Channel 4 boss Alex Mahon said she has seen “no evidence” to indicate four-part documentary Tower Block Of Commons used paid actors, following accusations from Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries.

Ms Dorries spoke during a Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee (DCMS) hearing in May to accuse the 2010 reality series of hiring actors to play real people.

She told the committee that after featuring on the Channel 4 show – during which she stayed on a deprived estate in west London – she “discovered later they were actually actors”.

She said: “The parents of the boys in that programme actually came here to have lunch with me and contacted me to tell me, actually, they were in acting school and that they weren’t really living in a flat, and they weren’t real, they were actually actors.

“And there’s a pharmacist or somebody that I went to see who prepared food, she was also a paid actress as well.”

On Tuesday, during a DCMS meeting on the future of Channel 4, Ms Mahon said: “The programme was on in 2010 and clearly an accusation of fakery was made about actors in the programme, a very serious accusation, it’s really important that we look at that properly.

“We are just completing a proper investigation and I should be able to report back to the Secretary of State and the committee in the coming days or weeks.

“From what I have seen, to date there is no evidence that would point to indications of fakery but it is important that we complete that and report back to you properly.”

On the show, Ms Dorries was sent to briefly live on the South Acton estate to see how deprived communities live.