Louis Theroux: BBC confirms release date for new hard-hitting documentary

It's the first of three documentaries focused on 'uniquely devastating challenges' in America

(AFP/Getty Images)

Louis Theroux has confirmed the release date of his next BBC documentary that was exclusively revealed by The Independent earlier this year.

The special is one of three documentaries that will focus on “uniquely devastating challenges" prevalent in America with the first focusing on the use of prescription painkillers in the US.

Titled Dark States - Heroin Town, the documentary will see Theroux visit a town in West Virginia that has a “fatal overdose rate 13 times the national average.” It will air on BBC Two on 8 October.

Contrary to reports, the three documentaries - the other two of which are titled Murder in Milwaukee and Sex Trafficking Houston - do not explore the rise of Donald Trump.

The former will see Theroux spend time in one of the most impoverished cities in the US during a period of heightened tensions between police and the African-American community where he meets with both the Milwaukee Police Department’s homicide team as they patrol District 5 – where the homicide rate is around 12 times the national average – and families in the area.

Finally, Sex Trafficking Houston takes a look at what is regarded as one of the largest hubs for human trafficking in North America. Theroux interviews women working in the city’s sex industry, exploring the relationships between pimp and prostitute.

Theroux made his big-screen debut with My Scientology Movie last year.

Dark States - Heroin Town airs on BBC Two on Sunday 8 October.