Barlinnie is to be the focus of a new reality television show which will be broadcast on Sky TV.

Camera crews followed prisoners at the Glasgow jail during months of filming for the “warts and all” series, which will be aired across the UK.

The programme – an STV production for Sky - will feature criminals at the beginning and at the end of their sentence.

It is expected to be screened in six or seven parts, with the first episode to broadcast at the end of October.

A source close to the project said: “The producers have focused on a few inmates and followed them for several months.

“They were approached at court, they have signed up to it and it has gone from there.

“They are going to pay particular attention to their first 24 hours and final 24 hours in custody.

“There will be a cross section of inmates featured, and several prisons, including Barlinnie, Greenock, Low Moss and women’s prison Cornton Vale – but a lot of the filming was done at Barlinnie over the summer.”

It is understood the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) received two bids to film at Barlinnie.

A separate production company wanted to set up camera rigs in the prison but the SPS baulked at the idea amid concerns about microphones picking up private conversations between staff and inmates.

HMP Barlinnie - known to many as Bar-L – has built an international reputation as one of the world’s toughest prisons since it opened in Glasgow’s east end more than 130 years ago.

It currently houses around 1,200 inmates - from petty criminals to notorious killers such as Alexander Pacteau.

Barlinnie governor Ian Whitehead confirmed that the prison will be featured in the Sky TV series.

Mr Whitehead, 51, who gave the go ahead for the project, said: “I agreed to it on the simple premise that we at Barlinnie have a good story to sell.

“I thought it was a good idea to film people as they arrive at Barlinnie and before they leave because it’s an opportunity to show what we did in the interim.

“People may look at Barlinnie from the outside and it might look all gloom and doom but there a lot of innovative, human things being done here.

“The series will be warts and all – Barlinnie is not perfect – but it will showcase the exceptional staff who are doing exceptional things.”

Mr Whitehead took up his post in July and in an exclusive interview with the Evening Times last year said his “vision” was to transform prisoners’ lives and reduce repeat offending.

He said: “It might sound grandiose – it’s a big vision – but what we are trying to do is put ourselves out of business in the long term by reducing the number of people who come back to prison because you have undertaken to say, ‘Actually, you are not bad at all things’.”

The married father-of-two from East Kilbride spoke sympathetically about prisoners who have been denied opportunities to get on in life due to difficult backgrounds.

Mr Whitehead said: “Some people benefited from the love of a good family and that is not always the case with people here.

“So should anybody really be surprised that is how folk turn out? I would argue no.”