LOUIS THEROUX: A PLACE FOR PAEDOPHILES

Has the change in direction for gawky investigator Louis Theroux worked? His recent work has been a world away from the amusing snoops at fringe culture that made his name, and he continues his serious work with A Place For Paedophiles. Here, Louis spent a few months at Coalinga Mental Institute in the middle of the Californian desert, where hundreds of inmates (referred to as "individuals") are being rehabilitated after serving prison sentences for sex offensives...

Coalinga is a $400 million complex that costs the state $200,000 per year to house each of the 800 individuals detained there (and it can hold 1,500 people.) Considering 70% of them there don't participate in the therapy sessions, it's effectively "warehousing" the majority in a comfortable environment until the day they die. And, while Coalinga resembles a prison in many ways (barbed wire fences, tan-coloured utilitarian uniforms), the interior is not unlike an empty shopping mall -- containing tennis courts, gyms, a baseball field and music rooms. This is clearly because it's not, strictly-speaking, a prison; it's a maximum security hospital and none of the inhabitants are criminals.

Louis meets Mr. Rigby, a convicted paedophile trying to go straight (or is he just pretending to?), with a curious taste in photos of naked male statues and paintings of young ballet dancers that Louis believes look underage. Louis' concern is brought to the attention of Coalinga's staff, and Rigby himself takes it upon himself to contact a New York art gallery to enquire about the age of the people depicted in the painting he has a print of.

There's Mr. Lamb, one of only 13 people at Coalinga ever considered ready to be released into the community (having agreed to be castrated after molesting 50 kids), but so far they've failed to find anywhere suitable. One potential landlord backed out at the last minute when a rattlesnake was left on his porch in protest. The quiet, unassuming Lamb certainly sounds like he's been rehabilitated and doesn't pose a danger to kids, but then you have to wonder why we meet him making a Ferris Wheel out of paper...

Are these men perhaps suffering from arrested development and consider themselves children? Sadly, the documentary doesn't really tackle the mentality of paedophiles, it was more interested in the superficial oddity of a place like Coalinga -- where adults make sugar paper decorations for a Halloween party, then sing the Addam's Family theme tune together, apparently unaware of the lyrical creepiness given their background ("they're creepy and they're kooky, mysterious and spooky...")

And there's Mr. Yahn, a man who refuses to participate in the therapy sessions (which includes wearing a device to measure your erections when shown various sexual imagery), and has exhausted his legal appeals. He will now spend the rest of his life inside, adamant that he doesn't actually have a problem.

The documentary was non-sensationalist and interesting enough, but it was another example of an investigation that didn't really get to grips with anything. It was just a curious tour of a very strange place, that gave the paedophiles quite a sympathetic angle, and Louis looked unsure about how best to tackle the men he interviewed there. Should he confront them about their crimes and elicit some response that might prove cathartic for them, or the viewer? Or should he just interview them gently and see where it might lead?

Louis chose the latter, and most of the sex offenders came across as apologetic, sincere, quiet oddballs. Commendably, Louis did wonder if these men are play-acting, as they must surely be adept at appearing likeable in order to "groom" kids. And, considering only 13 people have actually been released into the community, is that a condemnation of the rehab process (some of the staff were almost as creepy as those they help), or a sign that most people don't want to leave?

Overall, this was certainly a fascinating glimpse into a weird crack of unsettling society, with the bespectacled Louis our unbiased guide. But I can't say it really changed my opinion about the subject-matter, or exposed anything very shocking.


19 April 2009
BBC2, 9pm

LOUIS THEROUX: LAW & DISORDER IN JOHANNESBURG

Louis is back, prying under the dirty fingernails of society. In the final part of his Law & Disorder series, he travels to Johannesburg; a South African city full of slums, where an ineffective police force have given rise to "private security firms", who operate above the law to protect its citizens from criminals. But are they part of the problem?

