Louis Theroux: Life on the Edge

Louis Theroux looks back at his earliest documentaries and explores how some people's most fervent beliefs can bring them into conflict with mainstream society.

Journalist Louis Theroux looks back at 25 years of documentaries and explores how America has managed to take our darkest desires and commodify them.

Louis Theroux reflects on the documentaries he has made about the American criminal justice system. 

Louis examines how the greatest source of love in our lives – our families – can often be the cause of our deepest pain.

In his trilogy of documentaries centred around the Westboro Baptist Church, Louis explores the price the family was paying for its devotion to the distorted vision of its patriarch, Pastor Fred Phelps. With Pastor Phelps now dead, the family has been torn apart – some of its members are still utterly devoted, whilst others have left, forbidden from ever contacting their families again.

Louis also reflects on how physical and mental health or forces beyond our own control can threaten to derail our family lives. He catches up with contributors from Trans Kids and A Different Brain to see how life has changed since he saw them last.