A BOLTON man will be the focus of a Channel 4 documentary focusing on the lives of white men from disadvantaged backgrounds tonight, Tuesday January 9.

‘Working Class White Men’ is a two-part documentary, presented by rapper Professor Green, real name Stephen Manderson, and aims to explore what life is like for white men from disadvantaged backgrounds, and why many of them feel abandoned, and what the consequences ultimately may be.

As part of the filming, he visited Bolton to meet 20-year-old David, a former scrapyard worker, who lost both of his parents when he was a teenager.

Now unemployed, he is living in homeless hostels and flirting with far-right politics.

While in Bolton, Green speaks to David and his friends about what life in the town is like for them.

One friend said: “It’s not too good. Smaller employers don’t look twice at us because of where we are from and what we have been through. Most of us, what we have been through is not really our fault.”

David is one of six men across the country who are followed by the documentary over a period of six months.

Green says that they were chosen because “their stories reveal a crisis at the heart of working class life.”

The programme examines the challenges and barriers they each face in education, work, family life, and in the way the rest of society regards them.

Speaking on Channel 4 News on Tuesday night, Professor Green said the documentary was borne out of a recent statistic which revealed that only 10 per cent of white men from disadvantaged backgrounds will attend university, but are the most likely to end up in jail or as an addict.

He added: “When I found David he was living in a hostel where no one even helped him with the letters he received so he missed out on two housing placements simply because no one gave him the help that he needed. He couldn’t read or write.”

The programme will air on Channel 4 at 10pm tonight.