It's another interesting episode, as Louis meets William Mayangoni, boss of a security firm known as "Mapogo" who patrol the squatter camp of Diepsloot on Joburg's outskirts. Mapogo's methods to maintain order are brutal; capturing suspects and beating them with a "syambok" (leather whip) as a means of administering "medicine". It's corporal punishment as a means of deterrent -- an "African solution to an African problem" -- but the citizens of Diepsloot aren't too happy with Mapogo, and an angry mob forces William to call the real police for protection.

In Johannesburg itself, Louis goes on patrol with a security firm called "Bad Boyz" in the poor suburb of Hillbrow. Hendrik De Klerk shows Louis a bizarre practice called "hijacking", where criminal gangs takeover entire buildings and extort rent from the residents. Bad Boyz are regularly called to flush out a hijacked building, restore order and place the residents under their protection. Louis gets to go inside a building that's been supposedly hijacked, finding destitute families living with no electricity, water or heating inside.

Unlike last week's Philadelphia special (where it was shocking to see a major western city consumed by so much crime), it was less of a surprise to see Johannesburg's lawless streets. This is Africa, after all --a continent divided into safari Heaven and tribal Hell in most westerners' eyes. The situation was worse here than in Philly, but less incongruous.

Louis was his usual self; asking questions like an inquisitive eight-year-old. I'm still unconvinced his presenting style suits his grittier documentaries of late. He's a faintly comic presence whose unbiased, gentle simpleton act seems too laidback in this context. It's a great persona to adopt when trying to endear yourself to has-been celebrities, but the way he tries to make people reflect on their own actions doesn't cut it with hardened gangsters, thieves, killers and deprived people caught in the melee.

Instead, Louis sometimes comes across as a naïve, idealistic foreigner with no real understanding of the situation. It might have been more insightful if Louis had also investigated why the Joburg police are so apparently inept -- underfunding, poor training, a lack of manpower? And what did the government have to say? If they got the cops up to scratch, it might lessen the need for private security firms, and that can only be a good thing. After that, maybe faith can be restored in the police and the crime rate will slowly go down. But I suspect the government officials are either totally disenfranchised, or turn a blind eye to the chaos because it doesn't affect them --but it would have been nice to know for sure.

Admittedly, there are no easy answers here -- it's a complicated, rotten mess, because it's a problem that's been allowed to spiral out of control. Maybe Johannesburg can be pulled back from the brink of total anarchy, but it won't be a quick or easy process, and Louis certainly didn't leave us with any rays of hope.


7 December 2008
BBC2, 9pm

LOUIS THEROUX: LAW & DISORDER IN PHILADELPHIA

Louis Theroux has the look of a gangly alien insect, dropped into a Petri dish of human fringe society. As an unassuming confidant and sly commentator on the weirder aspects of our world, he's in a league of his own. His recent forays into grittier territory (African game hunting, maximum-security prisons) were good, but he's increasingly stepping outside of his comfort zone. Law & Disorder In Philadelphia saw the geeky documentary filmmaker patrolling the mean streets with the city's police; where his doe-eyed stares, odd tranquillity, and non-judgmental manners were ill-equipped to scratch beneath the surface of the issues...

Philadelphia (or "Killadelphia" as one local termed it) experiences 400 homicides, 10,000 aggravated assaults and 40,000 thefts a year. A flak-jacketed Louis got to patrol the city with police escorts, watching them tackle "corner boys" (low-level drug dealers) and hear from various people caught up in the nightmare -- a prostitute who earns $240 a day (which she blows on 24 bags of heroine), and a young woman whose sister and boyfriend were killed in a drive-by shooting. Unlike the majority of people, she's entered the witness protection scheme and is prepared to testify against the gunmen.

The abiding problem appeared to be a tragic lack of community support and spirit. Everyone is fearful of "snitching" on the criminals that infest their streets, fearing they'll be attacked and killed for speaking out. The worrying thing is, they might be right. You can certainly understand their concerns, when just a screech of tyres have young men running for cover, expecting a hail of bullets to follow from a passing car.

