Netflix Rounds Out the Cast of Its Upcoming Limited Series 'Toxic Town'

Netflix has rounded out the casting for its upcoming drama Toxic Town, a  a four-part limited series that aims to shine a spotlight on the Corby poisonings, an event that is considered one of the U.K's worst environmental disasters.

Bridgeron star Claudia Jessie has joined the series' cast, alongside Joe Dempsie (Skins) and Michael Socha (Being Human). The trio's roles are thus far unconfirmed but their casting adds three young up-and-coming performers to a series that's already bursting with talent. Jessie is best known for her role as middle daughter Eloise Bridgerton on the hit Netflix period drama, while Dempsie will be familiar to Game of Thrones fans thanks to his role as illegitimate Baratheon heir Gendry and Socha most recently appeared in the BBC period drama The Gallows Pole. 

The three join a buzzy ensemble that already includes Jodie Whittaker (Doctor Who), Robert Carlyle (COBRA), Aimee Lou Wood (Sex Education), Brendan Coyle (Downton Abbey), and Rory Kinnear (The Diplomat). 

Toxic Town director Minkie Spiro (Better Call Saul) said the series' cast "represents some of the very best talent we have across the UK, and with the exciting recent additions of Claudia Jessie, Joe Dempsie and Michael Socha coming on board, I’m incredibly proud to be working with such a brilliant cast and crew in bringing this important and timely story to Netflix audiences.”

Toxic Town will focus on three mothers who take on a "David and Goliath fight for justice" and the yearslong legal battle that followed the Corby poisonings, a scandalous series of toxic waste spillages in the East Midlands during the mid-1980s. 

Once home to one of Europe's largest steelworks, the Northhamptonshire town of Corby saw a significant rise in birth defects following the closing and attempted cleanup of the facility, which had been used to house a substantial amount of toxic waste. The clean-up program involved transporting that waste through populated areas using open lorries, an event that ultimately saw eighteen families file a lawsuit after the number of babies born with upper limb defects was ultimately found to be three times higher than children in surrounding areas. The case ultimately went all the way to the U.K.'s High Court in 2009. 

"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," Thorne said in a statement when the series was first announced. "Toxic Town tells the story of these funny, brave, incredible women and the way they scrapped for their children."

Toxi Town is written by His Dark Materials scribe Jack Thorne and is produced by Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones’ Black Mirror outfit Broke & Bones, with Jones set to EP alongside Thorne and Spiro.

Production is already under way in the U.K. under an Equity contract, meaning the show will not run into conflict with the ongoing U.S. SAG-AFTRA labor strikes.