Netflix Releases First Look at Jodie Whittaker in 'Toxic Town'

Netflix initially announced Toxic Town in August 2023, during the height of the dual writers-actors strike in America. A U.K.-based series focusing on the real-life Corby Toxic Waste Case, it could technically go into production right away since it would be under the U.K.'s Actor's Equity and Writer's Guild of Great Britain. The press release also touted the casting of star Jodie Whittaker, who had recently announced her retirement from Doctor Who after three seasons, making the series a potential first release since leaving the TARDIS.

Filming started almost immediately in 2023, with the rest of the cast announced a few weeks later; however, Netflix's tendency to hold fully completed series until the following year kept the show on the back burner. The whole of 2024 came and went with nothing to report on the series, but with a confirmed 2025 release date, Toxic Town is now back on the menu with the series' first image.

The new series will cover the case from the perspective of three of the mothers at the center of the class action lawsuit filed by the families of 19 children born with deformities caused by toxic dust from a former steelworks in Corby, Northamptonshire. They successfully got the Corby Borough Council found negligent in its waste management. After 11 years of fighting, the council finally agreed to pay, though to this day, it denies liability.

Here's the series synopsis:

The real-life legal battle following the Corby poisoning inspired the four-part limited series. Corby is a Northamptonshire town that was once home to a steelworks that closed in 1981—but not before a massive amount of toxic waste was deposited there. Efforts to remove the waste contaminated populated areas and communities, affecting residents and their health. A landmark case later proved that the environmental damage caused by the way Corby Borough Council moved the waste led to birth defects, with a way-above-average number of people in Corby born with upper-limb defects.

Whittaker co-stars with an all-star cast that includes Robert Carlyle (COBRA), Aimee Lou Wood (Sex Education), Rory Kinnear (The Diplomat), Brendan Coyle (Downton Abbey), Claudia Jessie (Bridgerton), Joe Dempsie (Get Millie Black), Michael Socha (D.I. Ray), Lauren Lyle (Karen Pirie), Stephen McMillan (Boiling Point), Simon Harrison (Endeavour), Steven Elder (The Bay), and Jaz Singh Deol (EastEnders).

Toxic Town is written by His Dark Materials scribe Jack Thorne, with director Minkie Spiro (Three Body Problem) helming all episodes. The series is produced by Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones’ Black Mirror outfit Broke & Bones, with Jones executive producing alongside Thorne and Spiro.

Netflix has not yet announced a release date for Toxic Town beyond "2025."