Netflix has unveiled the trailer for Toxic Town, a limited series that brings to light one of the United Kingdom’s most notorious environmental scandals. Created by BAFTA-winning writer Jack Thorne (The Swimmers, His Dark Materials), the series follows a group of mothers who took on their local council after their children were born with birth defects—an ordeal that would come to be known as the Corby poisonings. Watch the trailer above and read on for details.
The Plot
Set in the 1980s, Toxic Town tells the story of working-class women who found themselves in a battle against powerful institutions. When they discovered that their town’s alleged mishandling of toxic waste might have caused severe birth defects in their children, they embarked on a legal fight for justice.
Thorne, who was unfamiliar with the case before taking on the project, was immediately struck by how the real events unfolded like a gripping drama. “It had within it a lot of drama,” he told Netflix site Tudum. “Whether it’s the story of the trial itself, or whether it’s the way that these women got together and battled together.”
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The series doesn’t just focus on the courtroom—it delves into the emotional and psychological burden these women carried throughout their struggle. Thorne described the story as far more complex than a straightforward legal battle. “There’s just so much internalized blame that these women obviously had [to deal with],” he said. Yet, despite the guilt and obstacles, they found power in their collective fight.
“It was just so incredible to see and to see how it affected other parts of their life,” he continued. “It’s not just this simple hero’s journey of women banding together and fighting the man and getting this court victory. There’s nothing simple about it at all. You see where their power comes from, which is really just in the most basic level of humanity that they show for each other.”
The True Story
The events depicted in Toxic Town are based on the real-life Corby poisonings, one of the UK’s biggest environmental scandals. For years, the Northamptonshire town of Corby was home to a steelworks operation, and when the site was demolished in the 1980s, hazardous waste was allegedly mishandled—leading to birth defects among local children.
Despite facing powerful opposition, a group of mothers took their case to court, leading to a landmark legal battle that challenged institutional negligence. Thorne was particularly struck by the legal intricacies of the case. “The more you look into it, the more complicated it all becomes,” he explained. “I’ve done legal dramas before, but this one … being taken through the actual truth of it and seeing the journey that they had to go on in order to prove this, I found very surprising and shocking.”
He also emphasised that the series captures the resilience of working-class individuals fighting a system that rarely worked in their favour. “It’s a genuinely working-class story,” Thorne said. “It’s a story of people who are not part of the system that have never thought the system would work for them, working within the system and [fighting for] the result they deserved.”
Those interested in finding out where the court case ended up (potential spoilers for the series) can read an April 2010 news report from The Guardian HERE.
The Cast and Creatives
Leading the cast is Doctor Who’s Jodie Whittaker, who plays Susan McIntyre, one of the mothers at the heart of the case. She’s joined by Sex Education star Aimee Lou Wood as Tracey Taylor and Bridgerton’s Claudia Jessie as Maggie Mahon. The cast also includes Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty) as Sam Hagen, Brendan Coyle (Downton Abbey) as Roy Thomas, and Rory Kinnear (The Diplomat) as Des Collins.
Thorne was full of praise for the cast, calling them “a company of dreams.” He admitted he was surprised they managed to secure such a strong ensemble. “I couldn’t believe that we were able to get these people, and that they were prepared to be part of this story. And boy, did they all deliver.”
He highlighted Carlyle’s transformation for the role and was particularly impressed by Whittaker’s performance. “I’ve never seen her do anything like this, sort of finding that chaos and that truth and that bravery that Susan has got,” he said. “And then Aimee Lou [Wood]—that quietness and that tragedy. Each of them just brought something new that I’d never seen them do before. And when you’re with a cast that’s doing that consistently, it’s so exciting to watch and it’s so beautiful.”
Release Date
All four episodes of Toxic Town will be streaming on Netflix from February 27th.
