TV & Satellite Week – 13 July 2019

TV&Satellite Week 17

experience as immersive as possible

for modern audiences.’

Moon Launch Live

uses rarely seen

footage to recreate the

build-up to Apollo 11’s

launch atop the Saturn

V rocket, while the

second film, to be aired

next week, follows the

first moon walk.

EMOTIONAL

‘It was voted the most

memorable TV

moment ever in a C

poll and it’s impossible

to overstate how much it

meant to people all over

the world,’ says Glover.

‘We have footage of

people cheering in Japan, Africa,

and even some on the streets of

Russia! The American presenters

are so emotional, it’s almost like they

can’t believe what they’re reporting.’

The films have an

American flavour

because there is no

surviving footage of the

BBC coverage from 1969.

‘Maybe someone taped

over it!’ laughs Glover.

‘It’s heartbreaking.’

The documentaries

will be supported by a

series of five-minute

films at 7.55pm,

Monday 15 to Saturday

20 July, to keep viewers

updated on Apollo 11’s

progress in real time.

‘We hope audiences

feel pulled along by

the whole thing,’ says

Glover. ‘The moon landings are

perfect for this format, because

they’re so hopeful and inspirational.’

Facing their

demons

Inside the Social

Network: Facebook’s

Difficult Year

Tuesday, BBC2 HD, 9pm

Horizon follows key staff at the

world’s biggest social-networking

site, Facebook, as they try to get on

top of scandals involving fake news,

data and privacy, foreign government

misinformation and hate speech.

DID YOU KNOW?

Boris Johnson is distantly related to all

the royal houses of Europe, including

the British and Dutch royal families,

as well as the Romanovs. Find out

more about the wannabe PM in The

Invention of Boris Johnson

(Wednesday, C4 HD, 9pm).

Chasing the Moon (Tue, BBC

HD, 8pm & 8.50pm) this

double bill traces the

history of the

space race.

The Moon:

Our Gateway

to the Universe

(Wed, Eden HD,

6pm/10pm)

explores new

scientific findings

about the moon

and plans to travel

there again.

Moon Landing:

World’s Greatest

Hoax? (Mon,

Yesterday H D,

8pm) looks at the

conspiracy theories –

did the landing really happen?

It’s been 13 years since Louis

Theroux’s memorable first encounter

with the Westboro Baptist Church, an

anti-gay Christian group that pickets

at events ranging from basketball

matches to funerals with provocative

and homophobic placards.

But since the church’s founder,

Pastor Fred Phelps, died in 2014, the

once tight-knit family community

has been torn apart. This week,

Theroux returns to Kansas to spend

time with the church and to meet two

of its most high-profile defectors.

BREAKING AWAY

Megan is Fred Phelps’ granddaughter

and was once one of Westboro’s

most committed believers.

She is now the church’s

most outspoken critic.

Westboro had been

Megan’s entire life

until she discovered

social media,

which opened

her eyes to its

contradictions.

‘We claimed

to love people

and this was

the biggest

contradiction

of all,’ she tells

Theroux. ‘How

could we think we were loving our

neighbours and then be praying to

God for him to kill them?’

Theroux also meets another of

Phelps’ granddaughters, 21-year-

old Rachel, who defected in 2015.

Now tattooed with a shaved head,

she deeply regrets the ‘God hates

fags’ placards she once held.

‘I was just so angry all the time

because I was being forced to hate

people,’ she explains. ‘You go to

pickets and you get screamed at and

things thrown at you. Everybody

hates you and you hate yourself for it.’

LASTING APPEAL

Despite the defections, however, the

church has continued to attract new

members, including Bradford-born

Mathias Holroyd. Mathias was

brought up by his dad after losing

his mum to cancer aged 13, but he

hasn’t seen his father for six years.

‘Mathias came across as

someone who never really fitted

into his old life,’ explains

Theroux. ‘A large family selling

a hateful brand of religious

certainty must have had an

appeal to someone who had

always felt alone.

‘It would be difficult to

overstate the amount

of grief caused by

Westboro and its

doctrine of hate over

the years. But this visit

I also saw reasons

to believe in the

possibilities

of change.’

Louis Theroux

and Westboro

member Steve

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The landing was

screened in London’s

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The mission

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Was it real?

Louis Theroux

revisits America’s

most notorious

hate group

NEW REAL LIFE

Louis Theroux:

Surviving America’s

Most Hated Family

Sunday, BBC2 HD, 9pm

Church critic Megan

Phelps-Roper