The Elon Musk Show: BBC2’s portrait of a disturbingly boyish billionaire
New three-part documentary sheds a light on how Musk became the world’s richest man

Elon Musk “a visionary, an eccentric, or something more dangerous?” BBC2’s new three-part documentary doesn’t draw any firm conclusions, said Anita Singh in The Daily Telegraph – but it does shed light on how he became the world’s richest man.
Though Musk doesn’t appear himself, there are interviews with people who know him well, including his doting mother, and both of his ex-wives. The odd Tesla employee pops up too, to attest to Musk’s single-minded drive (“My family life was not the highlight of my years at Tesla,” notes one).
The series is overly deferential, said Sean O’Grady in The Independent. But its main flaw is that Musk just isn’t that interesting. We see him “working hard and expecting others to do the same”, but lots of wealthy entrepreneurs do that. Equally, there are plenty of men on the minimum wage who cycle through wives and girlfriends, so he is not special there either. Whatever his achievements, Musk is quite dull.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
You start to wonder if his success could have been “almost accidental”, said Rachel Cooke in The New Statesman. He comes across as disturbingly boyish: there is “the sense of a clock stopped at the age of 15”. In one clip, we find him sitting in front of the kind of poster you might see in a school physics lab, titled “Rockets of the World”. In another, he “boogies in his chinos” like a toddler listening to Steps. “The whole thing is vaguely Citizen Kane-ish”, and by the end, I was more confused about who Musk is than I was at the start.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Quiz of The Week: 5 – 11 July
Have you been paying attention to The Week's news?
-
How many people are working illegally in the UK?
The Explainer Government vows 'nationwide blitz' on illicit workforce believed to number in the hundreds of thousands
-
The week's best photos
In Pictures A devastating flood, a hungry manatee, and more
-
Properties of the week: grand rural residences
The Week Recommends Featuring homes in Wiltshire, Devon, and East Sussex
-
Kiefer / Van Gogh: a 'remarkable double act'
The Week Recommends Visit this 'heroic' and 'absurd' exhibition at the Royal Academy until 26 October
-
Mark Billingham shares his favourite books
The Week Recommends The novelist and actor shares works by Mark Lewisohn, John Connolly and Gillian Flynn
-
Heads of State: 'a perfect summer movie'
The Week Recommends John Cena and Idris Elba have odd-couple chemistry as the US president and British prime minister
-
The Red Brigades: a 'fascinating insight' into the 'most feared' extremist group of 1970s Italy
The Week Recommends A 'grimly absorbing' history of the group and their attempts to overthrow the Italian state
-
Jurassic World Rebirth: enjoyable sequel hampered by plot holes
Talking Point The latest dinosaur reboot captures the essence of the original – but leans too heavily on 'CGI-heavy set pieces'
-
Summer in Seattle: Outdoor dining like nowhere else
Feature Featuring a patio with a waterfront view, a beer garden, and more
-
Film reviews: F1: The Movie, 28 Years Later, and Familiar Touch
Feature An aging race car driver gets one last chance, a kid struggles to survive in this '28 Days Later' update, and a woman with dementia adjusts to her new life