Thoughts on Pete Doherty documentary?

[NoPumpkins]

Just that really.

I thought it was a rather ‘slight’ documentary in some ways, but it had its moments.

Fitting (and genius) that he should end up in France it occurred to me.

No. He doesn't want to be sober, so no amount of alternatives will help. He wants to still drink and take drugs

Very sad. He's clearly got a drink problem (the whole blackcurrant drink scene is exactly what my alcoholic father would have said to me). I suspect that if he lived in a city that he'd be off doing all sorts.

I found him to be a bit of a mix overall. The part where his lip trembled and he cried was clearly heartfelt. But at other times he came across as self indulgent and a bit fake. I think he was holding back massively, but also suspect he doesn't do much so doesn't have much to say. His wife was a saint. I can see what she sees in him, he has a vulnerability. But not so sure about sincerity.

I felt a bit of everything - when he sang he was sweet. He is in absolute turmoil. Ice baths are the closest thing you can get to a drug hit without taking drugs which is why he does them. Liked the wife but can’t see why having a baby with a drug addict is ever gonna be a good idea so think that was a bit selfish. She is completely self sufficient though. He would annoy the fuck out of me. He’s like a six year old. But there is a charm that only guys can get away with. A woman like him would find herself in a very dangerous place and taken advantage of.

Thought Louis was in great shape!!!

Drugs can really f you up.

Only a tiny very few people can do drugs to that extent and make it through to the other side. I hope he makes it, for Billy Mae's sake.

I wonder how his older children feel watching him? They are both adults.

I do wonder what the reaction would be if Amy winehouse had survived and done a similar interview.

I think he's not long for this world and he knows it, I think he's not capable of being truly sober ever.

I've sort of separated myself from anything Libertines/Doherty for years, but I'm interested to watch it. I might do this weekend.

Massively outing for anyone who knows me, but I spent a lot of time around the whole scene when I was a teenager, so far as to stay with Pete in Whitechapel and Bethnal Green for a few weeks. I wasn't around on the night of that incident but before and after. It was a massively surreal experience. I remember making him a roast chicken because he'd been passed out for two days. Then funding cans of Nourishment and fags. I went with him to a little gig in Kent and played Carlos' guitar part (badly) on stage. I remember going to court with him because he'd robbed Carlos' flat (Carlos is a really lovely guy and it always annoyed me how Pete got the stardom). I drew pictures in books and on the walls and did a load of black and white film pictures for my A level photography course (😅). I remember my Dad speaking to him on the phone and hearing lots of 'yes sir' as my Dad 'politely' told him he'd come and find him if anything happened to us (my twin sister was there too). Although I came home with a tattoo, much to my mum's horror.

All in all in thought he was an ok guy, but turned on the charm to get what he wanted. Everyone did and does tiptoe around him, he gets away with murder, and he can be nasty if he doesn't get what he wants/needs. Which was primarily crack and money. He will throw you under a bus without a thought. I will never believe anything about him being clean, he is an addict to the core and he wants that lifestyle. He doesn't know anything else.

Despite seeing 'behind the scenes ' which was desperate in all senses of the word, I do look back on the whole thing quite fondly. I had two years of endlessly seeing amazing bands, going on tour for sometimes 30 nights in a row all on the back of the Libertines and similar bands like the Cribs, Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs. All out of just an immense obsession with music (not as a groupie before anyone asks). And lots of it facilitated by my wonderful Dad who would drive us hundreds of miles around the country to then be told to wait around the corner 😬🫠

Anyway, probably the best drugs education you can give anyone... I've seen some horrible stuff. Glamorous it is not. I'm immensely grateful to my parents for their trust and support and letting me live my life (has anyone seen Almost Famous?). As a result I've lived in amazing places and done some awesome things (I used to be a lion researcher!).

The smoking and boozing made me feel sick. He's not a well man. I thought he came accross as very intelligent and sensitive. He clearly has 'something' in him but he's also self destructive. And this undoubtedly destroys those around him too. His wife is destroying herself. He's never going to be sober, healthy and writing poems in his cottage. He will implode. She'll bury him and she knows that. Why you'd do that to yourself and your child, I don't know.

I thought the saddest bit was when he met the fan outside the hotel before the libertines gig. The fan was offering him drugs and encouraging him to party. Everyone knows this man is an addict. But this guy is pushing him to partake. He expects it of him. Won't let it go. He can't escape. It's not like he was successful enoug to have millions left in the bank either. Sad

I know not a jot about this man but have read this whole thread with fascination and am now balls deep in a Tattle thread.

