The Secret Rulers of the World

The Secret Rulers of the World is a five-part documentary series, produced by World of Wonder Productions and written, directed by, and featuring Jon Ronson. The series was first shown on Channel 4 in April and May 2001. The series details Ronson's encounters with conspiracy theorists. It accompanies Ronson's book Them: Adventures with Extremists, which covers similar topics and describes many of the same events.

Original air date: 29 April 2001

Jon Ronson meets with Randy Weaver and daughter Rachel, two of the surviving members of the Weaver family. The film shows previously unseen archive footage to describe the life of a family who claim to have moved to a cabin in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, to live peacefully, and escape what they saw as the tyrannical elite of international bankers bent on enslaving the world. Ronson also explains how the Weaver family's conspiracy theories became a shocking tragedy when the American Government killed two of the family members, their dog, and shot and wounded Randy Weaver and Kevin Harris, whom the Weaver family considered their son. Ronson explores the unsympathetic media response to the killings and how this incident might have influenced the siege at Waco, the Oklahoma City bombing, and the growth of the American militia movement.

Original air date: 6 May 2001

Jon Ronson follows David Icke as he promotes his theory that "the elite are genetically descended from a race of 12-foot, blood-drinking, shape-shifting lizards". During the film Icke is accused by a leftist protest group in Canada of antisemitism. The documentary explores the theme of whether Icke literally means lizards — as he steadfastly maintains — or whether the reptilians are a coded reference to Jews, which Icke denies vehemently. Ronson concludes that Icke is probably not an anti-Semite, and comes to have misgivings about the Icke protesters' methods and their attempts to silence Icke.

...
Wikipedia