Fear is a powerful weapon, and with nobody willing to help the police identify dealers and murderers, numerous cases go unsolved. You can't help those who don't help themselves. The police/citizen relationship is tenuous at best, although the cops seem to have a maddening degree of respect for the criminals -- flicking them peace sign as they drive by. It seems that both sides are numbed by the horror and accepting of the situation. It's all part of the game. One cop muses that he'll retire one day and be replaced by a younger cop, just like the dealers on the streets will be replaced when they grow old or die. It's a never-ending, generational battle of small victories and failures, having no prevailing effect.

Throughout it all, Louis' actions are restrained for safety reasons -- so he sticks close to his cop friends, and was therefore unable to really penetrate the situation. In that respect, the documentary was a big disappointment. It only managed to affirmed our preconceptions of American crime-ridden streets . Thanks to his police escort, none of the witnesses ever opened up to Louis (who looked cold and dazed throughout), although he sometimes chipped away to get at something approaching a truthful answer. Sadly, it was usually about trivial matters, like the price of a diamond necklace worn by an obese, ginger-bearded drug lord known as "Reds".

Still, the picture painted was chilly and vivid: blood-smeared, empty houses used for drug deals, a death on the street where the witnesses fell silent about seeing anything, icky blood splodges on a playground's asphalt after a shooting, etc. Most things could only be shown after the fact, as Louis' team were never "fortunate" enough to find themselves in the midst of a life-threatening situation. There was just the odd hoodlum trying to outrun the cops, being chased and dragged to the floor, where he pleaded his innocence in the face of video evidence to the contrary.

Overall, Law & Disorder In Philadelphia was a reasonably engaging hour that brought an unfamiliar world into British living rooms, but Louis Theroux wasn't the best guide for the subject matter. His gentle style bounced off the hardened criminals and despondent citizens, failing to touch their hearts. Even a simple handshake was out of the question.

I applaud Louis' attempts to explore serious topics, but he looked out of his depth here, and couldn't offer a fresh perspective on the problems (not helped by the fact he was joined at the hip to the Philly P.D.) It may have been to dangerous for a BBC employee to ingratiate himself with the gangs and dealers outright, so maybe that's why Sky1's Ross Kemp On Gangs exists.

Next week: Louis tackles street violence again, this time in South Africa's Johannesburg.


30 November 2008
BBC2, 9pm

LOUIS THEROUX'S AFRICAN HUNTING HOLIDAY

There's a case for suggesting Louis Theroux always targets things that produce immediate reactions from viewers, and that (while still offering insight and a few twists of expectation), his documentaries generally leave people with their opinions reinforced, and only slightly punctured. Still, his documentaries are less about "changing minds", and more about peeking behind the curtains of society -- allowing the world's deluded and dysfunctional to have their say...

African Hunting Holiday saw Louis in South Africa, to meet locals who have created private hunting ranges: fenced-off countryside where wildlife are bred to be hunted by foreign tourists. Americans, usually. Prices start at $100 for a baboon and go up to somewhere in the region of $100,000 for a rhino. Bargain, no?

Louis arrived at one such business (a "Shingani Safari"), owned by hunter Riaan Vosloo, coinciding with the arrival of a group from Ohio on a hunting holiday. The Americans are all eager to take home "trophies" of their kills. Louis meets neophyte hunter Paul, there to bag himself some African beasts, but his wife Ann-Marie seems only half-interested in the experience – telling herself the dead meat will be put to good use; sold or used to feed locals.

Louis also meets part-time vet Lolly Furie (who owns a 3,000 acre hunting range) and animal breeder Piet Venter. Both old timers don't allow guns to be used -- as the noise causes distress to the animals -- so insist all hunters use bows. These two have a kinship with their animals (Lolly won't allow his graceful giraffes to be hunted at all), and Piet is adamant the operation benefits everyone: the locals have jobs, foreign hunters satisfy their bloodlust legally, and "canned hunting" has actually saved species from extinction.

Days into Louis' investigation, Ann-Marie has started to develop the urge to kill herself. She admits it's primarily down to peer-pressure and feelings of isolation on the trip -- being the only one without blood on their hands. But she won't kill zebra, as they look too much like horses. Ann-Marie takes aim at a group of impala drinking at a waterhole, and fires a bolt through one animal's heart and lungs. It's an excellent shot for a beginner ("lots of blood!"), and Ann-Marie seems overwhelmed and excited by the adrenaline rush.

