Louis Theroux’s Forbidden America: release date, trailer, and how to watch new documentary series

A new series of Louis Theroux documentaries, Forbidden America, is starting on BBC Two on Sunday 13 February.

The first episode, Extreme and Online, will look at right-wing internet personalities, and how people use the internet and social media to push particular extremist views.

Here’s everything you need to know about Louis Theroux’s Forbidden America.

What is it about?

Forbidden America is a new series, presented by Louis Theroux, about different elements of the rapidly changing culture in the US.

Speaking to Stylist, Theroux said “I started out making programmes in America and made my name there in some respects with Weird Weekends.

“There’s something about the stories there that have this sort of outlandishness – a sort of eccentricity and vibrant colour – while also containing a lot of troubling and toxic themes that felt very different to what I’d been doing.”

“So I thought, let’s go back to America and do one of those sort of slightly weird American cultural stories.”

Who is in the cast?

As with Louis Theroux’s other documentaries, Forbidden America doesn’t really have a cast exactly.

It’s presented by Theroux, who at this point is a very well-known documentarian. You might have seen some of his previous work, like his Weird Weekends series, or his documentaries about scientology, the Westboro Baptist church, or sex work.

One of the people Theroux interviews as part of Forbidden America is the right-wing commentator Nicholas Fuentes, who has a reputation for being too extreme for even the most hardline elements of the Republican Party.

Is there a trailer?

Not a trailer per se, but production company Mindhouse has released a clip of the first episode Extreme and Online. In it, you can see Theroux expressing his typical mild surprise at someone who wants to tell racist jokes.

When is it on and how can I watch it?

The first episode airs on BBC Two at 9pm on Sunday 13 February. It will also be able to stream on BBC iPlayer.

Subsequent episodes in the series will air weekly after that.

Why should I watch it?

Because it’s been a long time since Theroux’s last documentary series, and the return of his particular brand of wry interest always makes for a solidly informative yet entertaining piece of filmmaking.

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