Ah, 'The Valleys'! An in-depth commentary on the everyday lives of...wait a minute. Scrub that. Ah yes, I know. A travesty of right-wing reality post-modernism where ordinary people are to be portrayed as inbred, feckless idiots whilst being held up as an example of everyone else in their ethnic, geographic, or class category.

'The Valleys'  - a good indication of valleys people and daily lives? Yes, if you also believe that The Sun newspaper is a champion of feminism and The Daily Mail is a promoter of good race relations.

I grew up in the village of Blackmill, part of the Ogmore Valley. You'll find it about two miles to the right of McCarthur Glen Outlet, Bridgend, if heading towards Swansea. 'The Valleys' is a direct insult to all those people I grew up with, to the great aunts and uncles and grandparents, helping to raise their youngsters with dignity, with a sense of self-respect and a belief in the adage 'never let the b#"%* get you down.'

Since moving to Cardiff over a decade ago I've noticed that there is a tragic two-way misunderstanding of either community. In conversations with both sides, the Cardiffians often see Valley's people and their children as backward, uneducated and single-parents in waiting who speak like Stacey West from 'Gavin and Stacey'. On the reverse, Cardiffians are often viewed as arrogant, criminal, vitamin deprived yokels with strange scouse-welsh accents.

If like me you see both views as abhorrent prejudice then I ask you all to boycott 'The Valleys', to bombard MTV with letters, emails of complaint, and ask yourselves why so much air time is given to rubbish like this, and so little is given to decent, new drama that, from my time on this site, it is obvious that the members of NTW produce in abundance.

(75p - Dawn of the Dave - Amazon comedy ebook - excellent for halloween and Christmas - download free kindle app from amazon kindle store. - please buy the book and leave constructive comments.