Louis Theroux looks back for BBC2

BBC Two has ordered Louis Theroux: Life on the Edge (w/t), a four-part series looking back at the filmmmaker’s body of work spanning 25 years, and over 60 hours of documentaries on British television.

The series will feature interviews with Theroux, as well as new conversations and catch-ups between him and some of his most notable contributors – many of whose stories have since unfolded in unexpected ways. Theroux has also plundered his own home movie footage and news archive to tell stories about human psychology, the myriad of ways in which people behave or deal with adversity, and how the world has changed over the last three decades.

Louis Theroux said: “For years I’ve wanted to go back and make sense of the programmes I’ve made, find out what happened to some of the contributors, update their stories, and see what all these many hours of making TV might add up to. Lockdown gave me the time and space to do this. It’s been a strange and fascinating couple of months working on this, and especially fun to dig through old episodes of Weird Weekends – programmes I made in the mid-nineties, when the world was a very different place. I’m really proud of what we’ve been able to do with this new series. I think we’ve been able to make the whole add up to more than the sum of the parts and to bring out surprising themes and commonalities. And, if nothing else, it was an interesting review of how my haircuts and glasses have changed over the years.”

Emma Loach, Commissioning Editor, said: “Underpinning Louis’ journalism is a personal touch to his documentaries – an ability, using humour, to get past people’s outer layers and to discover their underlying vulnerability, grief and humanity. This personal, introspective series will allow viewers to see Louis as they’ve never seen him before as he reflects on his fascinating and varied career.”

Louis Theroux: Life on the Edge (w/t), a 4×60’ series, was commissioned by Patrick Holland, Controller, BBC Two and Clare Sillery, Head of Commissioning, Documentaries, History and Religion. The Commissioning Editor is Emma Loach. The Executive Producer is Arron Fellows, and the Series Director is Tom Barrow. It is made by Mindhouse Productions.