Teenage star of 'The Scheme' is drug-smuggler

• Marvin, Dayna and dog Bullet, as featured in The Scheme

Dayna McLaughlin, 19, admitted trying to smuggle heroin into Kilmarnock Prison in July last year.

She admitted possessing the drug with intent to supply and failing to appear at court on a previous occasion.

Dayna, her boyfriend Marvin and their dog Bullet have become the unlikely stars of the gritty BBC show, which follows the lives of six families living on the tough Onthank Estate in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire.

Marvin, 30, is also facing a court appearance after being accused of stealing toiletries from a Co-op shop in Kilmarnock. He has denied charges and pleaded not guilty by letter at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court.

A trial has now been set for a date later this year.

Danya appeared at the sheriff court earlier this month, when she admitted the drug charges. She was placed on a drug-testing order for two years.

She also admitted stealing toiletries from Kilmarnock's Asda store in January and clothes from a Marks and Spencer store last month.

Last night, a legal source revealed that Danya was expected to return to court on 16 June to co-operate on a drug-testing order.

The source added: "The drug-testing order is seen as a stiffer sentence than probation.

"She will have to turn up at court regularly, and if she steps out of line she'll be straight back up before a sheriff.

"Danya had failed to turn up for an earlier hearing and that was part of the charges she faced this time round."

The Scheme has become a massive ratings winner for BBC Scotland, pulling in 341,000 viewers – 28 per cent of the audience share – in its first week.

And it became the fifth-top download on the BBC's iPlayer across the UK.

Fans of the show have even been seen stopping Marvin in Kilmarnock and asking for his autograph.

And T-shirts bearing Bullet's face have gone on sale on the internet.

When Marvin first appeared on TV screens, he insisted he was desperate to start a family with Dayna.

And it later emerged that his pooch Bullet had been taken in by the Dogs Trust after injuring his front leg when he was hit by a car.

He was adopted by a family who live in England and has now been renamed Bullwinkle.

After filming ended, Marvin and Dayna moved out of the estate and now live together in nearby Hurlford.

Earlier this week, it was revealed that the BBC had been forced to pull the fly-on-the-wall documentary because one of the "characters" was arrested.

The two remaining episodes have now been postponed "indefinitely".

But BBC bosses are facing calls for the series to be banned.

Politicians and council leaders have attacked the BBC – which has scored its biggest hit of the year with the programme – for its negative depiction of the housing scheme.

The series, dubbed "Scotland's answer to Shameless", has depicted apparent drug-taking, vandalism, violence, street drinking and a family providing a false alibi. The Scheme, made by production company Friel Kean Films, is described by the BBC as "a documentary series following the dramatic highs and lows of daily life for six different families all living in one large housing scheme in Kilmarnock".

Police officers are thought to be poring over footage of people who were caught on camera confessing to crimes.

However, it is thought there is no question of the series being kept off air for good.

Last night, a Crown Office spokesman confirmed that Danya had been convicted on three charges and was due to return to court next month.

Danya was unavailable for comment last night.

Gritty, real-life drama had storyline that beats fiction

THE doomed love affair of Marvin and Dayna is the central storyline in the first episode of The Scheme – the BBC reality programme that has become a major talking point.

Set in Onthank in Kilmarnock, the programme follows a selection of families over a year and gives a graphic insight into the ways drugs, alcohol and unemployment blight lives.

In the first episode, ex-heroin addict Marvin and recently released from prison Dayna decide to move in together. They hope they can put their past behind them, but it isn't long before the cracks appear.

Marvin gets caught with a pocket full of diazepam, has a seizure and beats Dayna up.

She thinks she's pregnant, but struggles to feel enthusiastic about family life

We also meet Kay, a single parent who can't stop offering to help young people struggling with depression and drug addiction.

Kay keeps inviting troubled youngsters to come and stay in her spare room – but her house becomes more and more chaotic and her own children are suffering.

Meanwhile, Gordon and Annie have finally quit their hard-drinking ways – but their five children have suffered from being raised in a house full of riotous alcoholism.

Gordon and Annie want to do things differently for Kimberley, their youngest – but some of their older children are already seriously off the rails.

In the first episode of The Scheme, we see Gordon and Annie weeping as one of their sons is jailed for abusing a local shopkeeper.

In episode two, Kay gets arrested for antisocial behaviour, Kimberley gets hit in the face at a dance competition and Marvin and Dayna hit the rocks and Bullet needs an operation.