Louis Theroux – How We’ve All Grown Up Together.

Watching last night’s Louis Theroux “Talking to Anorexia”, and also the recent trilogy “Dark States”, I’ve been struck by Louis’ transition into serious documentary-maker and more rounded human being.  His emotional connection and sympathy for the people in his documentaries seems to be more visible.  His discomfort and helplessness at their situation is closer to the surface.  The camera close-ups of his facial expressions reveals a depth we may not have seen quite so much when he was younger, because naturally, the life experiences were different. One suspects that because he is a family man now, he might be feeling more paternal, and perhaps wondering how he’d feel if it were his daughter or son.  

When Louis first started out, it was as a spectator of weirdness in all its forms, whether it be people who believed in aliens, or swingers, or survivalists. He immersed himself in the worlds of the participants of the films, in order to better understand where they were coming from.  It wasn’t too long before he started spending time with certain British celebrities who could be described as “eccentric” to say the least.  I’ve covered Savile in another post and so won’t go over it again here, but the films with The Jangly Beast and Max Clifford will of course be seen in a different light now that some of their crimes are public knowledge.  The Max Clifford episode was one I didn’t really enjoy at the time, because of the pointless game-playing that Clifford indulged in.  The films always worked best when there was more warmth between Louis and his subjects.

My father introduced me to the work of Louis Theroux around 2000 or 2001 (even if he did pronounce his name at the time as “Louis Ferrouey” – sorry Dad!).  The episode with the swingers in America was the first piece of work I saw.  That night I had a dream that I was stuck in a room with writhing naked bodies of older, not particularly attractive, people – thanks for that Louis!  I was single at the time and still living at home. 

I would watch the Anna Nicole Smith reality show around that time, the irony escaping me that as I was thinking how sad it was that she was going around with slurred speech hooked on tranquilisers and goodness knows what else, I was also hooked on sleeping pills and the odd Xanax.  I can only guess what Louis would have made of that, had I been a well-known subject of his.  But anyway, I overcame that, and went on to marry and have 2 children.  A few years later, I separated from my husband, and we both formed new relationships with new partners, whom we are still with.  Throughout it all, Louis and his documentaries were there, and he himself was going through his own life changes.

Relationship break-ups and becoming a parent cannot fail to change a person, and hopefully make them grow up, adding more layers to the personality.  Whilst I may not have been a child when I first watched Louis Theroux’s work, I certainly had a lot of growing up to do.  As is the case with most people, the same is probably true of Louis.  As the years went by, Louis was tackling more serious subjects, and becoming somewhat of a national treasure.

Louis seems a lot more comfortable with the spotlight now, even appearing relatively recently with his wife on a celebrity edition of “Pointless”.  It’s something I cannot imagine the Louis of, say, 2001, doing, as well-known as he was even then.  By the way did I mention that his wife Nancy Strang used to follow me on Twitter on my old “Miss Lanor” account? I cringe at the crap posts she would have seen from me, but never mind.  Anyway, Louis was always uncomfortable with being the celebrity himself, only engaging with the press if and when he really had to.  Now, however, he seems to accept that he is well-known and may as well enjoy it.  Whilst he still does not appear to court celebrity, he probably figures he may as well enjoy some of its trappings – he’s bloody well earned it after all, and done his time.

One piece of work he did which was on a subject affecting me, was the one on dementia and Alzheimer’s.  I watched it before my mother was diagnosed, and then after, when it was repeated.  Of course it had much more significance after.  When Louis was left to look after a lady with dementia for the day, whilst her husband went out for a while, he was rather good at it – the distraction techniques he used, and his usual thing of not patronising his subjects, meant that pretty much anyone should be happy to leave their loved one in his care for a day!

Louis and his documentaries have been pretty much a constant in our lives for over 15 years.  He’s changed, and so have we.  In a way, everything has changed for me.  And then, in a way, when my children’s father has them and I’m in my father’s house watching Louis with him, it’s almost a confirmation that some things don’t – the good things.  My father introduced me to Louis, and now my boyfriend/partner also watches Louis with me.  I would not have imagined 15 years ago what my life would be like now – I wasn’t sure I’d still be here to be honest, or even if I wanted to be, at times.  But I’m certainly glad I stuck around, and I’m glad Louis is still making documentaries, with each passing year getting even better, as he matures.  If he keeps going the way he is, I can see him being on our screens for many years to come, and being regarded, as indeed he already is, as one of the greatest documentary makers of our time.

