IT was the shocking documentary that introduced Brits to the “closest thing this country has to a shanty town". Now, 10 years on, residents of much-maligned Jaywick have slammed Channel 5 series Benefits By The Sea for stitching them up and “almost destroying” their seaside home. The north Essex village has acquired a notorious reputation over the years - once branded the most deprived place in Britain, a ghetto where half of adults are out of work and the average income is just £360 a week.

And walking around the seaside enclave, which lies two miles down the coast from Clacton-on-Sea, it is clearly still blighted by many of the issues that gave it such a bad reputation a decade ago. Letters are missing from the signage sitting atop some of the more dilapidated businesses down the coastline, and we noticed feral youths riding around on bikes during school hours, the whiff of marijuana hanging in the air after they passed.

Nonetheless, with recently-elected local MP Nigel Farage promising to put the area “on the map” and a £126million transformation plan in the pipeline, locals feel their luck is finally on the turn. That is despite the grievances that linger a decade on about documentary producers focusing on jobless junkies and alcoholics living in the once-thriving seaside resort. Julie Coleman, 68, runs Julie’s Alterations clothing service in the Brooklands area, where many of the programme’s most disturbing scenes were filmed.

She said: “I think the show almost destroyed Jaywick. A lot of it was so untrue. “If they do another documentary, they should go to ordinary people instead of targeting certain individuals around here. It put us down. “A lot of people that come here to visit still bring it up, about it being Benefits By The Sea. “We still have tourists coming to Jaywick, because there are things that bring them here.

“But it made us all seem like drunks and druggies and not everybody is like that.”. In 2015, half of Jaywick’s 4,665 population was unemployed – five times the national average. It was officially the most deprived place in Britain, according to the indices of deprivation based on factors like poverty, crime, education and skill levels, unemployment and housing. The average weekly income was just £360.

Since then, £5.3million has been invested to create the Sunspot building in Brooklands, which features a number of popular cafes along with a mobility scooter shop. And in September, Tendring District Council announced an ambitious £126million 20-year plan to transform Jaywick Sands Place. But despite the best efforts of community leaders and residents, problems remain. Last year, two XL Bully dogs mauled a Jaywick grandmother to death in a vicious attack that sickened the nation.

Esther Martin, 68, was babysitting her grandson when the hounds - who belonged to her wannabe rapper son-in-law Ashley Warren - turned on her as she tried to shoo their six puppies with a broom. Meanwhile, over the summer families were forced into temporary accommodation after a suspected arson attack ravaged 10 properties in the area. Aaron Taylor, 32, opened the local Sun Spa tanning salon in May 2024, but he worries that not enough is being done to stop the village going to the dogs.

He said: "It's still a deprived area. I see people picking up cigarette butts from the floor and you can smell cannabis in the air when you pass certain groups of people. “It seems there are still a lot of people out of work here. “There's not much activity in the morning in Jaywick, put it that way. We don't see a soul before 11am. “I don't think there's enough job opportunities for young people here.

“There's good and bad everywhere but unfortunately we have more than our fair share of people who are just a nuisance, spraying graffiti and smashing up things. “I opened my business because I thought there was a gap in the market for a good tanning salon, but it's been up and down to be honest. It's sad to say it, but Jaywick feels a bit left behind.". Julie, who wasn’t living in the area when Benefits By The Sea aired, has a more hopeful vision for the future.

She adds: “We’ve been here 10 years and we love it. The community is brilliant. “We have food banks and clothes banks and all sorts of functions throughout the year. We’ve had no problems whatsoever.”. Builder and plumber Danny Sloggett appeared in all 13 episodes of Benefits by the Sea, which first aired in July 2015. He said: “I think the show was good and bad for Jaywick. It showed that we’re all on benefits even though we’re not.

“I work and have paid taxes all my life and so do many of my friends. “They should have come to see the people that work and own their own houses and businesses and it’s sad they didn’t do that. “There’s a big stigma about Jaywick. I used to get called ‘Jaywick Scum’ when I was at secondary school and young people tell me that still happens today. “The biggest thing that went wrong was when the Butlin’s holiday camp half a mile away closed down in the mid-1980s.