'The white working class feels alienated, threatened and voiceless,' says BBC boss

The white working classes feel "politically alienated" and frightened to speak out, a senior BBC executive has claimed.

Richard Klein said poorer whites believe they are "threatened economically and stifled socially" and that they no longer have a voice.

Mr Klein, the corporation's commissioning editor for documentaries, has courted controversy before.

He previously admitted that the political correctness the BBC is frequently accused of is at odds with many of its viewers.

His latest comments come ahead of a season of BBC2 programmes under the banner White, which he is overseeing and which he believes can play a part in easing the anxieties of that section of the community.

He said: "You don't hear white, working-class opinions often enough on TV.

"There's a large group of people who feel politically alienated, threatened economically and stifled socially. They feel they haven't got a voice."

He said many people interviewed for the programmes felt they could not say what they really thought for fear of being criticised.

"I wanted to change that. And I think it was important for the BBC to try and have a go at it."

The season has already provoked controversy, with politicians and race campaigners claiming the BBC should not be singling out ethnic groups.

There are fears from some that it will play into the hands of Right-wing groups like the BNP, by portraying white people as victims. One of the programmes, All White In Barking, will focus on a BNP activist.

Mr Klein, speaking to the Radio Times, admitted some viewers might consider the language and sentiments expressed in the programmes as racist.

But he added: "I don't think we're taking a stand here: we're hosting a debate. Quite a lot of these programmes are challenging to watch. What you get are sympathetic characters, complex responses to circumstances, and some people who are not particularly nice.

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"They are torn. They are reacting as human beings would do, to situations they don't quite understand. I don't think we've given a platform to extremist political parties. We have, I think, given a platform to people whose views aren't often heard on TV."

Other critics have suggested that having ranks of middle-class TV executives examining the white working-class could be seen as patronising.

The season will include a "provocative" drama about a white girl who moves into a Muslim-dominated community and starts wearing the hijab.

Documentaries will include Last Orders, about an "embattled" working men's club in Bradford, while Rivers Of Blood assesses the impact of Enoch Powell's infamous 1968 speech.

Klein has previously broken ranks with the politically correct views of the corporation.

At the end of 2006 he admitted the broadcaster was out of touch with the British public, saying it was guilty of "ignoring" mainstream opinion.

Speaking to a room full of TV viewers and BBC staff, he suggested that if the current situation continued it could affect the organisation's long-term future.

Klein said: "By and large, people who work at the BBC think the same and it's not the way the audience thinks. That's not long term sustainable.

"We pride ourselves on being 'of the people' and it's pathetic. Channel 4 tends to laugh at people, the BBC ignores them."