A regional daily reporter has gone undercover in a bid to discover what life is like on a street which stars in a controversial TV programme about people living on benefits.
Adam Thompson, a reporter for the Express & Star, spent a week investigating what James Turner Street in Birmingham was really like, after it became notorious on Channel 4 programme Benefits Street.
He decided to go undercover on the street to see what life was really like without the TV cameras there and find out how residents were coping with the spotlight on their homes.
Benefits Street first hit the TV screens in January and has sparked much controversy, with the street becoming one of the most infamous addresses in the country and the residents becoming household names for the wrong reasons.
Adam is pictured on James Turner Street.
In his first article about life on the street, Adam wrote: “After four weeks of judging from my armchair, I spent a week living in the area to experience day-to-day life on Benefits Street for myself. I’ll go and wash cars, that’ll show ‘em, I thought.
“Despite the programme claiming 90pc of residents are on benefits, dozens of cars line the street including a Jaguar, at least two BMWs and a Mercedes.
“Having seen Smoggy the 50p man struggle to get residents to part with cash for life’s necessities, I thought I might be pushing my luck but I started out charging £1 for the service.
“I arrived at James Turner Street last Monday. I was expecting a hive of activity, but the place was deserted.
“No tracksuited mothers sitting on walls, or semi-clothed children running wild. It’s a rainy January, admittedly, but one of the first people I met told me that life had changed dramatically on the street since the show aired.”
Adam found that many of those who did answer their doors to him were suspicious and wanted life to go back to normal.
He reported that residents said the street had “shut up shop” since featuring on the programme and police now made regular patrols of the area, while unmarked police cars park in the street the day after a show is aired amid concerns for residents’ safety.
He was unable to get any work washing cars on the street so went to the neighbouring streets to continue his quest.
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People not sat with their front doors open or sitting on walls during cold, wet winter months – who would have thought it?
Credit to the producers of this show. The column inches this show has filled would have cost thousands from a PR agency no doubt!
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I don’t understand the logic of sending a reporter to do an undercover exposé in the wake of a warts-and-all documentary.
Had Channel 4 glossed over problems and represented James Turner Street in an overly flattering way then the E&S’s exercise would have been valid.
But what did the newspaper expect to find after C4 uncovered most, if not all, of what there was to uncover?
If anything, I’d like to see an exposé of, say, Tettenhall or Wightwick, the posher parts of the E&S’s circulation area.
Now that would be worth reading!
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What a pointless feature. Time was that newspapers made the news rather than following it…
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