A NEW documentary focusing on people living on benefits in Jaywick aired for the frst time last night.

Benefits by the Sea aired on Channel 5 at 9pm on Tuesday.

The programme, produced by Spun Gold TV, said it would be “looking at charters contending with life on the breadline and the daily struggles they face”.

The first episode of the four-part series followed ex-gangster Fred as he struggled to survive the winter with his 15 cats in an unheated caravan on what the show billed as the “notorious” Brooklands estate.