Channel 4 is in the midst of a 'brownface' controversy over a programme where a white British woman darkened her skin to go undercover as a Muslim in Manchester's Pakistani community.

The documentary, to be aired next week, centres around Katie Freeman who agreed to spend a week inside the Muslim population just days after a terror attack on Manchester Arena killed 23 people and injured more than 250.

Freeman, 44, agreed to take part to question her own prejudices but got more than she anticipated as the bomb detonated just after the Channel 4 production team had made Katie up to look like a Pakistani Muslim. As she walked around Manchester in a hijab wearing a fake nose, teeth and darkened skin, she was heckled and abused with one man shouting at her from a pub 'f***ing Muslims in this town?'

The mum-of-two wept at the reaction: 'It makes me ashamed to live here. I was raging and fuming inside. But I also felt vulnerable. What harm was I doing?'

But the documentary has caused a storm and faces accusation of racism with one viewer saying, according to the Sun: 'Channel4 have totally missed the mark here.

'Who on earth thought it would be a good idea to put prosthetics on somebody to make them a caricature of people of a different race on primetime TV in 2017? Madness.'

Founder of equality group Faith Matter, Fiyaz Mughal, told the Daily Star: 'This is trying to drive ratings by racial stereotyping.

'Channel 4 needs to apologise.'

My Week As A Muslim airs on Monday October 23, 9pm, on Channel 4.