TV's Benefits Street team targets troubled Sheffield Page Hall suburb for new series on migrants

CHANNEL 4 has commissioned a potentially controversial documentary series about the effects of immigration on a community in Sheffield.
Page Hall Road, SheffieldPage Hall Road, Sheffield
Page Hall Road, Sheffield

The four-episode series Keeping Up With The Khans is the latest from producers Love Productions, who made Benefits Street and its successor Immigration Street, both of which caused anger among some participants.

Immigration Street, which was filmed in Southampton, was reduced from four episodes to just one after an outcry from residents.

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In the latest series, refugees, Roma migrants, white British and Pakistani residents were filmed in Sheffield’s Page Hall district over 15 months. Each of the 60-minute episodes - which had the working title New Britain Street - will focus on a different section of the community.

Page Hall’s terraced streets were once home to a mainly white working-class community. But from the 1960s onwards the area has welcomed migrants first from Pakistan and more recently from East Europe - sometimes leading to friction between the different groups.

In 2014, local MP and former Home Secretary David Blunkett appealed for government support to deal with violent clashes in the area. His intervention followed a street fight thought to have involved 25 people, which broke out between rival groups following an influx of Roma migrants.

Later that year it was revealed that more than £300,000 had been used to deploy a dedicated police team to the area for nine months. They were taught Romani in an effort to improve communication between police and the migrant community.

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Channel 4’s head of documentaries, Nick Mirsky said: “Immigration is one of the most hotly debated and polarising issues in Britain today. What we are doing with this series is showing audiences how complex the subject is, and reflecting the human stories behind the rhetoric and provocative headlines.”

Kieran Smith of Love Production said the film team had “exceptional access” to the different communities in Page Hall, who, he said. “wanted to share their lives with us”.

He added: “The series shows the tensions that can arise when people from a wide range of backgrounds and ethnicities live side by side and also what can be achieved when they work together.”

Keeping Up With The Khans will begin on February 4.