Channel 4’s chief executive has criticised Channel 5 for “carpet-bombing” its schedule with copycat programmes of its hit documentary series Benefits Street.
David Abraham defended the controversial Channel 4 show, which he said he had found to be “illuminating, moving and important”.
But he hit out at Viacom-owned Channel 5 which he said “despite their denials” were still running copycat versions of the show.
Recent Channel 5 programmes have included Big Benefits Handout and Benefits By the Sea: Jaywick, based in the Essex coastal town which is officially the most deprived place in England.
Abraham said: “There were sequences and episodes in [Benefits Street] that I found to be illuminating, moving and important.
“What I found unfortunate, frankly, was the degree to which Channel 5 in particular then just carpet-bombed the schedule with ‘me too’ versions of that programme which despite their denials are continuing to commission and run.
“That added a dimension to this that I could not have predicted. The original programme, the care with which it was made, the integrity of the programme makers, I would stand by wholly.”
Abraham, speaking at the Voice of the Listener and Viewer conference on Tuesday, added: “As is always the case when there is a quite understandable debate that then escalates into the national press and consciousness, the tone of the debate can be quite different to the tone of the programme.”
Channel 5 was contacted for comment, but had not responded at the time of publication.
Another Channel 5 programme, On Benefits and Proud, first ran on Channel 5 in 2013, three months before Benefits Street first aired on Channel 4 the following year.
A Channel 5 spokesman declined to comment.
