Ross Kemp show accused of gang hype

Ross Kemp’s new TV show about London gangs has been accused of ‘manipulating’ children by encouraging them to pose as gangsters. Youth workers in Peckham, where the ex EastEnders star recently shot a new one-off documentary about the capital’s gang culture, told the Sunday Mirror that producers handed out balaclavas to kids to make them look more frightening for publicity shots. “The woman who seemed to be in charge told me the balaclavas were to protect the kids’ identity – but they were obviously making them look more menacing to feed the public concern about youth crime,” Davina Bailey, a worker at the Fast Forward Youth Club, told the paper. She added that producers had “egged on” other youngsters to do gangster poses and given them money for joining in: “It was disgusting. It’s one thing to report what is going on but another to come to Peckham and hype up the situation to make their programme look better,” she said. But a Sky spokesperson said: “The participants in the photoshoot were offered the option of disguising their identity using headwear and some were offered a small fee for photography and their time.” Ross Kemp: Teenage Gangs of South London is being shown on Sky One at 9pm on Monday 16 April.

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