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LOVE OR LOONY?
Louis Theroux’s real life doc Tell Them You Love Me is dubbed ‘new Baby Reindeer’ after soaring up Netflix chart
Theroux reveals it was a struggle to get the film commissioned
LOUIS THEROUX is behind our next TV obsession – which he admits was a struggle to get made.
His compelling documentary Tell Them You Love Me has been hailed as the new Baby Reindeer as it tops Netflix’s global chart.
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It covers a shocking true story by diving into the case of a female professor who had an affair with a non-speaking man with cerebral palsy and the mental age of an 18-month-old child.
I revealed Louis’ Mindhouse productions was working on the project for Sky Documentaries and now it has found a wider audience on Netflix US.
Louis told me: “At its heart is a mystery — whether two people were in a Romeo and Juliet love story or whether it is a horrific crime. I think its success speaks to how powerful and emotionally complex the story is. You never quite know where it will go next. It was nearly ten years ago that I first came across this story. It was a struggle to get the film commissioned.”
Executive producer Arron Fellows added: “It really demonstrates how captivated audiences are by real life stories.
“It’s great that documentaries are being watched in such huge numbers and driving conversation, even around complex and sensitive subject matter.
"After watching Tell Them You Love Me, it’s clear people are desperate to talk to other people about it and it’s been a real word-of-mouth hit, which I’m delighted about.
“At the same time, we are really conscious that at the centre of it all are real people and this is about their lives and an incredibly difficult event for everyone."
Prof Anna Stubblefield, then 39, met Derrick Johnson in 2009 and his family hoped her expertise in “facilitated communication” could help their nearly mute lad, then 28, to communicate using a keypad.
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Within a months, their relationship became sexual.
His family were horrified and doubted if he had consented, as Stubblefield was driving his thoughts on the keypad.
The following court case capitivated America.
She was found guilty of aggravated sexual assault and got 12 years, but after two years the conviction was overturned.
US Netflix viewers - including Elon Musk - have raved about the film, which is also available to watch exclusively on Sky and NOW.
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Louis added: “What’s been especially encouraging is seeing how it’s driven a conversation about race, disability, and power on social media.
“It shows that films that you might think are risky or troubling or 'difficult' can also be compelling and reach a big audience, not in spite of those qualities but because of them.
“Thanks to the brilliance of director Nick August Perna and years of work by him and his team, we’ve been able to deliver a hit film that’s been watched in huge numbers, on Sky Documentaries and in the US where it was the number one movie on Netflix last week.
“I think its success speaks to Nick’s talent as a director and massive credit to Sky for agreeing to make it and backing us 100 percent and also to Netflix who bought it and brought it to an even wider audience.
“Hopefully it will give commissioners and programmers more confidence about backing films that are emotionally raw and morally complex, that tell knotty and inconvenient narratives, because those are the sorts of films I like to make and also the films I like to watch…
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“One of the most surprising reactions came from Elon Musk. It wasn’t even a one-word review. It was a one-character review. Simply an exclamation mark, on X, in response to a comment about the film.
“I guess it’s not definite that he saw the film, but in a small way he is participating in the conversation the film has started.”