What do you do when your four-year-old wont stop asking you how he can become a girl? Four. F..O.U.R. The mind boggles. 

One of our generation’s most masterful interviewers, Louis Theroux, dipped his toes into the world of transgender children a couple of months ago and if you’re feeling perplexed by the topic and its masses of recent media attention then this new BBC documentary is a stirring place to start.

Caitlyn Jenner’s very public transition feasts on the spectacular and almost glamorous nature of what is essentially as incredibly complex conundrum that we’re only really just starting to explore as a society. A conundrum made even more complex when investigated via 5-14 year olds currently undergoing similar transitions. Sure Jenner has made her  move under intense public scrutiny as a member of one of the most watched families in the world, but seeing a 14-year-old navigate the rocky waters of gender dysphoria is about as real as this shit gets.

In this April one- off BBC2 documentary, Theroux visits three children to explore their perceived gender identity, and perhaps just as interestingly, how their parents are navigating their child’s complicated sense of self, bearing in mind their incredibly young age. Do they start transitioning their child who is still developing their identity or do they wait and risk making the decision after puberty kicks in? Also fascinating are the medical professionals at the UCSF Hospital in San Francisco who lead the children and grieving families through puberty blockers, to hormone replacement and eventually, gender reassignment surgery.

Suffice to say no-one’s situation is particularly enviable, but Theroux’s no frills approach once again digs up some of the most touching, tender characters we’ve seen on TV. Impressively free of exploitation and sans any sign of sensationalism, this is the story of those life challenges where no-one really has the answers, just a whole lotta opinions.

Louis Theroux: Transgender Kids premieres on BBC Knowledge in Australia on Wednesday, July 29 at 8:30pm.