A north Hull community has come out fighting amid fears yet another documentary will paint the city in a bad light.

Grimsby MP Austin Mitchell has spent a week in a high-rise council flat on Orchard Park for a Channel 4 series, provisionally titled Tower Block of Commons, which airs in February.

It comes after Hull was named the worst place to live in Channel 4's 2005 The Best and Worst Places to Live in the UK.

Its recent show, Benefit Busters, also focussed on the unemployed in the city.

Mr Mitchell is one of a number of MPs who swapped their homes to sample life on Britain's council estates.

Residents have questioned why he did not stay on an estate in his own constituency, and raised concerns Hull will once again be portrayed as the poor relations by the national media.

Tom Marshall, secretary of Danes Residents' Association, in Orchard Park, said: "Hull is one of the best cities in the country, but every time documentary-makers are around, they run it down.

"Austin Mitchell is not our MP and should not be interfering."

Councillor Terry Geraghty, who represents the Orchard Park and Greenwood ward, said: "I am very concerned this documentary will give a false impression of the area.

"We have lots of new projects and investment in Orchard Park - new centres and playgrounds, a very successful rugby team - but I doubt they will be featuring that.

"Mr Mitchell should have stayed in Grimsby for the documentary.

"There would have been a lot more for the cameras there."

Janet Reuben, chief executive of Visit Hull and East Yorkshire, said: "Perhaps the producers would like to visit St Stephen's or Hull Truck Theatre, or bring their cameras to the Freedom Festival and see this city and its residents at their best.

"The people of Hull are tired of the doom and gloom stories, they are ready for positivity and optimism and I wonder if the documentary producers have the courage to show the real Hull."

Mr Mitchell lives in High Court, off Hall Road, with his wife and one-time Channel 4 producer Linda McDougall.

The property was sub-let to TV company Love Productions by a tenant, against the terms of their agreement.

A spokesperson for Hull City Council said: "Love Productions chose to enter a private arrangement with a resident on Orchard Park.

"When approached by the production company, the council offered a flat but it was declined.

"Had they accepted, the flat would have been handed over in a clean and let-able condition, in line with the council policy.

"We are fully aware of the issues that the Orchard Park faces.

"This is why we are working on a way forward for the estate, which has been successful in securing £160m to transform the area.

"We hope that this comes across when the documentary is aired."

The plans include the new Orchard Centre, the proposed Northern Academy, the new children's centre and a new neighbourhood shopping centre.

Mr Mitchell told the Mail the amount of needles littered around Orchard Park was "monstrous" and described the flats as "primitive".

He criticised a broken toilet seat, dirty sofa and bug-spattered bath in his flat.

Despite this, he said: "Nothing I said would help the documentary portray Hull in a bad light.

"If they did, that would be dishonest and I would be the first to say it."

Mr Mitchell, chairman of the MPs' Council Housing Group, added: "I enjoyed it. I met some interesting people.

"The people were more interesting than the conditions, which were fairly tough.

"It is not the councils which are to blame, it is the government which has left them too short of money."

A Channel 4 spokesman said: "Channel 4 has commissioned a new documentary series that sees politicians staying on different estates and tower blocks across the country.

"The programmes will show the politicians experiencing the realities of living on estates across the country and whether their views on poverty and social exclusion are changed by it."