Louis Theroux heads to California, the US adoption capital, where the majority of newborn adoptions are carried out privately, creating a multimillion dollar industry. Agencies, facilitators and lawyers can earn thousands of dollars per baby by matching up pregnant women prepared to give up their newborns with adoptive parents willing to pay up to $50,000 for the privilege. \n\nLouis spends time with the birth mothers preparing to hand over their own flesh and blood, uncovering the stories of poverty, addiction and abuse that can push these women into making such a heartbreaking decision. \n\nHe also meets the adoptive families, paying out huge amounts of money in the hope of being able to raise a child they can't have by natural means - but in a system open to abuse, whether the birth mum hands over the baby hangs in the balance until after the birth.
Source: BBC 2
Under The Knife
Louis Theroux pulls back the folds of plastic America and gets under the skin of the plastic surgery patients that crowd the clinics of Beverly Hills. Louis becomes a part of th ...
20-11-2024
BBC 2
America's Most Dangerous Pets
According to some reports, there are now more tigers in captivity in the US than in the wild in the whole of Asia, as well as large numbers of lions, bears and chimpanzees. \n\n ...
16-11-2024
BBC 2
Shooting Joe Exotic
This 90-minute special sees Louis Theroux travel to America to investigate the story of a man who has become one of the most controversial and captivating icons of recent times: ...
11-11-2024
BBC 2
Gambling In Las Vegas
Louis Theroux heads to Las Vegas, the fastest growing city in America, to take a look at the pastime that made it famous and meet the gamblers, the high rollers and the casino m ...
02-11-2024
BBC 2
Surviving America's Most Hated Family
Thirteen years since first encountering one of America’s most notorious hate groups, award-winning film-maker Louis Theroux makes a long-anticipated return to Kansas to sp ...
24-09-2023
BBC 2
Mothers On The Edge
Louis Theroux returns to the UK to spend time in specialist psychiatric units which treat mothers experiencing serious mental illness whilst allowing them to live alongside thei ...
10-09-2023
BBC 2
Extreme Love: 1. Autism
Louis visits one of the best schools in America for autism. He meets the students and their families to get a glimpse of what life is like for them and to experience the pleasur ...
12-07-2020
BBC 2
Under The Knife
Louis Theroux pulls back the folds of plastic America and gets under the skin of the plastic surgery patients that crowd the clinics of Beverly Hills. Louis becomes a part of th ...
20-11-2024
BBC 2
Mothers On The Edge
Louis Theroux returns to the UK to spend time in specialist psychiatric units which treat mothers experiencing serious mental illness whilst allowing them to live alongside thei ...
10-09-2023
BBC 2
Altered States: 2. Choosing Death
In the US, there are now six states that offer the terminally ill the option of ending their lives with a prescribed cocktail of drugs.\n\nLouis heads to California, one of the ...
28-07-2019
BBC 2