A reminder of why the BBC is great!
In these days of BBC bashing it is good to be reminded of the unique wonders of the BBC. I have just watched the utterly compelling Louis Theroux: Law and Disorder in Philadelphia. Only the BBC has the resources to give someone like Louis the freedom and the budget to create something like this. It is an incredible 60 mins of TV that explores the violence and drug trade that plague one of America’s greatest cities.
Louis‘ previous work has included documentaries focusing on a wide range of fascinating, colourful and sometimes controversial characters. His ‘Weird Weekends‘ demonstrated an ability to get people to talk and tell their story and his style of ‘just being there’ often elicits far more information than a traditional interview ever would. The piece on Philadelphia sees Louis spending months with local law enforcement, riding with them while they are on the job and gaining his trademark “access all areas.” His gift for getting people to talk makes Law and Disorder a deeply human piece of TV, exposing the tragedy of drugs and violence from many perspectives and neither rushing to judgment or suggesting easy solutions. The slightly incongruous sight of a tall, gangly and well -spoken English man talking to gangsters is also highly entertaining!
Good old BBC! I don’t think you would find the commissioning imagination or willingness to commit resources like this on some of the commercial channels.
It’s still available on iplayer if you live in UK.
Agreed, but shame on you for going on and watching this without me . . . I heart Louis!
I heart Louis too and feared for his safety! My mum & I watched it dumbstruck…our beloved home from home!
I know! I was thinking of you and your family as I watched. Killadelphia – nice eh?!
Looking forward to catching this on iplayer. It’s refreshing that he gets to go on these random adventures without having to come to some conclusion or judgment by the end, and he comes across as being genuinely interested in people, unlike Stephen Fry’s recent series.
Louis isn’t a bad writer either, his book Call of the Weird is worth a read!
Make sure you don’t miss Louis- well worth the 60 mins of your life.
Controversial re: Mr Fry. I haven’t seen his recent series, but it appears he has legions of devoted fans out there in cyberspace. Watch out! Someone might throw an encyclopedia at you!