Naveed Khan was naturally a little dubious when a film production company contacted him saying they might like to feature him in a documentary about Bradford. Given the past history of the way Bradford has come off on TV, he was concerned the city he loves was once again going to get a televisual kicking.

“They first came to talk to me about a couple of years ago,” says the 32-year-old, who runs his own vehicle repair and customisation business, Enkahnz, in Bradford. “They told me they wanted to do a film about Bradford and they did a bit of filming.”

But Naveed, who began to work on cars with his father at the age of 14, began to get cold feet about the proposed Bradford: City of Dreams (though it was untitled at that stage). He was acutely aware of recent portrayals of Bradford on television. Channel 4 in particular seemed to have a special attraction to Bradford when it came to documentaries or dramas about racial or cultural divisions, poverty, and general “grim up north”-ness.

It was perhaps the 2001 riots that kicked off the TV focus on Bradford. Ten years ago Channel 4 broadcast a documentary called The Last White Kids, following the fortunes of single mother Sharon Gallagher and her three children living in what was described as “the predominantly Asian district of Manningham”.

It followed that up a year later with Edge of the City, an investigation into the grooming of white girls by Asian men, which was due to be broadcast on the night of local elections in 2004 but was pulled from the schedules at the request of the then West Yorkshire Chief Constable Colin Cramphorn, council chiefs and MPs on the grounds that it might incite unrest. It was eventually shown four months later. One broadcast that did go ahead on election night, this time in 2006, was a dramatisation of the 2001 disturbances, entitled The Bradford Riots. And in 2011 Channel 4 unveiled its reality-show-crossed-with-social-commentary, Make Bradford British.

There was a lot of controversy over the latter show, especially the title, and it was with all this in mind that Naveed Khan walked away from the BBC documentary, though he later thought the show did a reasonably good job for Bradford. He says: “I was worried it was going to show Bradford in a negative light again, so I pulled out.”

Although Channel 4 seem to have shown most interest in Bradford, the BBC has not been without its own controversial programming. In 2007 it unveiled a programming strand called ‘White Season’ which included Last Orders, a less-than-complimentary look at the supposedly “embattled” Wibsey Working Men’s Club. Another programme was White Girl, a drama by Abi Morgan which shared a similar storyline to the Last White Kids doc, and which went on to win a Bafta.

But Naveed’s doubts were quickly assuaged by producers Keo Films, who even produced lawyers’ letters promising that the portrayal of Bradford was not going to be negative. So he agreed to take part.

According to Keo, Bradford: City of Dreams certainly aims to counteract those previous portrayals. They say: “Depressed, decaying and culturally divided are often words used in conjunction with the name ‘Bradford’. It’s a city that has come to define the grim-up-north epithet, and with the huge influx of immigrants from Pakistan, earned the label ‘Bradistan’. Throw in two sets of racially-motivated riots, and its reputation appears sealed forever. As well as the largest Muslim population outside of London, Bradford has the youngest and fastest growing population. Cue super-cars, sleek restaurants, funky shisha lounges and young Asian multi-millionaires. While nobody’s been looking, a revolution has been going on in the city. This warm, affectionate series offers a unique perspective on this fascinating city, following the life and work of some of its biggest characters. It’s the optimistic antidote to the tiresome ‘grim North’ stereotype, presenting a vibrant community facing up to the future.”

The cameras followed Naveed for seven months, not only at work but at home, socialising, with his family. He was determined to show them the best of Bradford. He says: “I took them up to Thornton and the hills and showed them the scenic views, made them look at the beautiful landscape all around us. I showed them businesses and told them how people in Bradford are striving and creative. I just wanted them to see the way of life we have here, both the ‘old school’ way of life and the new generation.”

It was Naveed who said to the film producers that Bradford really was a City of Dreams, and suddenly Keo Films had the title of their two-part documentary.

Of course, Naveed is only one of the characters portrayed in the two-parter (the first part is on tonight at 8pm, the second is on next Thursday.) According to the BBC, the first part “explores how, in defiance of gloomy economic conditions, the city’s long tradition of entrepreneurship is being updated by a new generation who are taking on its multiple cultural influences”.

