Louis Theroux to headline Leeds International Festival of Ideas this October

Louis Theroux is coming to Leeds. The broadcaster will headline the sixth edition of Leeds International Festival of Ideas, opening a five-day programme at Leeds Playhouse this autumn that ranks among the most ambitious the city has staged.

Running from 6 to 10 October 2026, LIFI26 brings twelve events to Leeds Playhouse, with a line-up that includes Tim Minchin, Elizabeth Day, Chris Packham CBE, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Vicky Pattison, Roman Kemp, James O’Brien and Megan McKenna. It is a programme that confirms the festival as a serious stop on the national ideas circuit, and another marker of Leeds’ growing pull for names of this scale.

Theroux opens proceedings on Tuesday 6 October with a fireside chat on the Playhouse’s Quarry stage. The festival then runs through a week of panels and conversations tackling the questions defining the moment: suicide and masculinity, the future of the planet, the legacy of the 90s, social media, belonging in modern Britain, and what it means to live a creative life. Tim Minchin closes the festival on Saturday 10 October with a career-spanning conversation on staying creative in a chaotic world.

The festival is brought to the city by LeedsBID and Welcome to Leeds, supported by AV Matrix, City of Maths, Pinsent Mason, Weightmans and Leeds Playhouse. It joins a run of major LeedsBID city events, including this summer’s Trivial Pursuit Leeds activation and the MONOPOLY Leeds Takeover.

Newsletter subscribers get first access to tickets, with priority sale opening 4 June and general sale on 10 June. Sign up at leedsintfest.com

Louis Theroux picture credit: Ryan McNamara