Stand by for Taffy Shore

'The Valleys' takes the scripted reality TV concept to Wales – and the natives are up in arms

The Rhondda, where programme makers from MTV UK want to film 'The Valleys' (Alamy)

The traditional Welsh song famously promises to "keep a welcome in the hillside", but the makers of a controversial new TV series are finding the welcome mats have all been taken indoors.

Broadcasters want to emulate the success of Geordie Shore, MTV UK's highest-ever rated series, which spun off the car-crash TV success of the US original, Jersey Shore. The programme makers are hoping for similar success with the new series, set in South Wales. But even though The Valleys has not aired yet, critics from the Rhondda to Westminster have united to slate it as "patronising".

To be broadcast by the channel this summer, The Valleys features a group of young people "plucked from the tranquillity of Valley life", says MTV UK. Over a six-week period they will be "given the opportunity to leave their hamlets and change their lives in the city of Cardiff", providing viewers with some reality entertainment at the same time.

But the Rhondda MP Chris Bryant described the show as "hideously patronising". He said: "I can just imagine some bigwig in a glass office somewhere in Canary Wharf coming up with this great idea to make money out of poor people. I am sure it won't represent the Rhondda as most people live there know it."

Brothers Alex and James Bevan, 26 and 28, from the Rhondda, agree. Leading a protest to stop MTV presenting a "biased" view of the area, they are working on a campaign to offer a "truer picture" of life in the Valleys. James Bevan, a charity worker, said: "Born and raised in the Rhondda, I want the area to get a higher profile and recognition. But when we found out MTV was planning on rolling out its next unscripted – but heavily edited – 'reality' TV show in the Valleys, my friends and I winced. We won't allow MTV to come to the Valleys and promote a distorted, patronising view of the area – as many people in Newcastle felt they did with Geordie Shore.

MTV UK said the new "without apology series" would no doubt be controversial. It confirmed that production had begun but was unable to say exactly when it would air. MTV UK hopes the show will be "irreverent and funny as well as warm, authentic, familiar and genuine", a spokeswoman said.

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