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
Drain
cantbelie
A
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s
B
‘M
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22
u
p
ff
t
The landing was
screened in London’s
Trafalgar Square
The mission
launch
sc
ab
an
th
M
W
H
Y
8
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