Louis Theroux will be honoured with the prestigious National Film and Television School (NFTS) fellowship next month.

The renowned interviewer – who has been working in the business for over three decades, and whose Weird Weekends were the stuff of legend – admits he initially felt like “a trespasser” and “imposter” in his front-of-screen role.

Never going to film school himself, the now world-famous presenter and documentarian got his first job as a print journalist in America after graduating from Oxford University.

His big break came on Michael Moore’s TV Nation series, as a roving reporter delving into offbeat culture, later striking up a deal with the BBC resulting in Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends.

A first-person storyteller, who disarms his subjects with charm, Theroux’s interviews frequently result in the unexpected.

Commenting on his upcoming award, Theroux said: “I came into the industry more than thirty years ago, feeling like a trespasser, an imposter, in a role meant for someone else, worrying that I would be found out, hoping I could keep going for a few more months, since I was enjoying it so much.

“All these years later, I’ve learned that ‘keeping going’ may be the best definition of success.”

Admitting that like those just starting out in the field, he too is “still figuring things out”, he said he hoped the fellowship would give him the chance to “connect with younger people… sharing the few things I’ve learned, and more importantly learning from them”.

Theroux went on to interview a host of celebrities in When Louis Met…, including Jimmy Savile, who is now known to have been one of the UK’s most prolific sexual predators.

Haunted by the interaction, Theroux would go on to interview some of Savile’s victims in a follow-up 16 years later.

Theroux has also fronted various documentaries across BBC1 and BBC2 and released the 2016 feature-length documentary My Scientology Movie.

The author of several books, he currently hosts his own podcast series.

In 2019, he set up his own production company, Mindhouse, with his wife Nancy Strang and filmmaker Arron Fellows, producing documentary film and TV series, as well as his podcast.

Theroux recently revealed he was suffering from alopecia, initially resulting in the loss of his eyebrows.

In true Theroux style, the 54-year-old has been documenting his hair loss journey on social media, seeking advice and sharing updates with his followers.

Read more:
Pamela Anderson on reclaiming her life and career
Chris O’Dowd on returning to a ‘broke’ and ‘down’ London

NFTS chair Sophie Turner Laing praised Theroux’s “immense contribution” to the world of factual filmmaking, adding: “His ability to connect with audiences and uncover powerful human stories makes him a true icon in the industry.”

Previous recipients of the honorary fellowship include James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli, Wallace And Gromit creator Nick Park, director Sam Mendes and children’s author Malorie Blackman.

NFTS graduates have gone on to win 15 Oscars and 166 BAFTAs since the school opened half a century ago, with current graduates’ work on show at the BFI Southbank from Monday 3 March to Thursday 6 March.

The fellowship will be awarded to Theroux during the school’s graduation ceremony on Friday 7 March.

Actor and comedian Chris O’Dowd has described moving back to London from the US, finding people in the city are “down” after a decade of cutbacks.

The IT Crowd star returned to London from Los Angeles with his wife Dawn O’Porter and their two children a year ago.

“It’s just gone through 10 years of austerity, and you can feel it off it,” he told Sky News.

“People are down, is the impression I’m getting. I don’t know if it’s because of the divisive political culture or whether it’s because people are broke as s**t because they haven’t put any money into public services for so long, and now they’ve said they’re not going to do it either because they’re not going to raise taxes, so I don’t know what they’re going to do. But everybody is… it would be hard to say it’s improved.”

Asked if he sensed any optimism that things would change for the better, he replied: “Not yet.”

O’Dowd said the decision to return to the UK “wasn’t because Trump got in or any of that crap”, but that he wanted to “get out before the political cycle starts, because it just gets a bit heated”. He added: “It actually didn’t this time, because he won so easily.”

The Irish star was speaking ahead of the premiere of his new Sky Original series Small Town, Big Story, which comes to Sky and NOW on Thursday 27 February.

Set in the fictional Irish border village of Drumban, the dramatic comedy follows Wendy Patterson, portrayed by Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks, a local girl who found success as a TV producer in Los Angeles. She returns with a film crew in tow and is forced to confront a secret from decades ago – visitors from outer space.

