A reality television show about village life that was almost filmed in Aberdour has continued to split opinion.
Channel 4’s Love Thy Neighbour was almost set in Fife, but production company Studio Lambert pulled out after it was unable to buy a house in the coastal village to offer as a prize to contestants.
While Aberdour Community Council expressed relief at being spared such television exposure, a parish councillor of Grassington in North Yorkshire, where the programme was made, said it had brought benefits to the village even if the editing had made locals look “a bit bigoted.”
Aberdour Community Council chairman Arthur Lloyd said, “Of the people who I have spoken to who have watched the programme, the feeling is that it is very devisive and seems to have concentrated on people who are characters in the village who stand out, getting them to be more extreme in their views.”
Love Thy Neighbour was filmed last summer. Two couples at a time were moved into Grassington with the challenge of winning local votes to stay, with the prize for the winning couple a £300,000 cottage in the village.
It is understood around 70 residents of Grassington, which has a population of nearly 1400, took part in the programme.
Grassington parish councillor John Benson said the show made “Grassington look like a very beautiful and picturesque Dales village, which it is.
He continued, “After the first programme our local website had 10 times more hits than a normal Thursday between 10pm and midnight. About 40% of these hits that evening were inquiries about bed and breakfast so there were positive benefits to the local economy.
“Although a lot of people in the village don’t like it, didn’t like it and never would like it, it did an awful lot of good for the village as a community. I’d like to thank you very much for not having it in Scotland and giving us the opportunity to have it here.”
A spokeswoman for Channel 4 said, “The contributors featured express a wide range of opinions towards the newcomers these are overwhelmingly positive and to say they’re extreme is misleading.
“The series is a fair representation of what programme makers experienced during filming and reflects how the overwhelming majority of families had a positive experience in Grassington.”