Corby mothers speak about toxic waste scandal as their story becomes a TV drama
The four-part Netflix series Toxic Town focuses on the group of mothers who fought for justice, and stars Jodie Whittaker.
Last updated 28th Feb 2025
Doctor Who actress Jodie Whittaker can be seen attempting to expose an environmental scandal in a new Netflix series about a scandal in Corby.
Toxic Town, also starring Sex Education's Aimee Lou Wood and Trainspotting actor Robert Carlyle, is based on the Corby toxic waste scandal, which was blamed for causing birth defects in the area.
The four-part series focuses on the group of mothers who fought for justice.
"I always remember black dust and smoke, and kind of just thought it was normal really."
Jodie Whittaker is playing Susan McIntyre in Toxic Town, whose son Connor was born with a deformed hand.
The birth of their children features in the show. Susan describes noticing a problem with Connor, when she was in the maternity ward:
"Connor was born with no fingers on his left hand, he had a little bit of a thumb, but the rest was little buds. At the beginning when he was first born, I couldn't bare to look at his hand."
Whittaker's character says her son "has been in pain his entire life and it wasn't his fault", in the series.
Maggie Mahon's child Sam was born with a severe club foot. She tells us what it was liking living near the steelworks during the 1980s and 1990s.
"Growing up in Corby with the steelworks and everything, I always remember black dust and smoke, and kind of just thought it was normal really. And so then living with this reddy browny dust, that was kind of part and parcel of what happened really."
"Incredibly shocking, incredibly heart-breaking and totally avoidable."
In the show Whittaker who plays Susan, is seen fighting for justice alongside Wood, whose character Tracey Taylor.
Tracey daughter Shelby died shortly after she was born with a irreparable heart defect. She had two, not four chambers in her heart. Doctors told her any intervention would only leave her daughter with a 10% chance of survival.
Tracey tells us about learning of the news:
"We had to make the decision, of do we put her through that, and anymore pain, or do we let her go. So we asked my mum and dad to come down and see their granddaughter."
Jodie Whittaker says 'shamefully' she wasn't aware of the story until she read the script for the show, given the scandal.
"What united them the mothers was the town they were living in, was poisoning them. This will bring attention to something which is incredibly shocking, incredibly heart-breaking and totally avoidable."
Toxic Town
In a landmark High Court ruling in 2009, Corby Borough Council was found negligent in its management of toxic waste at the former steelworks site in the town during the 1980s and 1990s.
The council denied it was negligent and that there was a link between the removal of waste to a quarry north of the site and deformities affecting hands and feet.
But Mr Justice Akenhead found there was a "statistically significant" cluster of birth defects between 1989 and 1999.
The council later agreed to pay compensation to the children affected.
The series, written by Jack Thorne, also stars Skyfall actor Rory Kinnear, Downton Abbey star Brendan Coyle, Bridgerton's Claudia Jessie and Skins actor Joe Dempsie.
Toxic Town is available to stream now on Netflix.