Louis Theroux and Jimmy Savile - "It's Only Obvious if You Know the Answer"

Am I jumping on a bandwagon here by posting about this? Probably, but I write when I have something to say, so I'll say it. Firstly, I was not impressed by today's Daily Fail piece on the "Savile" documentary by Louis Theroux last night, with the headline containing the words "viewers left sickened by....". This piece was adding to the voices of those who imagined that Louis should have seen Savile for exactly what he was, and acted like some kind of hero back in the early 2000s, doing what no-one else had been able to do, and help bring Savile to justice.

It's on record that Louis did report to the BBC that he had seen Savile acting inappropriately with a young woman in a restaurant, but nothing was done about it. How exactly would Louis have been able to help bring Savile down anyway, even if he had been fully aware of exactly the type of monster he was dealing with? The Jangly Beast had evaded police prosecution, had a history of being litigious, and he had obtained Louis' private home address for goodness sake! He also had many friends in high places. What could Louis have done that no-one else was able to do?

It's easy to be an expert with the benefit of hindsight. It's easy to say "Oh I always knew Savile was a wrong 'un and I hated 'Jim'll Fix It'". For some people that statement is genuinely true. But "Jim'll Fix It" had millions of viewers and ran for about 20 years, with no shortage of people writing in and asking for their dreams to be made reality. If the amount of people who say they hated it, really did, then surely it wouldn't have stayed on the air. Let's face it, whilst in later years most of us thought Savile eccentric, we were duped. There's no shame in admitting that. It's on him, not on us. A psychopath might give clues which, with hindsight, were obvious, but generally they are very good at covering their tracks.

Plenty of us have known people who we later found out were capable of horrible things. I myself worked with a man years ago in a well known Irish bank, and he seemed a lovely man. Very mild mannered and inoffensive. A family man. Imagine my shock when, years later, I was reading the paper on my lunch hour in another job, and saw that man's face on one of the pages, with an article underneath it reporting that he had committed suicide because he'd been prosecuted for having child porn on his computer.

As Louis Theroux himself said in the documentary last night "Evil people can do good things". Savile knew how to charm people. I can remember even feeling a bit sorry for Savile in the original documentary, aired back in 2001, as he didn't seem to have any real friends and lived a very solitary life. I even found it funny when he was evading Louis' questions and saying "He's on the ropes!".  I can understand how he must have charmed Louis. Even though Louis had heard unsavoury things about Savile, along with so many others, that is not the same as having proof. Savile was too well connected to be touched anyway. If police forces couldn't bring him down (it's known that he was a suspect in the Yorkshire Ripper case, for instance) , what chance had anyone else got? So for people who pick out various BBC personalities and say that it's all very well admitting after his death that they'd heard the rumours - well what could they have done about it exactly? He would have still gotten away with it even if they reported him. However it came to be that way, the fact was, he was untouchable because of whoever and whatever he was involved with, and there wasn't a hope in hell he was going to be brought down because it would have implicated too many others in high places. Same as another celebrity, still living, that I believe will not be touched until after his death, when it will all come out.

And yes, I liked "Jim'll Fix It". I liked Jimmy Savile as a presenter. And, as hard and horrific as it is to admit it, I thought he seemed good with children and was the best person for the show. I watched things he also presented like "Play It Safe" as well. I'd enjoy it when he'd turn up as a "talking head" on retrospective programmes. In his later years he seemed ever more eccentric, and became more embarrassing, and this did also come across in Louis' original documentary on him. But no, I won't try to sound more perceptive than I actually was, and pretend that I was never hoodwinked by him, because I was. And I don't think there is any shame in me, or anyone else, being in that predicament. A paedophile and psychopath is not going to advertise it are they, except to those they actually abuse. Sure, they'll give clues, and tell us what they are sometimes, but we'll laugh and dismiss it as a joke until it's all come out in the open.

It was before his death that I was told, by a friend of a friend on FB, to Google Savile and Jersey. I did, and then.... well, then I knew. So the revelations after his death were not a surprise to me, except for the sheer scale of his crimes. Since then, I've come to believe, partly from the research done by my friend Thomas Sheridan, that Savile was more of a monster than most people would ever or could ever countenance. Here is a blog to start you all off with, if you want to go down that route, and do search out Thomas' other work on Savile.

So Louis Theroux, I believe, did a good job in the original documentary, and in last night's one. He did what he could do, with the knowledge and perception that he had. Yes, he was charmed to a certain extent (that's on Savile, not on Louis). He is human, not psychic. What is obvious now was not obvious then. So keep on being a brilliant documentary maker Louis - be proud, not guilty.