10 Louis Theroux Documentaries You Need To Watch Before You Die
6. When Louis Met… Chris Eubank
After the success of his US travels for Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends, Theroux returned to the UK for his next series When Louis Met… and produced an oddly visionary early attempt at reality TV.
The series, which followed Theroux as he spent time shadowing a popular British ‘celebrity’, has plenty of stand-out moments. However, the episode featuring retired professional boxer Chris Eubank is truly one of the most bizarre TV episodes ever broadcast.
From accompanying Eubank as he drove around the Brighton seafront in his seven-tonne truck to watching him be comically eviscerated on the popular sports panel show They Think It's All Over, Theroux paints a riveting picture of one of Britain's most eccentric sporting heroes.
Against the backdrop of this strangeness, Theroux's attempts to separate Eubank's carefully crafted public persona from his day-to-day life provide some of the documentary's most compelling moment.
These attempts come to a head during a bizarrely heated exchange between the two over Eubank's consumption of alcohol.
Whilst throughout the documentary Eubank professes to be teetotal, Theroux confronts him with a hotel bill which clearly shows he had been drinking champagne the previous evening. This leads to an odd explanation about his views on endorsing alcohol to children whilst also arguing against the seemingly blatant evidence.
Although the entire When Louis Met... series is certainly deserving of a watch, this episode is a particularly brilliant piece of documentary filmmaking.