Louis Theroux's Altered States: All you need to know about the last in the BBC documentary series

Love Without Limits continues on Sunday
Natasha Sporn25 November 2018

Louis Theroux is back on the small screen tonight with the final instalment of his new three-part series, Altered States.

The documentary maker explores America and visits two different states with three different ways of life.

Theroux gets to meet a whole host of new people, talking to them about their views, learning and even getting involved with their daily routines.

With one episode left in the series, which promises to be an emotional rollercoaster, here's everything you need to know:

Pictured: Louis with Patricia who is planning to put her unborn child up for adoption
BBC

What happens In Take My Baby?

The episode takes Theroux out and about in California, exploring the adoption business in the state. Adoption is a booming industry in California, and encompasses many parties – not just parents. Meeting agencies, law firms and facilitators are all thriving in a process that can cost up to $50,000.

During his time on the ground, Theroux speaks to couples determined to start a family despite being unable to conceive as well as mums giving up babies and the stories behind their decisions.

What is Altered States about?

The short series has been split into three parts, each episode with a focus on a different taboo topic.

The first, titled Love Without Limits, was Theroux’s exploration of Oregon, Portland. Here, he investigated attitudes to sex, lust and marriage in a state where polyamory and non-monogamy is prevalent. His travels even lead him to join up with a Sensual Eating party as part of Sex Positive Portland, which sees him stripped to the waist and fed strawberries.

Take My Baby, set in California, featured Theroux exploring attitudes towards adoption in the state it occurs the most, while Choosing Death experienced a different side of California with a much-debated topic of euthanasia.

What does Louis Theroux say about his new series?

Speaking about his experience at the party during Love Without Limits, Theroux described how he threw himself into things, taking turns being both a “giver” and a “taker”.

He said: “It was all rather embarrassing, but at the same time a little bit liberating.

“For a moment the idea of a world in which the currency of sex and love was more free-flowing made a tiny bit of sense.

“I felt like I needed to throw myself into it in order to show commitment and be respectful to the others. Everyone else was going way further than I was. There were people kind of spasming in ecstasy.

Blindfolded: Louis Theroux in Portland
BBC

“There was a lot of nipple tweaking and one woman went round squirting whipped cream on her breasts and feeding the whipped cream to various people.”

“There’s something quite reassuring about having it,” he said. “It’s like the NHS. You don’t have to work too hard to find something decent, or something your kids can watch that doesn’t have adverts for dildos in the middle of it.”

When is Altered States on?

Louis Theroux Altered States: Take My Baby airs Sunday on BBC Two at 9pm.

Episodes are available after on BBC iPlayer.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in