9. The residents didn’t take too kindly to their local MP.

As the Channel 4 filming attracted local and national press, local MP Alex Cunningham gave an interview to one of the film crews saying that Benefits Street was exploiting the vulnerable and an intrusion into their private lives, before swiftly leaving the estate without talking to anyone.

Julie said: “He didn’t know we even existed before Benefits Street”. So Cunningham, the MP for Stockton North, decides to go around and talk to them for the first time. Which is seriously awkward because it SOMEHOW looks disingenuous. Cunningham asks why they’ve never gone to his surgery.  Sue points out they didn’t know who he is, they don’t have a car, and there’s no community centre.