For Louis, it seems clear that standing on the sidelines and making judgments on hunting isn't fair. As the hunters say; to understand it, you need to do it. Intrigued by the change in attitude of Ann-Marie, Louis takes aim at a warthog from inside a camouflaged hut. His rifle is trained on one unsuspecting pig, but he just can't pull the trigger. He leaves, feeling slightly "wet" because he lacked the killer instinct.

The best moment is reserved for the end (naturally), when Piet gives Louis a guided tour of a large barn where he breeds animals in captivity to sell them for hunting. Piet, fed up with Louis asking the same basic questions about the morality of hunting, finally explodes into a passionate speech about how it’s easy for outsiders to condemn what they do, but there's no other way South Africans can make money…

Outsiders may cringe at the idea of bloodsports, but isn't it more to do with how the killing process (which feeds billions of people every day) isn't kept out of sight behind abattoir doors here? Sure, it's a sport for rich tourists – but it's the only way to make decent money, and the demand for animals to kill has paradoxically been the salvation of many endangered species.

There are no easy answers here. While I still think hunting is a bad thing (especially when the hunters have so much advantage – so, it's like shooting fish in a barrel), I can understand why it happens. I have no problem with animals being killed to feed people, but it's unfortunate that people still find pleasure in killing animals. A sad hangover from the days of cavemen.

Still, all of the South African hunters came across quite well, and were far from the blood-crazed opportunists I was expecting. If they could make more money from activities that didn't require animals to die, I'm sure they'd pursue it. It all comes down to money, and it's very easy in the western world to condemn hunting poor, defenseless, cute animals… while biting down on a Big Mac…


6 April 2008
BBC2, 9.00 pm

LOUIS THEROUX: BEHIND BARS

San Quentin, San Francisco; home to 3000 dangerous convicts, all holed-up in what looks like a giant, white sandcastle. Quite fitting, as one criminal insists the place is "like a playground", as he's about to start 50+ years in the notorious, yet amusingly-named, Badger Section.

Louis Theroux has 2 weeks to investigate San Quentin and its clientele, starting in "the hole" (a segregated area where prisoners are locked-up for 23 hours a day), where he meets "Playboy" Nolan – a white carjacker who's in the hole for "gassing" guards (throwing liquid at them – urine, usually).

For 2 hours, twice a week, everyone is let out into "the yard"; a place with more school connotations, where gangs cluster together in their uniform of orange jumpsuits. Louis meets the Aryan Brotherhood, and is surprised when a 19 year old kid doesn’t seem phased by the prospect of doing 38 years inside, and coming out in his late-50s.

Maybe it's because it's "too easy to do the time" as one convict says at the Receiving & Releasing area, where prisoners are processed in and out. But is it really a walk in the park, or is everyone Louis talks to simply putting on a brave face?

One of Louis prison officer "guides" confirms the best way to get through San Quentin is to stay strong and show no signs of weakness, lest you become a target for "gangbangers" (men who puppet-master convicts into doing their bidding.)

Breakfast time. The prison feeds 2000 inmates in 2 sittings, and Louis is there eating the gruel that passes for food. So far everyone seems very open to Louis, who always presents himself as a well-spoken, interested, non-judgemental ear for people. Even two members of the Barbarian Brotherhood seem happy to break bread with him, although they remind Louis that if he should dare take any of their food, it will be taken as a gross insult and he'll be beaten up later.

That sounds harsh. But Louis is quickly realizing that prison has its own rituals and rules, where the tiniest indiscretion isn't tolerated. However, one person who has been tolerated enough to find love in San Quentin is transsexual Bradley/Deborah, who shares her cell with partner Robert -- a slim, long-haired man. It's never made clear if Robert is bisexual or gay, which left me with the feeling Robert may just be so starved for sex, that anything approaching femininity is welcome.

