THE Evening News has long tried to champion the cause of racial harmony in Worcester.

It's an aim which is summarised by the belief that, while there's good and bad in all communities, we should celebrate the differences and allow fascination and tolerance to draw us together, not drive us apart.

That's why Howard Belgard has done the entire city a service by producing his five-part BBC Hereford & Worcester documentary on the lives of three men from Wyld's Lane, and why we're eagerly anticipating it.

The result, he says, will be a compelling mix of the funny, the tragic and the shocking.

For those who know what makes the likes of Khurshid Baig, Muhammad Shabhan and Abdul Riasat tick, it promises to be a reassuring series which gives a voice to the city's ethnic minority.

Those who think they know should, perhaps, tune in and test their preconceptions. They may be surprised.

It's the story of people who work long hours to feed and clothe the family.

It's the story of people who see a responsibility in helping the community to thrive at the same time.

It's the story of people who have their physical and emotional limits at home and in the workplace, sometimes eye-openingly so.

It's the story of people who call Worcester home, and love it here.

There's just one aspect of Howard Belgard's documentary which might not strike a chord, however, a fact that's especially the case in households - Asian or non-Asian - with a blinkered or blind outlook.

The vast majority of the 95,000 souls in the Faithful City don't count racial abuse as a part of their everyday lives, and never will.

For that reason alone, it's our view that as many people as possible must tune in at 10.15am, starting on Monday, and learn a lesson.

Worcester will hardly be a worse place to live if that happens.