6 Times Louis Theroux Put Himself In Danger To Get A Story

Sometimes the dangerous moments in Theroux's documentaries come completely out of the blue, though on other occasions, the threats to his safety are more immediately evident. With a title like Law and Disorder Johannesburg Louis' trip to the most populated city in South Africa was always going to include an element of risk for the presenter.

The episode shows Louis journeying through the city, encountering a series of paramilitary-style groups all with their own varying levels of allegiance to the government, from street gangs to private militaries, to official law enforcement.

The first of the enforcers that Louis meets is a man named William Mayangoni who coordinates the activities for a local security firm. Mayangoni demonstrates the ruthlessness required of those involved and describes his organisation in a way that makes it sound more like a protection racket than a law enforcement agency. Later in the programme, Louis is forced to obfuscate his association with Mayangoni when a mob forms looking to kill him because of the degree to which Mayanogi had beaten his prisoners.

Another notable moment from the episode sees Theroux meet a security group known as Bad Boyz, led by a suspiciously Gopnik looking South African named Hendrik De Klerk. His group were responsible for stopping criminals illegally occupying abandoned buildings then extorting rent money out of those left with no option but to live there. Later, while on patrol with the group Louis comes across a man who had been viciously beaten during an incident, with the perpetrator standing over him explaining that he had attacked the man because he felt threatened.

The Bad Boyz waste no time acting as both judge and prosecution and attack the man in an ironic case of vigilante on vigilante justice, soccer kicking him while he lay prone on the ground and pepper-spraying him from point-blank range.