So does the show’s creator believe in alien existence?

“I find it hard to believe we’re it, we’re just too imperfect,” O’Dowd replied. He hails from Boyle, County Roscommon, which is considered a “UFO hotspot” in Ireland.

“In the vastness of the universe, or the multiverse or whatever we’re existing within, it seems highly unlikely that you and me are the best we can do, no offence,” he added.

Patterson’s show-within-a-show, titled I Am Celt but described as Lame Of Thrones, appears to satirise Hollywood’s often inaccurate portrayal of Ireland.

“Some of them can be heavy-handed, or a little bit off-piste,” laughs O’Dowd. “I think the thing to remember is we’re guilty of it too.

“Whenever I hear Americans being depicted from Irish people, very often they’re stuffing themselves with cheeseburgers and they’re morons. There’s got to be a bit of give and take with that.”

Pamela Anderson is one of the most recognisable faces in Hollywood.

Ever since she was spotted on the huge jumbotron screen at a baseball game aged 21, her physical traits have been the overriding subject the world has focused on.

Now 57, the actress and model is claiming back her life, her story and forging a new path in her career.

“I feel so free,” she tells Sky News during a conversation in a London hotel about her latest film The Last Showgirl.

“I write a lot of emotional journals and there’s a lot that you can get out. You can go to therapy, or you can talk to your best friend, but there’s nothing like an art project to express yourself and heal parts of yourself.”

The Last Showgirl follows a seasoned entertainer who has to plan for her future when her Las Vegas show abruptly ends after a 30-year run.

The role almost slipped from her fingers when her old agent passed on the script.

“I have a new agent now,” she says with a smile.

It was her son Brandon who served as a catalyst in her career resurgence after stumbling upon the screenplay and showing it to his mother.

“My sons are so protective of me and their goal is just to say: ‘Mom, we just want you to be able to know that you focused on us as kids and we want you to have the opportunity to shine and to reach your potential as an actress’.”

She adds: “I do have a lot to give, so now I just feel so free. I couldn’t have done anything like this when I had kids because my focus was with them. Now that they’re grown and they’re doing well and they’re thriving, that gives me the opportunity to be able to play in this universe.”

The Canadian-American has been the victim of many harsh headlines over the years with her most challenging moments played out in front of the world.

One of the toughest moments, when her sex tape with her ex-husband Tommy Lee was leaked, ended up being made into its own TV series starring Oscar nominee Sebastian Stan and English actress Lily James.

Anderson had no input in the show and repeatedly called for it to be scrapped.

Anderson says that despite the adversity and misogyny she has faced being in the public eye, she feels ready to take on the spotlight again. This time on her terms.

“It was hard for me decades ago, and now I can look at it as a learning experience. And it was a different time. I think that looking at it through my kids’ eyes was interesting.

“Talking to my adult children about having a mom who was, you know, objectified in some way and how that felt [for them] and how that shaped them and their experience growing up, being teased in school.”

Her sons, Brandon and Dylan, are now both in their late 20s.

Drawing similarities to her character Shelly in The Last Showgirl, Anderson says the film serves as a reflection of the sacrifices, external expectations and realities connected to being a woman and a mother.

“We’re doing the best we can with the tools that we have and what we’ve seen growing up. And there’s no perfect way to be a parent, there really isn’t – and especially in this industry.

“When I did Playboy, when I was in Baywatch, I wasn’t thinking about how it was affecting my kids. I was thinking about just keeping the lights on and living this exciting life and getting through it myself.

“But, you know, it affects everybody around you – your parents, your friends, your kids – and so to kind of look at it from that way [in The Last Showgirl] and to have empathy for the character of Shelly dealing with that… I had some experience to draw from.”

The film also stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Brenda Song and Kiernan Shipka as her close friends and co-workers in a fading corner of the Las Vegas strip.

Anderson adds of the film: “I think this can resonate with any working mom. We all carry this guilt and shame and wish we would have done this or that. And we have to be happy, too.”

The Last Showgirl is out in UK cinemas from Friday 28 February.