A senior Channel 4 executive has defended the documentaries Benefits Street and Skint, saying the broadcaster has no “malign intent” and is trying to tell stories about “some of the distressed parts of our society”.

Ralph Lee, Channel 4 deputy chief creative officer and head of factual, admitted the negative publicity surrounding the shows, dubbed “poverty porn” by critics, had made it harder to go out and make follow-up series. However, Lee said Channel 4 would not be cowed by the backlash, which he argues is “a form of censorship”, admitting that even agreeing to change the title of Benefits Street spin-off Immigration Street could be interpreted as the broadcaster backing down.

Channel 4 will broadcast the second series of Skint, filmed in Grimsby, in November, with a follow-up to Benefits Street and a separate documentary, Immigration Street, also in the works.

The broadcaster has faced vocal protests from local politicians and residents in Grimsby, Stockton-on-Tees – where the second series of Benefits Street is being filmed – and in Southampton, the location for Immigration Street.

Lee said in an interview with the Guardian that Channel 4 was planning to go ahead with the three documentary series, adding that the intention with Skint is “not to say this is what life is like in Grimsby, but this is what life is like for people who are skint”.

He said: “We can’t let this kind of criticism have a chilling effect on making programmes. In a way what they are calling for is a form of censorship and I am always really suspicious of that. I defend our right – and the necessity – to tell the stories of some of the distressed parts of our society.”

Grimsby MP Austin Mitchell asked the broadcaster to “consider the ethics of the trend Channel 4 has embarked on, demonising the poor and making poverty entertainment”.

The first series of Benefits Street, filmed on James Turner Street in Birmingham and broadcast in January, attracted the most notoriety, dubbed by one critic “a medieval stocks updated for a modern format”. Residents found themselves pilloried both in the street and on Twitter.

Teesside residents have reacted to the presence of documentary-makers from Love Productions, the company behind Benefits Street, in Stockton by unfurling a banner during a match at nearby Middlesbrough’s football ground declaring: “Being poor is not entertainment”.

Love Productions is also making Immigration Street in Southampton, where the production team has been pelted with flour and eggs.

“[The backlash] did have an impact on how easy it was to go out and make these documentaries,” Lee admitted.

In Southampton, the “community is very split”, he added. “Some are very happy to show their lives, others less so, and those who aren’t have received a lot of support and encouragement from everyone from the local MP to community groups.

“Rather than just close the door and ignore it, people have tried to obstruct it. That’s a real shame. They seem to assume there is a malign intent, a guaranteed negative impact of trying to tell the story about immigration and integration. We don’t have a malign intention; there isn’t an agenda.”

As with the first series of Benefits Street, Lee said the biggest complaint was about the programme name. It has been suggested Channel 4 regards Immigration Street as a “working title”. “We could change the title or we might not,” he said. “The danger is we would look like we were backing down.”