David Baddiel is making his best-selling polemic Jews Don't Count into a documentary for Channel 4.

The book was not only a huge sales success but moved the dial on in terms of explaining left-wing antisemitism to a crowd which can normally only spot Jew-hatred when it comes to the far right.

Frequently amusing and always hard-hitting, it did well on both sides of the Atlantic and is now being turned into a documentary hosted, of course, by David himself.The 75-minute one-off programme, made by Louis Theroux’s production company Mindhouse, has started filming in New York, with David also meeting up with US comedian Sara Silverman, who said of the book: "If you think you don’t need to read it, that’s just the clue to know you do."Baddiel, who describes himself as a Jewish atheist and is a regular contributor to the JC, was moved to write his short but influential book after British Jews experienced the existential threat of "progressive" antisemitism.

The book, which has been hailed by Stephen Fry as "a masterpiece", posits the idea that while left-wing circles deem themselves to be anti-racist spaces, they not only have a blind spot when it comes to anti- Jewish hatred but sometimes are even the drivers for it.

David told the JC: “My critique is aimed mainly at progressives, at those people who care about minorities and racism - those people who consider themselves on the right side of history - and I think of a lot of those people as Channel 4 viewers.

"So let me thank Channel 4 in advance to giving me this opportunity to address, and maybe take apart a bit, their own audience’s self-image.”