Louis Theroux

In Louis Theroux’s Altered States, the documentary-maker will look at how changing social attitudes and radical new laws have transformed the way that Americans love, die and raise children.

“I was not a conventional presence,” says the documentary maker, who is now entering his 24th year in television with over 50 films under his belt.

His opportunity came in 1994, when he joined Michael Moore’s series TV Nation. “I went into the interview with Michael saying ‘I’ll do anything’ and I genuinely meant it: writing researching or doing anything.”

That is his first tip for tomorrow’s Therouxs: focus on making good TV.

Comedy: Curb Your Enthusiasm

Monday

Sky Atlantic, 10pm

Curb Your Enthusiasm is back after a six year absence. We last saw Larry David in Paris after being driven out of New York by his neighbour (Michael J. Fox) and the mayor. 

Now Larry is back in LA, where he manages to offend Jeff's (Oliver Hardy) barber and land himself in trouble over a new project. 

The latest documentary series from Louis Theroux will begin on BBC Two in early October.

The three new films will explore the damaging and destructive effects of murder, sex trafficking and opiate dependency in American cities.

Louis Theroux said: “I immerse myself in some of the most dysfunctional and disturbing aspects of American society. They combine hard-hitting actuality with intimate interviews.

The Trustees’ Award recognises an outstanding contribution to the craft of documentary making and has previously been awarded to greats such as Sir David Attenborough and John Battsek.

Theroux, who has been involved in documentary making for more than 20 years, has participated in some of America’s strangest pursuits and explored some of the most important subjects of the modern day, including transgender children and alcoholism.

Announcing the award, Chairman of the Grierson Trust, Lorraine Heggessey says: "Louis is a filmmaker who has effectively created his own genre."

In Brain Injury (working title), Theroux will spend time with staff and patients at the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust, one of the UK’s largest providers of neuro-behavioural rehabilitation, to find out how individuals and their loved ones cope with life-changing brain injuries that effect an estimated one million people in the UK.

Michael Jackson's stellar career encapsulates much of the creative history of TV during the past 30 years. He was an innovative independent producer back in the 1980s, reinvented BBC Two in the 1990s, and went on to run Channel 4. There, he launched Queer as Folk, Ali G and Big Brother, before crossing the Atlantic to work for the legendary mogul Barry Diller.

Today, still based in New York, his career has swung full circle. Jackson is once again working as a producer.