An eight-year-old girl from Bradford is at the centre of a television documentary about poverty.

The programme, called Poor Kids, looks at life through the eyes of some of the 3.5 million children living in poverty in the UK.

With Britain having one of the worst child poverty rates in the industrialised world, Poor Kids looks beyond the statistics to find out what living under the poverty line really means for four children in different parts of the country.

Courtney is eight and growing up in poverty on the Canterburty estate in Bradford. She has a rough idea of how the other half live, classing her friend Holly as “loaded” because she went on holiday last year. Courtney and her sister amuse themselves by playing in a dangerous derelict building.

Described as “breathtakingly honest and eloquent”, the children talk about how having no money affects their everyday lives, forcing them to face lack of food, being bullied and having nowhere to play. The programme reveals the children’s understanding of the situation they are in and where they see themselves when they are 21.

Poor Kids is on BBC1 tomorrow at 10.35pm.

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