Facing the backlash

Creative director, Kieran Smith joined us all to talk about the controversial documentary, Make Leicester British, which was screened last year.  Channel 4 in the past has produced similar documentaries such as Make Bradford British where they focused on the segregation between different communities and cultures in Bradford.

The production company responsible is Love Productions, which has also produced Benefits Street, Immigration Street and The Great British Bake off.

Kieran explained why Leicester was chosen, and its attraction is evident; it’s a city full of multiculturalism, community cohesion and integration. But what was interesting was that the documentary initially wanted to focus on Eastern Europeans coming into the UK,and this governed the company's choice of participants.

One member of the audience pointed out the show should have been named ‘Big Brother on Immigration.’ Those who attended the event felt Leicester was misrepresented and that the producers wanted to create problems that weren’t initially there.

It was brave of Kieran to attend given the backlash he received, but he answered calmly and held his hands up to the choices that were made for entertainment purposes.

According to Kieran, it’s safe to say that there are no future plans for Making Somewhere Else British.

Humairaa Patel