MORE people tuned in to watch the news than to watch a controversial documentary about a Southampton neighbourhood on Tuesday night.

Viewing figures show that just 1.4 million people watched Channel 4’s one-hour documentary Immigration Street, filmed in the city’s Derby Road.

The programme was a follow-up to last year’s Benefits Street and set out to show how immigrants coped with living in the UK.

But the title sparked outrage among residents and community leaders, who felt it was not a true reflection of a harmonious street where most people were at least second or third generation British residents.

Like Benefits Street, documentary maker Love Productions intended to make six episodes at the start of filming, but slashed that to just one episode.

Filming was cut short after the camera crew was pelted with eggs and flour and claimed that more serious threats of violence were made against them – although these threats have not been reported to police.

Both Southampton City councillor Satvir Kaur and Pat O’Dell, of the Newtown Residents’ Association, expressed their delight at the figures.

Cllr Kaur, pictured below, left, said it was a “massive success” for the community.

Daily Echo:

She said: “This has made me really happy. I know a lot of people that boycotted the show. I also know of individuals who told me it was such a poor piece of telly that either they changed channel or turned off the TV.”

Ms O’Dell said the viewing figures reflected the quality of the programme.

She said: “That’s made my day. I had three people phone me up this morning to tell me they fell asleep watching it.”

In terms of viewers, the one-off show places it in stark contrast to Benefits Street, which saw an average 4.64 million people watching during the six episodes, making it Channel 4’s most viewed programme of 2014.

Complaints to media regulator Ofcom also show the difference in the reaction to the show too – while Benefits Street racked up 967 complaints throughout the series, Immigration Street got just one.

A spokesman for Ofcom said the complaint was about the quality of the show.

Hampshire police said they had not received any complaints from Love Productions, or members of the public, relating to the claims made in the programme.

A spokesman for Channel 4 added it was the highest trending topic on Twitter and felt it had been a success.

He said: “We’re very pleased that so many people engaged with the show, both by watching it and via social media.”

A total of 4.3 million people watched the BBC news and 1.7 million tuned in to ITV news at 10pm.