The film also focuses on Graham Swain: “A builder by trade and a communicator by nature – a few words of Urdu have helped him become the builder of choice for Bradford’s Asian community and they don’t seem to mind too much when he’s called away to his second job… a grave-digger with a specialism in Muslim burials.”

And Rajen Da “represents a whole new world of international small business. With an Indian father and an English mum he’s got an idea that makes the most of his multi-national upbringing, leaving his mum in Bradford with his sisters, while he spends six months with his wife in her home town in Eastern India exploring demand there for UK goods, everything from high street clothing to Bradford’s staple food.”

The second programme next week “explains how [Bradford’s] long tradition as a magnet for economic migrants is being continued today as East Europeans settle and build their lives and businesses in the city”.

The BBC says: “Bradford was one of the richest cities on Britain a century ago, and it has always been a magnet for economic migrants. From the Irish rural poor who came to work in the mills in the 1800s via German Jewish merchants who traded in cloth at the turn of the 19th century, on through the waves of Asian immigration in the second half of the 20th Century and the latest arrival of Central Europeans in the last 15 years, people have come to Bradford to make their way in the world. Over the last 50 years the mills, factories and exchanges have nearly all closed and the once grand city is a shadow of its former self. But rising from the ashes of this industrial collapse there is a new breed of Bradfordians who, with a mix of Yorkshire grit, 21st century nous and plenty of chutzpah are managing to fulfill their dreams.”

Part two focuses on Dinesh Patel, known as Dennis, who is “living the dream that led his father to spend 13 years in the mills before starting a shop in the mid-70’s; two generations later the family, having ridden the video rental market in the 90s and the the mobile telephony boom of the 00s, have become big players in East European food retailing – if its smoky and porky, the Eastern Europeans will probably eat it and Dennis will definitely sell it.”

Similarly Marcin, from Poland, “has his foot on the first rung of a similar ladder. He arrived in Bradford eight years ago and after a few years working for others he decided having his own business was the way to go. He started by building a smokehouse in his garden to produce hams and sausages just like they make them in the villages of Poland. Now he processes several pigs a week and while the fresh meat brings in a decent return, he’s focussed on finding new customers for his value-added home-made village sausage”.

And Sahida Sardar is a single mother of three girls who “has made the most of with a rapidly expanding chain of bridal make-up salons. But she not only turns Bradford’s Muslim brides into princesses, she also trains other Muslim women in bridal make-up, a career that, in a community where many women don’t feel comfortable mixing with men, provides a handy female-only income stream.”

Of course, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and there will be many eyes on BBC2 tonight to ensure that this isn’t another hatchet job. Bradford businesswoman Jane Vincent runs the recruitment agency Candelisa People but is also one of the leading lights of the annual Positive Bradford event aimed at promoting all that is good about the district.

Jane says: “There has been too much negativity around Bradford and it is about time that a show highlighted real people who live and work in the city embracing Bradford in a positive light and showing the world what a culturally diverse and exciting city we are. “I watched some of the work Keo films had done before (Welcome to Lagos) and loved the fact a city with such bad press was being shown as positive by following characters who live and work there. It totally showed me a different side to Lagos. Let’s hope this is the springboard that Bradford needs to get some positive external media and really show the outside world what we are made of. With all the great things that are going on in our city and the success of Bradford City, this could be just what we need. Let’s get Bradford back on the map for all the right reasons!”

Colin Philpott, former head of the National Media Museum and now chief executive of the pro-district lobby group Bradford Breakthrough, agrees. He says: “I very much welcome what looks to be positive coverage of Bradford and a programme that is going to highlight Bradford business success stories.

“It’s absolutely in line with what Bradford Breakthrough is trying to do to encourage more interest in Bradford, and positive coverage of the district. This positive coverage only happens if people in Bradford are confident and proactive about the good things here. If we adopt a bit of a victim mentality then that can become a self-fulfilling prophecy”