Benefits Street’s White Dee says she wishes she had never appeared on the landmark documentary – as she detailed how a knife-wielding attacker broke into her house and threatened her with a knife.
The 52-year-old, real name Deirdre Kelly, said she and her family were subjected to a ‘campaign of terror’ by her daughter Caitlin’s ex-boyfriend Luke Shervington.
Shervington, now 26, attacked Caitlin in October 2017 before turning up at her mother’s house and before entering the home with a knife.
Ms Kelly, looking back on her time on the Channel 4 documentary set on a Birmingham street, said the show’s producers had ‘stitched up’ the community, and claimed they only learned of the title weeks before it aired.
In a new interview following Shervington’s conviction for common assault and possession of a knife, she said she would not appear on the programme knowing now that her and her neighbours’ lives would be depicted as ‘poverty porn’.
Deirdre Kelly, AKA ‘White Dee’, as she appeared on Benefits Street alongside daughter Caitlin
She went on to appear on Celebrity Big Brother, for which she was paid a repored £50,000
White Dee walking along James Turner Street, the setting of controversial Channel 4 documentary Benefits Street
She told the paper of Shervington’s attack: ‘I turned round and there was Luke, standing in the bedroom doorway with a knife in his hand. He was agitated and yelling, “Who called the police?”.
He fled before police arrived, sparking a manhunt that ended days later when Shervington appeared at the property again; police arrested him and found a 21inch blade in his bad.
She added: ‘My daughter didn’t want to leave the house alone and was always looking over her shoulder. She felt like she was being stalked.’
When his case came to court in September 2022, he was given a 23-week sentence, suspended for a year, after pleading guilty to common assault and possession of a dangerous weapon.
He was also given a restraining order, community service and a requirement to attend an anger management programme – a sentence Ms Kelly could not understand.
She said: ‘I was fuming. Everything he put us through should have led to a custodial sentence. It was the hardest thing I’d ever experienced in my life.’
Ms Kelly, drawing on her own experience as well as those of her community, has founded Birmingham Says No, an anti-youth violence group that aims to discourage young people from getting involved in crime, especially with knives.
It is the next step in an unexpected career that began with the airing of Benefits Street on Channel 4 in 2014, depicting the lives of residents of James Turner Street in Birmingham’s Winson Green area.
The programme, which counted her amongst its ‘characters’, courted controversy amid fears it was exploiting its vulnerable cast; Brummie comedian Frank Skinner, turned down an offer to narrate the series, citing concerns about its themes.
And the documentary series did not shy away from the more unsavoury aspects of its subjects’ lifestyles, depicting benefit fraud, cannabis cultivation and shoplifting.
But Ms Kelly won fans for her appearance as the street’s unofficial ‘mother hen’, seen cooking meals for the hungry in the street and looking after children.
The programme was debated in parliament, with some praising it as of a microcosm of deprived communities across Britain serving as a wake-up call for action; others criticised it as exploitative and contributing to stereotypes about benefit claimants.
Some of those who took part in filming claim they were deceived into appearing on the show, claiming producers Love Production had told them the programme would be about community spirit.
White Dee arriving to enter the Big Brother house in August 2014, months after she appeared on Benefits Street
White Dee in a scene on Benefits Street, alongside James ‘Fungi’ Kelly – who died of a cardiac arrest in 2019
She has since spoken of her regret at appearing on the programme, claiming producers ‘stitched up’ those who agreed to be filmed
Ms Kelly has spoken about the damage she feels the programme has done before. In 2021, she said it ‘ripped my life apart’, at one point driving her to attempt suicide.
She said at the time: ‘Benefits Street caused such a storm and the people in James Turner Street were shocked by it and totally overwhelmed.
‘The show ripped apart my life at the time. It changed my life forever and it destroyed the James Turner Street I knew before the show.’
