TELEVISION documentary Piers Morgan on Sandbanks has created a fresh flood of interest in the area, but the show has not been welcomed by everyone.

The three-part series, filmed this summer, aired on ITV this week, featured a host of familiar faces from football manager Harry Redknapp to business mogul Richard Carr.

Fast cars, luxury yachts, palatial homes and their millionaire owners made up the bulk of the coverage, but it also found room for the "old guard" residents and their rejection of the area's boom, and even gloomy predictions that climate change will put the whole place underwater.

Since it was screened, tourism bosses have reported raised interest from would-be visitors, and estate agent Tom Doyle, who featured in the show, said his phone has been ringing red hot with enquiries.

Mr Doyle, chief executive of Lloyds Executive and Waterside Properties, said: "I thought it was brilliant - and it was brilliant for us. There's been a surge on our website and we've had literally hundreds of calls - everyone's been very positive. I think it's very, very good for Sandbanks and Poole." He added: "I've had calls from as far away as Australia saying what a wonderful place it was and that they didn't know it existed."

Graham Richardson, tourism manager at Poole, said: "Hopefully it will have a positive impact on the tourism trade. We have already had an influx of people requesting visitor guides specifically referencing the Sandbanks programme."

Despite the fact Morgan branded him "public enemy number one" in the show, it even went down well with developer Richard Carr.

He said: "I'm fairly used to those tongue-in-cheek comments now. At the end of the day I feel very happy with the part I played in the show."

But the series received a firm thumbs-down from Poole mayor Cllr Jeff Allen, who said it failed to reflect the true character of the area.

He told the Daily Echo: "I watched the first one and didn't think it was done very seriously.

"It didn't mention Poole at all. I was disappointed that what could have been a very good advert for Poole itself didn't seem to be that way - it was flippant really.

"I just think it was a reflection of the person who did the show."

Local historian Iris Morris, who has written a book on Sandbanks over the last century, agreed.

"It could have been much more interesting," she said. "We know that sort of thing is down there but it's only one side of it."