Whatever your feelings are (Nigel), no one with a heart can fail to be stirred by one father’s quest to try to get his little girl fixed up

I like this Romanian version of the naughty step. “Put your hands against the wall,” Sandu tells one of his many children who has been fighting and throwing rocks at other kids. “You’re not going anywhere till I tell you,” he says to the boy, who must be feeling seriously criminal by now. I approve, it’s more authoritarian, more LAPD, than sitting at the bottom of the stairs; I’m going to introduce it in my house.

To be fair there’s not much else to do apart from fight and throw rocks in the urban arsehole that is Baia Mare. Well, until you’re old enough to get seriously into solvents, and dissolve your braincells and your future in paint thinner. Or maybe, alternatively, come to Britain. In order to work hard for a better life for yourself and your family, as well as boosting the British economy. Or to rob the locals blind, pick their pockets, steal their jobs, abuse their hospitality and drain their welfare state, most probably steal their women, too (once you’ve got your shitty teeth fixed for free on the NHS). Depending on how you look at it.

The Romanians Are Coming (Channel 4) looks at it both ways, all ways, to be fair. There are plenty of rocks to pick up and throw for Ukippers and come-on-innners. “Stefan, it’s not the European Union, it’s the British taxpayer,” says the (British film-maker’s) voice from behind the camera, about who’s providing the crisp wad of job seeker’s allowance that has just been politely delivered to Stefan from a hole in a British wall. How many Romanians are on benefit, though, asks Alex, the Romanian Gypsy narrator (they take our frigging narrating jobs!). Fewer than 2,500. “We pay much more in tax than we take from the government.”

Clever move that, getting Alex to narrate. Not just because it offers up an insider’s perspective, but because it allows for jollity and (self) mockery that would be impossible to get away with from outside. Allows it to be funny, basically, which it – and he – is.

There’s tons of humour in The Romanians are Coming, even if a lot of it is tinged with tragedy. It’s there in the battle of the human statues and Stefan’s Charlie Chaplin – surely the worst, certainly the baldest, of the seven Romanian Charlie Chaplin human statues currently working London’s tourist spots. It’s there in (a different) Alex’s prime location penthouse … well, carpark, but it does have lovely views over a central-London square, and a central-London police station, as well as free electricity and running water, and there’s free Wi-Fi from Megabus round the corner at Victoria Station (until the Megabus departs). And it’s there in Sandu’s English that is so non-existent that he wouldn’t know it even if he was offered a job. “Do you want delivery or do you want work inside?” asks the manager of a Liverpool fried chicken shop. “OK, OK, thank you,” says Sandu sadly, walking out.

It doesn’t work out for Sandu, unsurprisingly, though he does at least witness the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. “It’s so beautiful, I’ll be damned,” he declares, looking down on the Liverpool One shopping complex. Then it’s back to hell (Baia Mare) with a broken scooter and a shattered dream. At least one can be fixed, and one naughty boy will have something to do that isn’t throwing rocks.

Other Alex, with excellent English, has work, sweeping the streets he pretends (to the agency) he isn’t sleeping on. And Stefan with the JSA gets some new free unshitty teeth and just about enough English to be taken on by an agency. It remains to be seen – there are two more episodes – whether he actually gets a job and the money to send for his daughter so she can come and get her shitty leg fixed.

Whatever your feelings are (Nigel) about the migrant strain on the NHS, no one with a heart can fail to be stirred by one father’s journey and quest to try to get his little girl fixed up – even if his own teeth do come first. Not just watchable and balanced (it is neither patronising nor handwringingly worthy), The Romanians Are Coming is moving, and human, the personal side of a political story. Such an important story too, in the upcoming election, and in this part of the world today. You can’t ask for a lot more of a documentary.