So far, while San Quentin certainly won't be number 1 on anyone's holiday destination list, it's not quite the hellhole I'd been expecting. It's probably because Louis and his camera crew are continually escorted by guards, and treated as novelties by the inmates, but Louis' next step is to take us to Carson Section – to meet David Silva, one of the most brutal convicts serving time.

But again, David is far from a Hannibal Lecter figure. A notorious "home invader", who tortured victims for information (but never killed anyone – although some "hoped for death"), David was a stocky guy with a goatee and neck tattoo, but not unlike the resident meathead in most pubs across the country.

Next, it's off to Alpine Section, an area where prisoners are segregated for their own protection. Outside, in a large recreational area full of gang drop-outs and paedophiles (but mostly the former), Louis walks through with Officer Gladson.

It's full of the usual unsavoury-looking characters, but Gladson and Louis weave through the crowd with no problems, finally arriving at a huddled Bible study group and meeting a creepy man who insists he was "tormented by demons" once. Unlike everyone Louis has met so far, he's too ashamed to even say what his crime was, which makes him far more unnerving than those with misplaced pride in their crimes.

Rather bizarrely, the whole yard of men then drop to the floor, as if on cue. Gladson quickly leads Louis out of the pen, with the mood suddenly changing and prisoners shouting abuse and insults their way. Afterwards, Louis is told a prison guard fired shots in East Block, and the prisoners were all ordered to hit the ground as a precaution – marking the show's first real sense of danger.

Dinner time. Louis is eating with two more people already on the fringe of society: gay man Chris Mitz and transsexual Dedee. Interestingly, Chris has taken to wearing mascara inside, to enhance his femininity. It apparently helps prevent men beating him up, as they don’t perceive him as a threat, and would take no pride in hitting a "girl".

Chris is another man who has found love inside, with his partner Ronnie. In one of the show's most memorably crazy revelations, heavy-set Ronnie admits he was once a white supremacist Nazi, which makes his relationship with white, gay, Jewish Chris all the more eye-opening. But perhaps even stranger is the fact 38-year-old Ronnie is married with 2 kids!

With his fortnight drawing to a close, it was time for the customary Louis Theroux wrap-up. He met up again with Playboy Nolan, now a marked man and a target for gang reprisals, locked up in the special "Walkalone" cages outside. Any convicts in here are known as "rats" and considered the lowest of the low, although Nolan seems to be treating everything very light-heartedly.

At the Receiving & Releasing section, 27 prisoners are about to get their freedom. It should come as welcome relief for them, but instead Louis has realized that most of these men can't function in the real world and prefer the "playground" of prison. A guard on duty suspects that over half of them will be back inside within months.

Deborah is one of the lucky 27 getting her freedom, but David Silva will never know freedom again. He's so institutionalized, he stands as if handcuffed just out of habit. David says he feels remorse for his crimes, but will mentally adjust to life inside by lowering his horizons. He insists you can make a life for yourself behind bars, where you have a roof over your head and free meals. The only thing he'll miss is true freedom... and women.

We left the show with Louis walking through the grim prison, out into the beautiful California sunshine. A free man. It had been an interesting documentary, as you expect from Theroux, although it didn’t deliver any big revelations.

Prison subculture is a topic that's been tackled many times before, by various documentaries, and I'm not convinced you get a proper insight if you just wander around with visible cameramen. That's why books written by ex-cons are generally more interesting and compelling, if obviously narrow in their viewpoint.

But still, the self-feminising by gay men, some inmate/guard "friendships", unlikely romances, and the reasons why prisoners continue to offend, were elements of prison life Louis Theroux got over very well. As one prison officer neatly summarised near the end: "In the prison, you're somebody; outside on the street, you're nobody."

An interesting, amusing, unsettling, and entertaining documentary.


13 January 2008
BBC2, 9.00 pm

LOUIS THEROUX: Under The Knife

"Who's been telling you, for 10 or 15 years, you're an ugly bastard?"

In this day and age, a documentary on plastic surgery has its work cut out. No pun intended. The revolution in cosmetic surgery has been with us for decades, but was particularly prevailant in the 90s, as reality TV brought face-lifts, tummy tucks and boob-jobs into our homes via the boob tube.

