A SCRIPTWRITER who sparked outrage by calling a Basildon-based sitcom Scumbags is planning more episodes.

Chris Windle, who courted controversy when the 26-minute pilot was unveiled on Youtube, is back for round two and has launched a fundraising campaign to continue the show.

He has dubbed it the “complete anti-christ” to the Only Way is Essex and explores the socalled new underclass of the uneducated and unemployed.

The 29-year-old, of Leigh, hopes to raise £4,000 by the end of October on funding websites such as Kickstarter.com Mr Windle said: “After the success and fuss caused by the first episode, we now want to make a second episode.

“I have been overwhelmed by the response. I never expected the reaction the Echo story generated.

Most of the people who don’t like it haven’t really seen the show.

“I know the title leaves little to the imagination, but we believe the audience will grow to love the characters.

“The sitcom represents the out-of-work man. I have been on Jobseeker’s Allowance in the past. I have been at the bottom of the pile. I know what it is like to be in that situation and what it is like to called a scumbag, for want of a better word.

“The title is designed to shock, and while it is fundamentally a comedy, it is making a serious point.

“We hope to use humour to highlight the growing inequality that exists not just in Basildon, but everywhere around the UK.”

The pilot took nine months to make and cost £600, but Mr Windle hopes to use the extra money for cameras, editing, lighting, props, location and the actors’ wages.

A Basildon-based studio has also contacted him to work on putting together a soundtrack.

Mr Windle, who included both the critical and supportive tweets on his fundraising page, has warned he plans to stretch the boundaries even further in the forthcoming episode.

On the page, he added: “This project is not for the faint-hearted.

I am fed up with dull sitcoms on TV, so why not help create someone that will resonate?”

For more information, visit kickstarter.com