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WhatToWatch
Entertainment
Claire Crick

Netflix just got one of the best true-life dramas I’ve ever seen — and you'll be thinking about it for weeks

Susan leans onto Tracey's shoulder in Toxic Town.

Netflix has just added a new true-life drama that will have you gripped from the very first epsiode.

Toxic Town, which landed on Netflix worldwide today, is a four-part drama following the true-life story of one of the UK's biggest environmental scandals.

It tells the story of three mothers Susan, Tracey and Maggie (played by Doctor Who's Jodie Whittaker, The White Lotus season 3 star Aimee Lou Wood and Bridgerton's Claudia Jessie) as they battle to prove birth defects in local babies born in the 1990s are down to toxic waste spillages in the Northamptonshire town of Corby.

Between 1984 and 1999, the Corby Borough Council undertook the demolition, and excavation of the former steelworks site that closed down after the recession in the 1970s - but the redevelopment work saw toxic sludge split over the roads and huge amounts of toxic dust polluted into the air.

Jodie as Susan in Toxic Town. (Image credit: Netflix)

The first episode opens with Susan, Tracey and Maggie all discovering they are pregnant, but their joy soon turns to devastation when their pregnancies and births don't go as planned.

When dozens of babies in Corby are born with disabilities, the mothers embark on a battle to hold those responsible to account - however, with the local council doing its best to cover up any wrongdoings, they soon find they have a battle on their hands which will have you on the edge of your seat.

Toxic Town is thoroughly British and brings that sense of a local community getting together to battle a miscarriage of justice - think Mr Bates Vs The Post Office set in Northern England and with a group of strong women all looking for answers as they protect their families and children.

If you watch just one thing this weekend, this should be at the top of your must-watch list. I promise you won't be disappointed.

All four episodes of Toxic Town are available to stream on Netflix now.

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