The Elon Musk Show: BBC Two release date of Tesla billionaire documentary - trailer, and how to watch

Elon Musk has been in the news a lot recently - whether he is weighing in on the war in Ukraine, trying to buy social media platform Twitter, or sharing cryptic memes, he is never far from the headlines. Now, a new BBC documentary series sheds light on his past, and tries to uncover the real Elon Musk.

The Elon Musk Show speaks to the people closest to the world’s richest man, South African born techn entrepreneur Elon Musk. The series will explore how Musk made his money, and the financial problems he and his company had to overcome on his journey to the top spot.

What is The Elon Musk Show about?

The Elon Musk Show features interviews with important people from the billionaire’s life including his two-time ex-wife, actress Talulah Riley, and his mother, Maye. Others who feature in the series include former colleagues Dolly Singh, who worked as head of talent acquisition at SpaceX, and George Blankenship, the former Tesle VP.

The series also uses archive footage alongside these candid interviews to trace Musk’s journey from growing up in a wealthy family in South Africa, to becoming the CEO of a several hundred billion dollar company. The documentary begins in 1995 at the start of Silicon Valley’s technological boom - ewhere Elon and his brother Kimbal try to carve a niche for themselves in the early days of the internet. During this time, Elon is sleeping on the floor of his office to save money, but he will go on to make an unimaginable fortune.

They sold their first tech company for millions, but during this period of early success, the board of online bank company X.com, Musk’s next venture, voted to remove him as CEO. The series also follows Musk in the wake of the 2009 financial crash, and his battle to save his ailing electric car company Tesla at the same time as his other company, SpaceX, is taking off.

Who is Elon Musk?

Elon Musk, 51, is a tech entrepreneur who grew up in South Africa - his father Errol. Is a former engineer, politician in the anti-apartheid Progressive Party, and half owner of a large Zambian emerald mine. His mother, Maye, is a model and dietician. Musk also has a younger brother,Kimbal, and younger sister, Tsoca.

Musk moved to Canada when he was 17, and then to California in 1995 where he pursued a business career in the midst of the Silicon Valley boom. He is the founder, CEO, and chief engineer of SpaceX, CEO and product architect of Tesla, and founder of the Boring Company. He also founded X.com which is now a part of PayPal, and co-founded Neuralink, OpenAI, and Zip2.

Through these companies, and investment in cryptocurrency, Musk established himself as one of the richest tech bros in the world - in 2020 he had a net worth of $27 billion. His net worth has since skyrocketed, and he is estimated to be worth more than $200 billion today. Musk eclipsed the former world’s richest man, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, in January 2021.

Is there a trailer for The Elon Musk Show?

Yes there is, and you can watch it right here:

When is the release date of The Elon Musk Show?

The Elon Musk Show is a three part series - the first episode will air on BBC Two on Wednesday 12 October. Episode two will air on Wednesday 19 October at 9.30pm. The air time of the final episode has not yet been confirmed but it will be at a similar time on Wednesday 26 October. Episodes will also be avai