louis succeeded in showing a different side of Savile, asking him about the rumours of paedophilia, the question of his sexual interests, and stories about his run-ins with the police while running nightclubs in the 60s.
For several years after the show went out, Louis continued to be fascinated by Savile and they maintained a friendly relationship. But the darkest side of this deceptive man eluded him.
Now, to gain a deeper understanding of how Savile was able to use his celebrity status to commit his abuse for decades, Louis meets victims and several people that knew him but have not spoken out in a this way before. Louis attempts to build a clearer picture of how Savile was perceived, both then and now, by those with whom he came into contact, and learn how those that knew him either hold on to their memories or have the task of reappraising that part of their life.
With the power of hindsight, Louis examines his own conscience and raises some challenging questions, to consider how he himself, the press, institutions Savile worked with, and society as a whole can make sense of their failings and learn from the past.
Recently Updated Shows
The Curse of Oak Island
The Curse of Oak Island documents brothers Rick and Marty Lagina as they pursue their lifelong dream of solving more than a 220-year old Oak Island mystery. For over two centuries, teams of searchers, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, have attempted to crack the code that will unearth the treasure believed to be buried on the small island off the coast of Nova Scotia. Armed with the knowledge of those that came before them, the muscle of heavy machinery and decades of engineering know-how, the Lagina's and their partners may be closer than anyone in history to finding the treasure that has so far claimed the lives of six men.
Guy's Grocery Games
In each episode of Guy's Grocery Games, four talented chefs compete in a number of challenges as they navigate their way through the aisles of a grocery store, adhering to "real-world" obstacles. Whether it is shopping on a budget, substituting out-of-stock ingredients or grabbing groceries at closing time, each chef has to shop, prepare, and plate three different dishes using whatever they can pull off the shelves. Ultimately, the food does the talking, as one-by-one the losing chefs "check out," by a rotating panel of judges that includes Melissa d'Arabian, Richard Blais, G. Garvin, Troy Johnson, Catherine McCord, Aarti Sequeira, among others. The last chef standing goes on a shopping spree of a lifetime worth up to $20,000!
Ancient Aliens
Ancient Aliens explores the controversial theory that extraterrestrials have visited Earth for millions of years. From the age of the dinosaurs to ancient Egypt, from early cave drawings to continued mass sightings in the US, each episode in this hit History series gives historic depth to the questions, speculations, provocative controversies, first-hand accounts and grounded theories surrounding this age old debate. Did intelligent beings from outer space visit Earth thousands of years ago?
Travel Man: 48 Hours in...
Joe Lycett takes a ruthlessly efficient approach to travel, covering everything top tourist destinations have to offer in just 48 hours.