The notoriety of Channel 4's documentary Benefits Street has left the show's producers facing an uphill task trying to persuade people to take part in a second series as well as a spin-off programme about immigration.

Programme-makers scouting potential locations for another series of the controversial programme in Stockton-on-Tees, and a separate documentary with a working title Immigration Street in Southampton, have faced opposition from politicians and community leaders.

When it aired earlier this year Benefits Street attracted widespread controversy, with critics branding it "poverty porn". It received 1,800 viewers' complaints. Some residents claimed they had been misled about the thrust of the programme and that producers deliberately withheld the title from them.

But others said the programme, which featured the residents of James Turner Street in Winson Green, Birmingham, shone a light on an otherwise hidden part of Britain. It also became Channel 4's most popular programme since the 2012 Paralympics, attracting audiences of more than 5 million.

But the row over the first series is making it harder for documentary-makers to return to the same theme, with Grimsby residents also opposing the filming of a second series of the Channel 4 documentary Skint.

The Northern Echo reported this week that staff from Love Productions, the company behind Benefits Street – "two young women, both dressed down in leggings and jumpers but with cut-glass southern accents" – had been talking to the residents of Dixon Street in Stockton-on-Tees.

Alex Cunningham, the Labour MP for Stockton North, told the paper he had written to Channel 4 executives asking them to scrap the show. He said TV producers had previously been given short shrift when trying to persuade the residents of North Ormesby and Brambles Farm in Middlesbrough to take part.

Kieran Smith, Love Productions' factual creative director, told the Guardian on Wednesday that the controversy over Benefits Street had made the search for a location for the second series harder but remained hopeful one would be found.

"It's still fairly early days. I'd like to settle on somewhere soon ... I think we will find one, but it's more difficult," Smith admitted.

He added that Love, which also makes BBC2 hit show The Great British Bake Off, has been talking to people in Stockton but "we continue to look in other areas". He said the company had found that often having spoken to participants who initially seemed keen, a few days later "someone's got to them and put the fear of God into them".

He said that the company had been looking for some time in north-east England. "It's really important to show parts of Britain that aren't normally on TV. That's why we went to Birmingham [for the first series of Benefits Street] as it's never really on television."

In addition to making a follow-up to Benefits Street, Love Productions is also developing a series about immigration, after the mostly positive reaction from audiences and Twitter to the second episode of the series, which focused on Romanians living in James Turner Street.

The company has been scouting for participants for Immigration Street in Derby Road in Southampton but, although it is a separate show to Benefits Street, owing to the similar title it has already hit local headlines and caused some concern within the community.

Harjap Singh, chairman of Sikh Council Hampshire and Southampton Gurdwara Council, told the Daily Echo: "We are against it because it would be pretty bad for community relations."

Southampton council leader Simon Letts said: "I think this sort of reality television show, which is finding entertainment out of individual cases, rarely has something good come out of it. We have never had issues with race relations and we would not want that to be put at risk."

Smith responded on BBC Radio 5 Live on Wednesday , saying: "We thought there was something to do about what happens to immigrants when they arrive in this country who are looking to be part of British society. We thought Derby Road was an interesting area that reflects what happens when immigrants move into an area and change the look of an area."

Smith later told the Guardian that Immigration Street was still in development and had not yet been commissioned by Channel 4.

A Channel 4 spokeswoman said: "We have not yet commissioned Immigration Street. It's a paid-for development."

Benefits Street made household names of some of the participants, particularly Deirdre Kelly, nicknamed White Dee, who went on to appear on Newsnight and live debates on Channel 4 and Channel 5.

However, Benefits Street is currently being investigated by regulator Ofcom owing to the huge number of complaints.

Last year Channel 4 aired a series called Skint, which looked at how some residents in Scunthorpe survive without work. When the production company behind the show, Keo, tried to film a second series, this time in Grimsby, there was strong local opposition, with one local woman telling a public meeting on the issue: "We do not want to be the next James Turner Street."

Channel 4 is pushing ahead with a second series, but Katie Buchanan, head of documentaries at Keo, has said she believed her firm has been a victim of the fallout from Benefits Street.