Think I will watch the doc tomorrow.

One thing I am finding quite shocking is now accessible he seemed to be in his heyday.

Ooohhh what's on Tattle??

I think this interview from four years ago was way better than the Louis interview.

I always thought he was a massive twat. But I watched the documentary anyway. He clearly is newly clean (2 years clean from hereon is new compared to how long he has been on it)

He struck me as one of those addicts that doesn't really enjoy life clean. We all expect people to want to be clean but not everyone does. I think he knows he's fucked his body snd life completely, and he looks a little empty knowing he can't have that drug anymore without dying but isn't happy without the way the drugs made him feel.

he looked loads different 4 years ago

He wasn't so out of it he couldn't run out of the flat where MB lay dying and it's worth remembering MB was the second person to die in that flat falling from the balcony.

He's not clean now,he's still an addict and I wouldn't let anyone with fingernails like his near my baby 🤢

I’ve always thought PD was a privileged, self-absorbed twat and this interview confirmed it for me. I don’t feel sorry for him at all though I do feel for his wife and children.

His ramblings about Blanco’s death will, I’m sure, not have been any comfort or use to the victim’s family. Sounds like there was a horribly aggressive atmosphere at the party- a load of rich, drug and booze-addled men posturing at each other. PD running from the scene past the body. Awful.

And was he really saying, as he appeared to be, that he knew he hadn’t killed Blanco because his then gf told a barman years later that PD had never killed anyone? I mean, I have to assume the police carried out a thorough investigation but I don’t understand how it was so hard to establish what really happened. Reminds me a lot of Barrymore and the man in the pool- lots of similarities really.

Louis was great though, I thought.

I saw PD be ruthless in what I suppose you'd call business and also physically go for people who annoyed him. Friends. Not saying that necessarily happened with MB but he wasn't just a sweet harmless soul rambling about Albion. He could really push people around. He wasn't all good or bad but it was 100% all about Peter at any time. He simply didn't see past his own requirements

God yeah, he looks totally different albeit manky always. I guess you don’t really get fat heroin addicts and he has bloated up since giving up the gear.

He seemed very much on his best behaviour, probably with the thought that this could be his last TV appearance- I don't doubt that he is a very sick man. He did seem very self-absorbed though- and that rambling about Mark Blanco said nothing really. I watched the Mark Blanco documentary, and am haunted by the image of MB's mother watching the CCTV clip over and over, trying to get the police to listen. Don't forget that PD's statement put on screen at the end of the MB documentary was "I am sorry for Mrs Blanco's loss and I welcome any assistance people can give her to come to terms with what happened". What a nasty, sneering pass-agg buck-passing thing to say. It is obvious he knows much more than he said on camera, because he was trying to fix this image of himself as his legacy.

@PloptheBarnOwl

Can I just ask where everybody is watching the mark blanco doc? I spent ages looking for it last night but it seems to have vanished which instantly made me suspicious 🙄

@FaiIureToLunch it is on Channel 4 player. It is disturbing and heartbreaking.

I was really appalled by this documentary. PD and his wife obviously need some publicity to earn money and LT is reverting to his ‘point and laugh at the weirdo’ approach to programme making.

What PD had to say about the death of MB is utterly immoral. I have no idea if PD was responsible for his death, or knows who was. But, any person with a normal sense of morality or empathy would be filled with shame for having run away, sadness that a young man died and deep sympathy for his mother. He clearly has none of these feelings.

I am shocked and angry that some people on here are unable to separate their teenage ideas about what is cool from a mature and decent appraisal of his behaviour. Of course he is very ill with addiction and I sympathise with that, but why not challenge his appalling behaviour? MBs family, PDs children and the many others judging by this thread have been victims of his behaviour. None of it can be excused by the fact that he write some cool music many, many years ago.

LT seemed quite awkward with him, more than his usual faux-awkwardness. Not sure why.

I've never been interested in Pete Doherty - always just saw him as a second tier musician who got a boost by being with Kate Moss. His life seems sad and empty, even with his family. I assume he suffers depression which makes him nihilistic, and so uncaring about Mark Blanco, as he barely values even his own life.

I watched the Mark Blanco documentary straight afterwards. I'd always thought it was some big party where it was a genuine haze as to what happened. But no, there were just 6 of them in that scummy flat. It's a scandal no-one has been charged for Mark's murder.

posh (ish) boys who quote poetry always seem to get away with murder. Why? Some women (including fans) have really low standards for their men. He’s fat, dirty, a liar, and has no empathy but some people are still simpering over him as if he were the 6th form cool guy.