THE BBC came in for fierce criticism for its series The Scheme, which has been described as "tabloid TV at its worst" and "poverty pornography" which failed to show the positive side of a Kilmarnock estate.

Born and bred in the community, the MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Willie Coffey laid into the BBC, accusing it of breaking promises to produce balanced programmes and of cashing in on the most vulnerable in society by selling the show filmed in Onthank.

The SNP MSP led a Member’s Debate at Holyrood, saying: “We didn’t expect a gloss over of many of the problems and issues that you can see anywhere in Scotland but I think we were entitled to expect some balance from a publicly funded broadcaster that takes money from people in the form of licence fees only to turn against them by depicting their community in this way.

“It was tabloid TV at its worst. Local people were kidded and conned by this venture. They feel used and abused and many who agreed to be filmed now wish they hadn’t done so.

“To expose people who are already at risk and who lead chaotic lifestyles on TV for nothing more than public entertainment was wrong and dangerous. What happens though when the interest fades, the interviews end and the money runs out? What happens to those people then? Who will look after them?

“How dare they do this to us? How dare you swan off into the sunset, leaving behind nothing but an angry community and broken hearts.”

Glasgow Conservative MSP Ruth Davidson, a former BBC journalist, spoke of the programme as “poverty porn” which she had been unable to bring herself to watch.

The BBC insisted: “The Scheme recorded the real storıes of real people lıvıng ın contemporary Scotland. That’s why it struck such a chord with the audience. ”