Police 'closely monitoring' Benefits Street

Police are set to examine scenes from the new series of Benefits Street that appear to show drug dealing and drug use.

The controversial Channel 4 show returned to screens on Monday night, documenting the lives of residents on Kingston Road, on the Tilery Estate, in Stockton-on-Tees.

Chief Superintendent Gordon Lang of Cleveland Police issued a statement to say that the force was not involved in the filming of the show and was seeing the footage for the first time.

He said they were watching the programme "closely" and would assess the footage to decide whether to launch any investigations.

The force also answered tweets from viewers asking if action would be taken against any of the people involved in the programme.

One tweet said: "We are watching and will assess the footage to see if it could assist us in any live or new investigations."

Love Productions, the makers of the programme, said they had followed strict guidelines about filming illegal activity.

The first series of the show made stars of some of the inhabitants of Birmingham's James Turner Street but was described by some critics as "poverty porn".

Cleveland Police said patrols in the area would continue as normal tomorrow and asked anyone who witnesses any crime to contact police.

Watch: Benefits Street star White Dee on the Tories' policies