Theroux explores Altered States for BBC2

Louis Theroux

Public broadcaster BBC2 in the UK has ordered a three-part series exploring the unusual ways modern America deals with birth, love and death.

Louis Theroux’s Altered States will air later this year and will look at how social attitudes and radical new laws have transformed how Americans can experience some of life’s most intimate moments.

The show has been commissioned by Patrick Holland, BBC2 controller, and Clare Sillery, head of commissioning for documentaries.

The films are being made by BBC Studios’ The Documentary Unit, with Peter Dale attached as executive producer and Arron Fellows onboard as series producer.

Holland described the three films as “a hugely challenging, disturbing and illuminating trilogy, taking us into some extremes of experience, all guided by Louis’ exceptional empathy and humanity.”

Documentarian Theroux has made a host of observational docs and profiles of famous people for the BBC over the years, and earlier this year curated a collection of other films that had influenced his work for the pubcaster’s iPlayer.