Senior backbencher Anne Begg slammed Channel 4's Benefits Street yesterday for its "misrepresentation" of benefits claimants.

The work and pensions select committee chairwoman said the show's focus on one "petty criminal" skewed the protrayal of those receiving benefits.

"Part of the problem of projecting the extreme cases is that people then extrapolate that and say that applies to everybody who is on benefits," the Labour MP told Radio 4's Today programme.