Toxic Town is a four-part limited series on Netflix starring Jodie Whittaker that's set to bring the story of one of the UK's biggest environmental scandals to life on Netflix.
Penned by His Dark Materials and Help writer, Jack Thorne and produced by Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones' Broke and Bones, this series follows three mothers Susan, Tracey and Maggie as they take on a David and Goliath-style fight, with the show telling of the toxic waste spillages in the Northamptonshire town of Corby and how they could be linked to birth defects in local babies born in the 1990s. The four-parter also covers the subsequent legal battle in a case that has been dubbed by many as "the British Erin Brokovich".
Here's everything you need to know about Toxic Town on Netflix...
Toxic Town release date
Toxic Town is a four-part drama that premieres on Netflix on Thursday February 27 2025. Also check out our picks for the best Netflix shows you should be streaming right now.
Is there a Toxic Town trailer?
Yes a Toxic Town trailer has been released by Netflix showing the scandal that hit Corby! Many recognisable faces from British TV dramas. See who you can spot below!
Who's in the Toxic Town cast?
There are six main stars in Toxic Town — former Doctor Who star Jodie Whittaker, Claudia Jessie (Bridgerton) and Sex Education season 4 star Aimee Lou Wood as Corby mums Susan, Maggie and Tracey whose babies were affected, plus Bank of Dave's Rory Kinnear as Des Collins, the lawyer they hire, while Downton Abbey's Brendan Coyle and The Full Monty star Robert Carlyle are Corby borough councillors.
Stephen McMillan (Boiling Point), Lauren Lyle (Outlander), Joe Dempsie (Game of Thrones), Michael Socha (This Is England), Matthew Durkan (Wedding Season), Karla Crome (Carnival Row) also star.
Toxic Town plot and characters
Toxic Town follows the 'Corby poisonings' which were one of the UK’s biggest environmental scandals. Toxic Town is a story about community, focusing on three mothers who take on a David and Goliath fight for justice. By tracing through the years of their fight, a terrible truth comes to the surface — one of stinging injustice.
Jodie Whittaker plays as tough-yet-fragile Susan McIntyre, who’s left blaming herself when her son, Connor, is born with no fingers on his left hand. But as Connor suffers a series of painful operations, Susan begins to twig that his deformity isn’t an isolated case, and is eventually compelled to take on what becomes a 13-year David vs Goliath fight for justice.
Here are the main characters in Toxic Town some of whom are based on real people and some who are fictionalised to proect identities...
Susan McIntyre
(Jodie Whittaker)
Susan blames herself when her second child, Connor, is born with a hand deformity. But after learning of other similar cases, she becomes a ringleader in the battle for justice.
Tracey Taylor
(Aimee Lou Wood)
Tracey and her husband are left reeling when their newborn daughter Shelby dies following a number of developmental defects. After bumping into Susan, the two team up to take on the council.
Pattie Walker
(Karla Crome)
Barmaid Pattie’s baby is also born with hand deformities, and her testimony becomes instrumental in the case against the council.
Maggie Mahon
(Claudia Jessie)
Maggie’s son Samuel is born with a deformed foot. But her husband works as a driver for the council contractor and fears for his job if Maggie joins the women’s fight for the truth.
Des Collins
(Rory Kinnear)
The dogged lawyer refuses to give up on the case, despite countless setbacks, including essential evidence being burnt in a fire.
Roy Thomas
(Brendan Coyle)
Panicked by unemployment rates, the council leader is determined to regenerate Corby at any cost.
Sam Hagen
(Robert Carlyle)
The local councillor’s drive for the truth becomes essential to the mothers as the Corby case reaches court.
Jodie Whittaker on playing Susan McIntyre
Toxic Town star Jodie Whittaker says: "Susan meets several mums whose kids have been born with limb differences like Connor, and it just doesn’t seem right. Then she’s contacted by a journalist who has started to see similarities, too. It’s pre-internet, pre-Facebook, so it happens slowly by word of mouth, but she starts to connect the dots.
"You see these young mothers and their emotional journey and the toll the pursuit of the truth takes on them. What struck me most is that I’d never heard of this story before. But I wanted to pay tribute to this group of women, who had to fight so hard for justice. They didn't give up despite how long it took and how heartbreaking the fight was.’"
"There’s a fair bit about the case on the internet and there was a Horizon documentary about the case featuring Susan which was gold dust for me. But knowing that Jack Thorne'ss research is on another level, you know he’s done half the work for you. And to be clear, this isn’t a documentary. There’s a theatricality to it, and for us it was about making a dramatic version of the story. There are some things that Susan would have said or done, but I’ve brought in some things that are my natural response to those situations.
"The first thing you see in the description in the script is that even though she’s from Corby, she’s got a Scottish accent. Corby has a strong Scottish contingency from all the steel workers who migrated down there in the 1930s. I've lived in London for 22 years and I still sound like I've just come off t’train, so I understand it, but Susan has got a really thick Glaswegian accent."
Rory Kinnear on playing Des Collins
Toxic Town star Rory Kinnear says: "Des is originally from Corby and he understands what coming from that area does to you in terms of your psyche. Also his background as a lawyer comes from holding powerful companies to account for the things they've done wrong. The energy, the fire and the passion come from Susan and the other mothers, but Des is there to unpick a particularly difficult lock.
"He doesn't want payment up front, and his own heritage as a lawyer comes from holding powerful companies to account for things that they've done wrong, particularly around the rail disasters [Southall and Paddington], in which he represented the families. So I guess quite a lot of what Susan is doing throughout the show is working on instinct, and her instinct says that Des is the one to trust.
"When he first visits her house, he seems like a normal-ish guy, and someone who understands these people and has a genuine desire to not do bad, rather than necessarily to do good. He seems to genuinely care. He’s not forgotten where he came from and who he is.
"I hadn't heard anything about this story before. Obviously it was in the press at the time, but it’s interesting to know why it hadn't been given more coverage or why it hadn't landed more in the national consciousness. I think a lot of the other actors would say that they hadn't heard the story before either. At the time of getting the scripts there were lots of stories around about water pollution going on in one's own country, and this felt like another example of a powerful and well-funded body causing harm to the common good."
Behind the scenes and more on Toxic Town
Toxic Town is written by Jack Thorne with Amy Trigg as co-writer of episode 3. The directo is Minkie Spiro and executive Producers are Annabel Jones, Minkie Spiro, Charlie Brooker, Jack Thorne and Euros Lyn, with producers: Delyth Scudamore, Patricia Tookey-Dickson. The production company is Broke & Bones.
Writer Jack Thorne says: "The Corby Toxic Waste Case is one of those moments in history that is defining. It showed our ability to close our eyes and ears to the safety of our people. It also showed the remarkable way that people will fight for what's right. Toxic Town tells the story of these funny, brave, incredible women and the way they scrapped for their children. It has been a true privilege working with Annabel, Minkie, Delyth and the whole Broke & Bones family on this incredible story, and we are so grateful to Netflix for giving us the opportunity and support in telling it."
