1. BENEFIT STREET
‘Benefit Street’ is a British
documentary series broadcasted
on channel 4 to expose the lives of
the people who live down James
Turner Street, in Birmingham and
how they survive on benefits.

2. COMMENTATOR
Tony Hirst is the Benefit
Street Commentator. The
show was seen as very
controversial, with the
police, channel 4 and the
media regulator ‘Ofcom’
receiving hundreds of
complaints.

3. OPENING SCENE
• The start of the programme starts with a
montage of scenes from Benefit Street to
highlight what the programme is going to
include with the people from the
programme commenting on there lifestyle.
• Introduces the audience to some of the
characters (who are real people) that are
going to be featured.
• Music
• The montage attracts the audience
engaging them, informing them what the
programme is going to be about.
• Highlights why the documentary is being
broadcasted, to inform the audience but
also to humour them.
Stylistic Feature Effect

4. COMMENTARY
• Narrator introduces programme with a
voiceover.
• The narration matches the clips on the
screen by introducing each character and
giving a background story on them.
• Informs the audience on the background of
the programme as it includes facts and
statistics about how many people are
unemployed, the different cultures and
ages along James Turner Street.
Stylistic Feature Effect

5. TITLE

6. TITLE
Stylistic Feature Effect
• The title appears after the montage with
background music.
• The title appears on the wall in capitals
• Also appears as if it’s a street name
• The effect of the title highlights what the
programme is going to be about
• This creates an effect as if its graffiti on
the wall presenting the street as being
lower class, needing benefits
• The title plays on the words of the street
name by re-calling the street benefit
street because of what the programme is
based on.

7. NAME LABELS
Stylistic Feature Effect
• Nick names of the characters and what
they are called on the street appears
when they are having a conversation to
the camera about their life on benefit
street
• Creates an informal atmosphere
• Allowing audience to watch it at any
point in the programme and instantly
know who the character is
• Allows the audience to get to know the
characters of the programme