A MOTHER'S love

JODIE WHITTAKER and AIMEE LOU WOOD on telling the story of a real-life fight for the truth

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TOXIC TOWN FROM THURSDAY 27 FEBRUARY, NETFLIX DRAMA

A group of brave mums who took on a ‘David and Goliath’ battle for justice in the wake of one of the worst environmental scandals in UK history is at the heart of new Netflix drama Toxic Town. Written by Jack Thorne, the four-parter is based on the devastating true story of how poisonous waste materials led to babies being born with limb differences in the Northamptonshire town of Corby during the 1980s and 1990s.

The series sees Doctor Who star Jodie Whittaker portray down-to-earth mum Susan McIntyre, whose son, Connor, is born without fingers on his left hand. After realising that Connor’s condition isn’t an isolated case, Susan joins forces with fellow Corby mothers Tracey Taylor (The White Lotus actor Aimee Lou Wood), Pattie Walker (Am I Being Unreasonable? star Karla Crome) and Maggie Mahon (Bridgerton’s Claudia Jessie) to hire lawyer Des Collins (Bank of Dave’s Rory Kinnear) and confront the council about its alleged mismanagement of toxic-waste materials while cleaning up Corby’s former steelworks. But it turns out to be a hard fight for the truth that would span over a decade.

The cast list also includes Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty), Brendan Coyle (Downton Abbey), Lauren Lyle (Karen Pirie) and Michael Socha (Showtrial).

Here, Jodie, 42, and Aimee, 30, give us their take…

What struck you most when you read the script?

AIMEE My initial response was that I couldn’t believe I didn’t know the story. It reminded me of