A Bowdon resident who starred in a fly on the wall three-part television documentary has hit out at the programme makers.

The final episode of The Retreat - that followed six British volunteers on a four week Sufi Islamic retreat in Spain - was shown on BBC 2 on Monday night.

Aisha Alvi, aged 31, claims the documentary's producers, Tiger Aspects, omitted vital footage.

"I felt quite intimidated at times and my biggest complaint is the way the programme has been edited," said Aisha.

"Sufism is a very mystical form of Islam and I understood from the offset that there would be certain things I wouldn't be comfortable with.

"But I was portrayed as someone who was very dogmatic and the impression given on the voice over is that I am constantly opting out.

"My biggest disappointment was the reaction of Abdullah Trevathan, the leader of the retreat.

"When I started to question some of the practises - such as the chanting sessions - the reaction was 'why don't you leave?' "I was ambushed three or four times by him along with the camera crew and asked questions like 'do you think you're special' and 'do you fear authority'?

"This was more or less edited out and watching the series it seems there's a constant theme throughout the programme about 'Muslims like Aisha - who try to make Islam difficult'."

It's not the first time the barrister has taken a stand.

Aisha went to Altrincham Grammar for Girls and was once suspended, aged 14, for wanting to wear the hijab in school.

At the beginning of Monday night's episode it wasn't clear whether Aisha would last the four weeks. But she decided to stay and saw one of her fellow participants, Pom, convert to Islam.

"Yes it was a journey for some of the others, but for me I felt disappointed by what happened.

"I went on it because it was presented to me as a spiritual retreat. It was soon after my father's death, who passed away in June, at a point in my life when I thought it might be appropriate.

"It's a shame because it was an opportunity to educate non-Muslims particularly at a time when there's lots of fear and misunderstandings in the world we live in."

A spokeswoman for the BBC said: "Mark Thompson (the director-general) has ensured that Miss Alvi has received a full response to the detailed complaints she raised from the production company responsible for the show.

"He has also written to her personally to advise her of the process for escalating complaints should she be unhappy with that response."