If this programme does not give politicians the impetus to overhaul the benefits system, nothing will. This is not just a poverty of the financial variety, but a poverty of aspiration and morality that leaves the viewer feeling a queasy combination of anger and hopelessness. Yet it makes for surprisingly compelling viewing, not least because it leads us to realise the true depth of the poverty in our midst.
Billed as the real-life version of the TV show, Shameless - in which feckless Frank Gallagher fiddles his benefits and spends all his money on drugs and alcohol - Skint is beyond depressing.