In 2007, the average TV viewer has practically been in an operating theatre and scrubbed up, thanks to unflinching live footage of real ops giving us an armchair view of the gross reality behind Pamela Anderson's famous assets.

Louis Theroux, that gangly purveyor of society's extraordinary, returned last night with Under The Knife, another of his occasional documentary films. Could Louis unearth some interesting new facets to this surgery for the vain, psychologically damaged? Well, no; not really. But his amiable tour of some people's pursuit of physical perfection was very entertaining, nonetheless.

It's patently obvious why people decide to get their boobs enlarged or have fat sucked out of their stomachs: it makes them feel better about themselves, quickly. Well, until they realize their new, iron-board flat stomach looks ridiculous with 34C boobs -- so it's back to the surgeon for extra enhancement to correct that oversight. A fool and their money, eh?

Dr Stuart Linda ("the Picasso of breasts") was the first surgeon Louis met; a grinning, upbeat guy whose receptionist, Adrianna, seems to get staff discount in his operating theatre. Adrianna already has a stomach like a slab of fleshy-plastic, thanks to her boss -- complete with a below-the-trouser-line scar and "a new belly-button" that looks like someone stitched it on using a scrap of brown felt. She's already scheduled to get her "parrot nose" straightened and left breast raised.

Then we met Dr Nicolas Chugary, whose face resembled a stocking full of conkers. His specialist is "body-sculpting", which basically means sticking a load of implants in people's bodies to give them the "Arnold Schwarzenegger look" -- circa Terminator, not Terminator 3.

Step forward German-born Adrian Davidson (real name Adolph, and that's not the only thing he's changed since arriving in the US.) Poor Adrian seemed like a nice guy, but has convinced himself the answer to middle-age spread is making your chest look like buttocks.

A more traditionally odd "victim" of these surgeries was 50-year-old Steve Earhart, who resembled a character from The Dark Crystal with sunburn. But I have to admit, he didn't look 50 -- thanks to the wonders of modern surgery, he instead looked like a particularly sinister 40-year-old. So, money well spent.

Taken in isolation, Steve's altered features looked okay, but it's the overall picture that becomes a mess. And therein lies the problem with corrective surgery on people: humans aren't meant to be symmetrical and perfect. Unless your name's Jessica Biel.

Laura Noblin clearly didn't agree, as she's already spending $2,000 a day on a personal image consultant called Eva. Eva's the kind of overpaid nodding dog who earns her fee by applauding any vaguely upbeat comment Laura makes, then squealing "yayyyyy".

Far from being ugly, Laura was just normal and slighly frumpy. Some make-up and better clothes would have sorted her out, really... but, having recently split from her longterm boyfriend Brian, she assumed it must be a physical thing. After being used as a human drawing board (the doctors take this "artist" parallel way too far), Laura was injected to numb incision areas, had her fat sucked out of her stomach, and her brow lifted.

For all its interesting personalities and amusing/freaky scenes, Under The Knife was clearly failing to tell us anything we didn't know already. Louis does a good job at chipping away at people's tough veneers, getting them to reveal the true reasons behind their decisions, but nothing was really surprising us...

Until Louis decided to undergo some liposuction himself, on his moderately fatty stomach...

Our geeky hero was soon stripped bare (with a surgical "codpiece" keeping his modesty), scribbled on by the Rolf Harris of cosmetic surgery, injected with tumescent fluid, and had his fat scrubbed out with a thin poker-like implement. Louis is a pretty reserved guy, but his pre-op sigh spoke volumes!

After the 45-minute procedure, resulting in a bag of luminous orange fatty custard, Louis was squeezed into a corst to prevent seepage and sent on his way.

The need for 3 months of press-ups and gym sessions were gone in under 1 hour! I think Louis missed a trick in not mentioning the other benefits of physical exercise, beyond simply losing fat -- like combating heart disease, improving circulation and general wellbeing. But never mind.

