MPs sent to the tower – for lesson in real life

Smoking cannabis at the age of 14, she later turned to prostitution to fund a heroin habit, and a conviction for drug dealing saw her

sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison.

At the moment Selina is on methadone, although admits to the occasional lapse. On bad days she sends her boyfriend out to buy drugs and

normally he returns with the goods in a couple of minutes. Temptation is everywhere and she fears that in the great scheme of things people like her don't matter to those who run the country.

Politicians, she says, sit in parliament arguing all day and when she meets her first-ever MP, it seems to confirm her suspicions. Austin Mitchell arrived on Hull's Orchard Park estate towards the end of last year, the challenge to spend eight days living in one of the imposing tower blocks which have been home to Selina for most of her life.

Elsewhere in the country the Lib Dems' Mark Oaten and Conservative's Tim Loughton and Iain Duncan Smith were doing the same and their experiences were filmed for a new Channel 4 show which the broadcaster said would remove politicians from their grace-and-favour lifestyle and give them a taste of the real world.

Certainly, for the Great Grimsby MP, his involvement in Tower Block of Commons disrupted his normal routine. Instead of his usual morning visit to the newsagent, on Orchard Park his first stop is the methadone dispensary. As Selina swigs her prescription, the pharmacist tells Mitchell he sees about 90 addicts a day. After years of injecting, some have had a leg amputated.

Seeing the individuals behind the statistics, Mitchell seems genuinely shocked, but some fear the four-part series will only serve to

reinforce stereotypes and kick a historically troubled area already down on its luck.

"The estate does have a problem with drugs and alcohol, but it's not

all bad," says Barbara Fox, who has lived on Orchard Park since its completion in 1967 and is an active member of the area's Thorpes Community Association.

"The problem is that it's easier to tar everyone with the same brush than show what life is really like here.

"People who work hard and do their best for their kids isn't a story is it? There are a few of us who volunteer at the community centre and we can have up to 75 kids in the centre at its busiest times. We try to steer them on the right path and give them a bit of normality in their lives.

"You hear stories of kids who go to do their homework and discover their parents have sold the computer to pay for drugs or who are pretty much left to fend for themselves. We're here to give them a hot meal and to keep them off the streets.

"The programme makers said they wanted to show both sides of the story, but I suspect that might not be the case. We have seen how things can be twisted before."

Whenever the film cuts to the Hull estate, the first thing viewers see is a close-up of barbed wire. It helps to give the impression of a prison camp from which everyone, if they could, would escape. The flat Mitchell – who unlike the other MPs in the show refused to stay with a resident and insisted on bringing his wife Linda along for the ride – is similarly grim. The toilet seat is broken, the bed is a soiled- looking mattress on the floor and there's a hole where the television was ripped out.

Over the years these kind of bare surroundings have provided the

backdrop for a succession of bad news stories. One of the most

notorious blocks on the estate, Vernon House, became a target for hooligans.

After the flats were earmarked for demolition, the building stood empty for two years during which time fittings were ripped out and fridges hurled from the highest storeys. One Bonfire Night a series of hoax calls lured firefighters into the area where they were then pelted by a shower of bricks and missiles.

Built as part of the "Streets in the Sky" philosophy, early residents of Orchard Park were promised smart new apartments with modern conveniences, but for many the dream has crumbled.

However, hope for a better future still remains. A 156m regeneration plan is working its way through the pipeline and Barbara says many of the flats have recently been upgraded, central heating has been installed and the blocks have been given a much-needed lick of paint.

"I didn't go in with any agenda," says Mitchell, who took with him a car full of belongings from his home in Sowerby in an effort to make

the Hull flat more comfortable.

"Of course part of the programme was to make us look ridiculous and out of touch. We were told to swap our normal clothes for Primark tracksuit bottoms and hoodies, but I wasn't prepared to play that game.

"For me, this wasn't I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Hull, it was about seeing how we treat people who live on council estates."

During their stay, Mitchell's wife reveals how as a young working mother she became addicted to benzodiazepine.

For her, the tranquilliser was a way of blocking out the rest of the world and she says she can understand how Selina became dependent on heroin.

However, there are also moments when the couple appear not to be taking the challenge seriously. At one point the flat intercom buzzes and Mitchell picks it up with the greeting: "Hello. Drug paradise here". It's Selina outside, who doesn't always see the funny side of her new neighbours, and much is made in the first episode of their decision to have dinner with friends in Hull while the other three politicians are doing their best to live on 5 a day.

"The oven in the flat didn't work," says 75-year-old Mitchell by way of explanation.

"We'd borrowed some garden furniture from friends so we had something to sit on, they invited us to dinner and we thought, 'Why not?'

"It wasn't a big deal and I did learn a lot from my time on the estate. I used to think the drug problem in this country was enormously exaggerated, I thought it was folklore, but it isn't.

"The other MPs had it far worse than me, they were sent to places rife with racial tension and gang culture. Compared to that, Orchard Park was a pretty nice community, the problem is it has been badly treated by both Labour and Conservative governments.

"The flats are barely liveable and decent, hardworking people have been forced to live alongside hooligans. If you talk in terms of the postcode lottery, Orchard Park has been given three lemons when all they want is a fair deal."

While eight days might have been enough time to identify the problems with council estates, finding the solutions is a great deal harder.

Some argue persuasively in favour of razing areas like Orchard Park to the ground and starting again, but such an approach ignores the fact that for many these unlovable estates are home.

"I don't blame the local council for what's happened here," says

Barbara.

"Their hands have been tied because there isn't enough funding coming down from central government.

"Just recently the estate's chill- out zone, which was a centre for the teenagers closed down because the funding ran out and I doubt it will ever reopen.

"Politicians constantly tell us that every child matters, but they

don't mean it, at least not in Hull.

"As things have gone downhill I have on the odd occasion thought about moving out, but I've been here more than 30 years now, it's where I belong."

n Tower Blocks of Commons, Channel 4, Monday, February 1, 9pm.