DIRTY SECRETS

'In Toxic Town’, Jodie Whittaker heads a fine cast bringing a historic injustice to wider attention, writes Nick Hilton

- Nick Hilton

Journalists and lawyers are sometimes accused of being ambulance chasers”. They follow tragedy in pursuit of profit: a good story or a payout. It is an unflattering and often deeply unfair label, but you can add to that list television producers, who have a better eye than anyone for the moments when real trauma can become compelling drama. That’s the case with Netflix’s Toxic Town, another searchlight shone into the dark heart of Britain’s cover-up culture.

The Northamptonshire town of Corby – once known as “Little Scotland” due to the number of workers from north of the border – boomed after the Second World War, feeding Britain’s seemingly insatiable appetite for steel. But as the 20th century came to its close, that industry began to dwindle – and Corby’s decline began in earnest. In this landscape of decay, negligence began to seep into the management of the old steelworks. “British steel did a shit and didn’t flush,” the manager of one site pronounces. “And now we’re the bog brush.” Meanwhile, down on the maternity ward in the town, several mothers – including fiery Susan (Jodie Whittaker), wide-eyed Tracey (Aimee Lou Wood), and uptight Maggie (Claudia Jessie) – give birth to children with limb difference. Some survive; some don’t.