A Suffolk town will take centre stage this week as a new documentary looking into the debate on how much of our taxes should be spent on benefits is aired.

Apprentice star Nick Hewer and Lord Sugar’s former adviser on the show, Margaret Mountford, were spotted in Ipswich earlier this year filming for the show, Nick and Margaret: We All Pay Your Benefits.

The pair were seen filming around the Cornhill area of the town in May and they also got shots at Ipswich Library, in Northgate Street.

A spokesman for Suffolk Libraries said: “We were very pleased for Ipswich Library to be chosen as one of the filming locations for this documentary and we’re looking forward to watching the programme.

“The film crew spent several hours there over a couple of days in April with Nick and Margaret and the families were very positive about using the library both for job seeking and the books and activities for their children.”

The programme is one of four in a season of programmes announced by the BBC called The Cost of Living.

The show will see four claimants and four taxpayers experience each others lives as they air their own views on the issue.

A spokesman for the BBC said: “In a year that has seen the biggest changes to the welfare state in its 70-year history, Nick Hewer and Margaret Mountford will launch an ambitious experiment to discover how much benefit is enough to live on.

“Four claimants and four taxpayers will come face to face to explore each other’s lives and speak their minds.

“Their aim: to agree what level of benefit is fair.”

The show will air on BBC One on Thursday at 9pm.