As the documentary drew to a close, Louis caught up with some of the nip-tucked: Adrian was happy with his latest body-sculpt, despite it resulting in a gap between his chest muscles the width of Arnie's bicep; while Laura, admittedly, looked sexier. She even managed to woo back her shallow boyfriend Brian live on camera... awww. I give it 2 months before Brian starts suggesting she get bigger breasts -- y'know, to help with her confidence. Yayyyyy!

Under The Knife reached its conclusion with the new and improved Louis running along a beach, a whole trouser-size slimmer. He said he felt guilt about taking a cosmetic shortcut to physical improvement, as if he'd somehow lost a little part of himself. Literally!


7 October 2007
BBC2, 9.00 pm

LOUIS THEROUX: The Most Hated Family In America

1 April 2007, BBC2

The wonderful Louis Theroux returned with another instalment of his occasional documentary series last Sunday night. This time the subject was the Phelps clan, the titular "most hated family", who head up the Westboro Baptist Church of Topkeka, Kansas.

The 71-strong membership regularly picket the funerals of US soldiers and homosexuals, gay pride marches, and wave placards with "FAGS EAT POOP" and "GOD HATES YOU" at road corners. Needless to say, they're not popular in their community.

The Church was formed by preacher Fred Phelps (known as "Gramps"), who passed on his unconventional beliefs to his thirteen children and their grandchildren.

In an unusual twist of expectation, the Church's members are a fairly nice bunch of people, particularly the teenage girls. Their religious activities may be controversial, but they form a close-knit family unit away from their picket lines. As Louis later mused, they preach hatred and face hated in return, so the only refuge they find is in each other.

But the negatives far, far outweighed any positives. You could sense compassion struggling to come out of the kids involved, particularly when Theroux pushed the issue of friends and dating. It seemed everyone had been brainwashed into considering themselves far too busy campaigning to ever date or marry. It was particularly odd because surely marriage (and certainly procreation) is integral to the Church's future, which only thrives because of family offspring.

Fatalism is a big part of the Chuch's belief system; meaning they celebrate whenever people die of illness or in accidents, because this is just God killing sinners. Louis discovered he's guilty of a sin himself (having had a child out of wedlock) and will therefore go to Hell.

As you'd expect, the adults were more obstinate in their views than the kids, continually brushing off Louis' attempts to appeal to their better natures. Shirley, a fortysomething mother of eleven, was particularly dismissive of these tactics, hitting back with graphic descriptions of burning in Hell. Louis did manage to expose one man's ignorance of The Bible, by shooting down a number of his beliefs and revealing hypocrisy -- like their blanket hatred of all Jews when Jesus himself was Jewish.

Of course, the serpent's head was "Gramps", a hateful grouch who started the Church and has cultivated his beliefs amongst his family for decades. Mr Phelps clearly has anger issues and refused to answer many of Louis' questions that would reveal his own ignorance.

It was a very interesting documentary, with more to say on its subject than I thought possible. I actually felt like reaching into the television and giving some of these people a slap at times, which is always a good sign that the topic has you in its grasp. It staggers me just how patient Louis Theroux is in these situations. Almost saintly, you could say...

Overall, it was a clear case of a bitter man twisting scripture to suit his own moral code, preaching it to a captive family audience, then sitting back and watching it grow into a profitable business (everyone gives him 10% of their earnings) whilst stroking his ego as numero uno.

It will be interesting to see what happens to the Westboro Baptist Church when Gramps shuffles off this mortal coil, although I suspect it will only strengthen their resolve. As history has shown us, believers always grow more devout once their leader become a "spiritual" figure.

There were subtle signs the third generation are beginning to question the poison that's been poured into their ears since birth, but it remains to be seen if any of them will make a stand against Gramps' teachings. It would mean cutting themselves off from their family and everything they've ever known. Forever.

Four of Gramps' thirteen children did leave the group, forever cast into the wilderness, and probably all the better for it. It was a shame Louis didn't track any of these "escapees" down for a chat, but the documentary made its point regardless.

