Filmmaker Louis Theroux – whose most recent project was big screen documentary My Scientology Movie – is heading back to the BBC with three new films.
Despite having shown an interest in making a documentary about US President Donald Trump, Theroux will next tackle the topics of murder, sex trafficking, and opiate dependency in America. The episodes Murder in Milwaukee, Sex Trafficking Houston (working title) and Opiate City will air on BBC2 later this year.
“I immerse myself in some of the most dysfunctional and disturbing aspects of American society,” Theroux told The Independent. “They combine hard-hitting actuality with intimate interviews.”
“I have been granted access to the police in several states; I've got to know the people affected by crime; and I've also spent time with the perpetrators of crime, with the idea of understanding the causes of it, both on a systemic level and also in a very personal way.”
As its name suggests, Murder in Milwaukee will deal with homicide in the Wisconsin city, a place with a murder rate 12 times the national average. It’s also an area of fraying relations between the African-American community and the police following two shootings and Theroux will be following both sides to get the full picture.
Sex Trafficking Houston will explore the lives of the prostitutes, pimps and law enforcement within the city, which many consider to be the country’s core centre of sexual exploitation.
And finally, Opiate City will investigate how the USA's crackdown on over-prescribed painkillers has lead to an epidemic of heroin abuse in Huntington, West Virginia.
BBC2’s Channel Editor Patrick Holland also told the Independent: “This is so exciting. It is always a real event to have a new series from Louis on BBC2. This trilogy promises to be hugely timely and challenging, it has never been more important to engage with the forces shaping modern America.”