However, she went on to appear on Celebrity Big Brother, being paid a reported £50,000 to appear on the programme, and has since become an unofficial spokeswoman on issues affecting those living in poverty.
Hundreds of complaints were made to media regulator Ofcom, which ultimately ruled that Channel 4 had not breached broadcasting regulations.
Lee Nutley, a regular figure on the show’s second series, died in 2015. Neil Maxwell, another figure from the second series, was jailed for life for murder in 2019.
James ‘Fungi’ Clarke, who appeared in the first series, died of a cardiac arrest linked to a suspected drug overdose the same year.
What became of the stars of Channel 4’s Benefits Street?
DEIDRE KELLY, AKA WHITE DEE
Benefits Street star White Dee said her ‘street family’ was ripped apart by the TV show – and she left the area.
The reality TV star, whose real name is real name Deidre Kelly, moved away from James Turner Street in Winson Green and the neighbours she grew to love.
After the success of Benefits Street , Dee went on to make TV and magazine appearances and then made Handsworth her new home.
White Dee no longer sees those featured in the hit Channel 4 programme first aired back in 2014 – such as Black Dee and 50p Man.
In the show, Dee had a heartwarming relationship with lovable rogue Fungi who struggled with homelessness and drink and drugs. He tragically passed away in 2019.
Dee said in 2018: ‘I haven’t spoken to anyone shown in the documentary though I do still speak to people on the street.
‘It is the one sad thing. I do think it was one of the biggest regrets ever. We were like one massive family.
‘But how it was portrayed by the TV editing ripped us apart.
SAMORA ROBERTS, AKA BLACK DEE
Benefits Street star Samora Roberts, who used the moniker Black Dee, was jailed for seven years in 2016 for keeping live ammunition in her home – where she ran an ‘open-all-hours’ drug business.
Roberts, 39, was found in possession of over £5,000 of Class A drugs as well as bullets which she hid in a pink trainer under a washing basket.
She admitted seven counts of possessing cannabis with intent to supply and was found guilty of possessing crack cocaine and heroin.
Roberts was also found guilty of two counts of possessing 11 .38 Smith and Wesson cartridges without a firearms certificate.
Judge Philip Parker QC jailed Roberts for seven years at Birmingham Crown Court where he accused her of running an open-all-hours’ drug business from her home on James Turner Street, which was better known as the location of Channel 4’s Benefits Street.
Samora was one of the first Benefits Street residents to hit out at Channel 4 producers for ‘exploiting’ locals when the show aired in January 2014.
She later had a public spat with former pal White Dee, claiming she was a ‘sell out’ for appearing on Celebrity Big Brother.
STEPHEN SMITH, AKA 50P MAN
Door-to-door salesman Stephen Smith, became affectionately known as ’50p Man’ after selling cut-price household wares to the residents of Benefits Street.
His entrepreneurial spirit captured the attention of millionaire and Pimlico Plumbers founder Charlie Mullins, who offered him a £10,000 deal to open a 50p discount store to rival Poundland.
Unfortunately, they fell out and the business venture did not happen.
Mr Mullins claimed he could have become a millionaire and blamed ‘bad advice from people around him’ for the deal falling through.
JAMES CLARKE, AKA FUNGI
Fungi died in July 2019 at the age of 50 after a heart attack sparked by a suspected drugs overdose.
While stars like White Dee made a fortune and became celebrities, Fungi struggled with addiction, lost his job as a Big Issue seller and ended up sleeping rough in Birmingham.
He quit drink and drugs after a viewer paid £11,500 to put him through rehab and he looked to have turned his life around in 2016.
But the father-of-four was unable to beat addiction and found himself back on the streets, spending his benefits on 10 cans of super-strength cider each day while also taking crack cocaine.
He moved into a hostel for addicts in his home city but was found dead after the family said they hadn’t seen him for six months.
His ex-partner Donna, who brought up his daughter Kirsty, took to Facebook after his death and posted: ‘Death leaves a heartache no can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal’.