LOUIS THEROUX - GAMBLING IN LAS VEGA

4 February 2007, BBC2

Last weekend saw the overdue return of affable documentarian Louis Theroux, with a look at glitzy Las Vegas; that oasis of greed in the Nevada desert. It may have been expertly timed to coincide with the launch of Britain's first super casino in Manchester, but I'm not sure it revealed much we didn't know already...

Louis has been doing this sort of thing for years now, first making a name for himself in 1999s Weird Weekends; giving a voice to Neo Nazis, porn stars, racists, survivalists, swingers, etc. It wasn't long before he started befriending kitsch celebrities in When Louis Met... Jimmy Saville, Chris Eubank, Neil and Christine Hamilton, Paul Daniels, Keith Harris, etc, in an amusing and revealing insight into eccentric celebs.

Gambling In Las Vegas was Louis' first TV project since 2003. Even after a three-year absence, he remains a brilliant neutral observer of society's outskirts, able to win the trust of his subjects by employing child-like naivety. Is there anybody else who can say so much by saying so little? Las Vegas treated us to a few patented Louis stares that would make Medusa proud, imparting both sympathy and disappointment with punishing silence.

To be honest, Gambling In Las Vegas didn't reveal much we didn't already know, or expect, about the gambling capital of the world. You see, it turns out gambling is an addictive passtime that preys on the weak-willed, who da thunk it, hm!?

Most of Louis' subjects seemed to have limitless funds, happy to fritter away thousands on random games of chance. When high-rolling Toronto businessman Alan eventually walked away $300,000 lighter, he probably thought it was worthwhile just for the earlier thrill of winning $500 on a slot-machine.

But even Alan's loss was negligible compared to Martha's, an old lady spending her retirement chain-smoking and playing one-armed bandits. The deluded old dear's lost $4 million in 7 years. To cap it all, she seemed genuinely pleased that her late husband's memorial service was held at the casino, as it was "free of charge", saying: "It was the most beautiful thing you ever saw in your life. It didn't cost me one penny". Oh, those generous casinos...

As Louis pointed out, her middle-aged son's inheritance is taking quite a battering because of her habit, but she's blinkered into wasting the family fortune on the hope of a jackpot win. Her son seemed resigned to the situation, although I hope for his sake he smuggles some of his dotty mum's fortune away somewhere.

One intriguing aspect focused on employees of the Hilton, who act as Hosts to the richest players. Their job: to make sure these suckers spend as much time as possible at the tables. One such man, Richard Wilk, admitted that if a client hit a disastrous losing streak, his conscience would only spread to suggesting a meal break.

I'm sure Louis and his team were disappointed by the lack of tragic tales to be found on The Strip. People generally seemed aware of the pitfalls to gambling, but unable to stop themselves. Perhaps Louis shouldn't have targeted millionaires with money to burn. We never got a clear sense of each subject's wealth, so it's possible they were philosophical on-camera while contemplating suicide behind closed doors... but that's all conjecture. Regardless, I have little sympathy for fat cats shovelling hundred dollar bills into slot-machines at a rate of knots.

There were a few moments that showed everyday tourists, drawn to Vegas for the thrill of living out their fantasy. In one telling moment, a gambler was reminded it was 5:30 in the morning, only for him to insist he'd be staying up for a few more hours in a zombified tone.

Las Vegas eventually culminated with Louis' own gambling experience. Armed with three grand of his own cash, Louis tagged along with "Dan The Man" at a baccarat table. He won, leaving with $4,500 and a wide grin on his face. It's easy to be derogatory and superior about gambling addicts... but just wait until you're playing and winning yourself, eh?

Louis ended the show by deciding we're the "willing victims" of casinos, persuaded to play, but hardly arm-twisted. Many of the players have travelled thousands of miles to try their luck -- nobody forces them to come. I guess some of us just know when to quit and go home...

While Louis Theroux's Las Vegas adventure didn't surprise or challenge my perceptions of that vacuous place, his friendly style, affable nature, open questioning and muted stares pricked enough holes in those involved to make it worthwhile. The overall message was mixed, but it was entertaining to see unfold.

Not as jackpot, but worth a punt.