Louis Behind Bars
Encyclopedia
Louis Theroux: Behind Bars is a television documentary written and presented by Louis Theroux
about one of America's most notorious prisons, San Quentin. There, he meets and speaks to serial murderers, gang members, at risk inmates and guards. The film was produced and directed by Stuart Cabb, and was first aired on BBC Two
on 13 January 2008.
, and it was the second most-watched programme on the service in the first quarter of 2008, behind The Apprentice.
In The Guardian
, Sam Wollaston said the documentary was "absolutely fascinating, one of Theroux's finest films". He described Theroux as "remarkably relaxed and at home", with access that was "extraordinary, and could never have happened in this country". Andrew Billen for The Times
said, after watching the film for the first time: "I thought that Theroux was slightly overawed by his subject and less nosey than he should have been. Watching it again, I realised the prison's inmates were so strangely overarticulate that they did not need interrogating." The Daily Telegraph
' s Stephen Pile said that Theroux "did not have to do much; just pointing a camera at them was enough to fill 60 fascinating minutes showing the banality of evil." Despite the two weeks Theroux spent at the prison, Gordon Farrer for The Age
said that "there's not a lot of effort on Theroux's part to elicit insights into the social issues raised by a place like San Quentin or to put it into a broader social context. The result is an interesting profile of a brutal, unnatural social experiment that leaves you wanting to know much more."
For The Independent
' s Thomas Sutcliffe, Theroux's "wide-eyed innocence is part of the brand", which "has proved rather useful in the past ... But that it can have its drawbacks was illustrated by Louis Theroux: Behind Bars. He also found Theroux's "studied cluelessness was obstructive rather than helpful". In the New Statesman
, Rachel Cooke said that "It was all very interesting, in its own gruesome, voyeuristic way", but found it failed to develop a serious narrative. Closing her review, titled 'Enough playing dumb', she said: "Great material comes his way but he (and his director) just don't seem to be deft enough to handle it. That's when disingenuous starts to look plain dumb."
The film was nominated for the best sound (factual) award for the 2008 British Academy
Television Craft Awards.
Louis Theroux
Louis Sebastian Theroux is an English broadcaster best known for his Gonzo style journalism on the television series Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends and When Louis Met.... His career started off in journalism and bears influences of notable writers in his family such as his father, Paul Theroux and...
about one of America's most notorious prisons, San Quentin. There, he meets and speaks to serial murderers, gang members, at risk inmates and guards. The film was produced and directed by Stuart Cabb, and was first aired on BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
on 13 January 2008.
Reception
It was ranked the tenth most watched programme of the decade on BBC Two when it was first aired in 2008, after gaining 5.81 million viewers. The day after the film was first broadcast, it accounted for 27% of the activity on the BBC iPlayerBBC iPlayer
BBC iPlayer, commonly shortened to iPlayer, is an internet television and radio service, developed by the BBC to extend its former RealPlayer-based and other streamed video clip content to include whole TV shows....
, and it was the second most-watched programme on the service in the first quarter of 2008, behind The Apprentice.
In The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, Sam Wollaston said the documentary was "absolutely fascinating, one of Theroux's finest films". He described Theroux as "remarkably relaxed and at home", with access that was "extraordinary, and could never have happened in this country". Andrew Billen for The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
said, after watching the film for the first time: "I thought that Theroux was slightly overawed by his subject and less nosey than he should have been. Watching it again, I realised the prison's inmates were so strangely overarticulate that they did not need interrogating." The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
said that "there's not a lot of effort on Theroux's part to elicit insights into the social issues raised by a place like San Quentin or to put it into a broader social context. The result is an interesting profile of a brutal, unnatural social experiment that leaves you wanting to know much more."
For The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
, Rachel Cooke said that "It was all very interesting, in its own gruesome, voyeuristic way", but found it failed to develop a serious narrative. Closing her review, titled 'Enough playing dumb', she said: "Great material comes his way but he (and his director) just don't seem to be deft enough to handle it. That's when disingenuous starts to look plain dumb."
The film was nominated for the best sound (factual) award for the 2008 British Academy
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...
Television Craft Awards.