Obviously you all read Adam Curtis’ blog on the BBC, as you should. It had been a bit blank recently, and his most recent blog post revealed why – he was working on a new series for the BBC. I almost wet the bed. But why should this interest you, let alone excite you?

Well, Adam Curtis is one of the greatest living documentary makers – perhaps the greatest. Curtis’ past work include The Century of the Self, The Power of Nightmares, Pandora’s Box and The Trap, which told the story of how the modern idea of freedom was cultured by the actions of politicians.

His most recent work was 2009’s It Felt Like a Kiss – a massive multimedia presentation in a warehouse in Manchester that attempted to immerse the audience into the 50-years following World War 2, where Curtis claims America tried to reshape the world in its own image.

This is really indicative of Curtis’ work, he attempts to engage the audience by using all available means to immerse into the story he’s telling, using contemporary music, using only clips from the time and interviews with contemporary figures – he is almost totally absent from his own documentaries, appearing only as a solemn narrator to guide the audience – although in It Felt Like a Kiss he even avoids this, using only subtitles.

His work is laden with astonishing cinematography – chopping various scenes from history, normally plundered from Curtis’ bat-cave of the BBC archives. The result is slightly creepy and very ethereal.

Curtis is thus able to make the most uninspiring, pedestrian topics, such as mortgage crisis, very philosophical and sophisticated. The  Power of Nightmares is an entire tacit connection between simultaneous ideological changes in the United States and in the Arab World.

Curtis’ work is, however, opinionated, it doesn’t make any pretence about being objective. The documentaries are lengthy arguments and whilst being informative, are not solely informative, a la Horizon, and present often controversial but also cutting edge ideas.

This makes a change from documentary makers such as Niall Ferguson, who lace their traditionalist positions with hyperbole and sweeping phrases to grab attention. Curtis does not focus upon his own narrative, and let’s his material build his own argument.

Gushing complete. We should all be very, very excited about Adam Curtis’ return to a full BBC series for the first time in four years. Now watch his back catalogue, read his blog, build a shrine, find out where he lives.

Wait, what? I didn’t say that, did you say anything like that? But in all seriousness, this will be essential watching.