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.

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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.

Germany’s conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) have won the country’s federal elections – as the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) scores its best-ever result and Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s party collapses.

The leader of the CDU/CSU bloc, Friedrich Merz, who will most likely become Germany’s next chancellor, said he would work on forming a government as soon as possible, though it is not yet clear how easy that will be.

Speaking on Sunday evening, Mr Merz said: “We have nearly eight weeks until Easter now, and I think that should be enough time – the maximum time – to form a government in Germany.”

As it happened: Conservatives and far-right set for record vote shares

Preliminary results of the official election count show the CDU/CSU took the largest share of the vote with 28.5%, while the AfD won a record 20.8% – its best result in a federal election since its formation in 2013.

Mr Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) collapsed to third with 16.4% – its worst post-war election result – while its previous coalition partners the Greens took 11.6%.

In some surprise results, the hard-left Left Party surged clear of 5% – the minimum vote share needed to get seats in the Bundestag – while the newly-founded left-wing Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) fell just short.

The Free Democratic Party (FDP), a former coalition partner and liberal party, also saw its vote collapse to 4.4%, taking them out of parliament.

Despite the AfD’s result, Mr Merz’s bloc and the rest of the mainstream parties have ruled out working with the far-right as part of a long-running pact known as the “firewall”.

‘The world out there is not waiting’

Mr Merz faces complex coalition negotiations and whether he will need one or two partners to form a pact will depend on how many parties get into parliament.

The 69-year-old admitted it would “not be easy”, adding: “The most important thing is to re-establish a viable government in Germany as quickly as possible… The world out there is not waiting for us.”

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Later on Sunday, while appearing on a German broadcaster’s post-election panel of party leaders, Mr Merz took aim at Donald Trump and said the US president’s administration has shown itself to be “largely indifferent to the fate of Europe”.

He called the comments made by American officials during negotiations on ending Russia’s war on Ukraine “ultimately outrageous” – and said: “My absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA.”

After exit polls on Sunday evening showed the CDU/CSU bloc in the lead, the US president said it was a “great day” for Germany.

He wrote on Truth Social that the “people of Germany got tired of the no common sense agenda, especially on energy and immigration”.

‘We have arrived’

Alice Weidel, the AfD’s co-leader and chancellor nominee, hailed her party’s results and said “our hand remains outstretched to form a government” – despite the “firewall” pact.

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“We have arrived as a party of the people,” she told a crowd, before saying that without the AfD in coalition, “no change of policy is possible in Germany”.

Co-leader Tino Chrupalla added the party “achieved something historic today”, and said: “We are now the political centre and we have left the fringes behind us.”

On Sunday evening, anti-fascist demonstrations broke out in Frankfurt and Berlin in protest at the far-right party’s performance.

‘Very bitter’ election for SPD

Conceding the election, Mr Scholz told voters that “the result is very bitter for the SPD”.

While still chancellor until the government votes on his replacement, he added he will not represent the party “in a federal government led by the CDU, nor will I negotiate for it”.

Meanwhile Christian Lindner – FDP party leader and former finance minister, whose dismissal by Mr Scholz led to the collapse of the coalition government – also resigned after a bruising night.

Posting on social media after it became clear his party would not meet the 5% vote threshold, he said: “The parliamentary elections brought defeat for the FDP but hopefully a new start for Germany. That’s what I fought for.

“Now I’m retiring from active politics. I have only one feeling: gratitude for almost 25 intense, challenging years full of productive work and debate.”

BSW narrowly out as Left surges

Founded in January last year, the BSW came just short of entering parliament with 4.9% of the vote.

But despite doubts the party could rally before the election, the Left Party made a comeback and surged to 8.8%.

Party candidate Heidi Reichinnek told German national broadcaster ARD: “I am so incredibly happy about our result.”

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And while the Greens still lost votes after its stint in the coalition, it recorded the smallest losses of the three parties – making Sunday’s vote “mixed” for the party’s chancellor, Robert Habeck.

He also said the vote showed “the centre is weakened overall, and everyone should look at themselves and ask whether they didn’t contribute to that”.

Packing up to 852 hp and a cutting-edge technology stack developed by Huawei, Chinese luxury brand Maextro just revealed its latest entry into the Mercedes-Maybach EQS and Rolls-Royce Spectre segment of ultra-luxe EVs. Meet the all-new Maextro S800.

Despite a somewhat steady stream of new Chinese EVs that defy expectations and threaten to re-set the global order of performance cars, semi trucks, and just about everything in between, brands like Maybach, Rolls-Royce, and even Bentley have seemed relatively “safe,” in the sense that their value is based on something a bit less objective than lap times or kW/mile.

The new Huawei Maextro S800, first shown as a series of renderings late last year, seems to have found some of Henry Rolls’ secret sauce – and they’ve sprinkled it liberally all over the S800.

Huawei sparkles – literally

The shimmering, sparkly, fiber-optic headliner was pioneered by Rolls-Royce over a decade ago, pushing back against the more open and accessible glass-roofs that were becoming popular in the higher end market. Huawei goes a step further, adding similar, Swarovski-like shimmer to not just the headliner – but the door handles, the headlights, projections dancing around the car as you approach it in the street.

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It looks and feels special, in other words. And these cars are all about making their owners feel special. Different.

When Henry Rolls began work on his first US factory in Springfield, Massachusetts way back in 1919, there was supposedly a mantra that management repeated to the workers. It went, “every time you touch the car, you add cost. Make sure you add value.”

I’m not here to argue that Huawei is living up to the same maxim with the Maextro, but I am here to argue that this car’s bespoke, purpose-built platform doesn’t share any parts with a lesser offering from the Mercedes or BMW or Volkswagen lineup in the way that a Maybach, Rolls-Royce, or Bentley does. That may not mean much to you and me, but the people shopping six- and seven-figure cars, it might.

Those well-heeled buyers will get a choice of EREV or “pure” battery electric powertrains good for between 480 and 852 all-electric horsepower. 32 ADAS sensors including both radar and lidar compliment a suite of cameras analyze the road ahead and feed data to Huawei’s ADS road perception system, which is constantly adjusting torque distribution, suspension compression and rebound, and front and rear steering to deliver a tech-driven chauffeur experience that Huawei insists is second to none.

That digital chauffeur is also pretty handy when the weather goes sideways, too. Huawei says the Maextro’s sensor array can help it to increase the detection distance in rain, fog, and dust by 60% compared to the benchmark, while delay was reduced by 40%.

In the event a collision is unavoidable, the car can adjust its stance, seating position, raise the windows, and unlock the central control lock to enable outside help to open the doors. Following the collision, the Maextro S800 switches the redundant power supply and calls for help, as well.

Finally, reports indicate that the Maextro S800 supports the 800V high-voltage system in some trims, suitable for 6C charging, which means it can be energized with up to 390 kW of charging power, taking just 10.5 minutes to charge the 66 kWh battery in the EREV version (523 hp) from 10% to 80%.

The Maextro S800 will enter the Chinese in May this year with a price range of 1 – 1.5 million yuan (about $135–205,000 US).

Maextro S800 | gallery

SOURCE | IMAGES: Maextro, via CarNewsChina.