Corby Residents Go on the Warpath in 'Toxic Town's Second Half

Corby is on the warpath in the second half of Netflix’s Toxic Town – we shift focus to the 2000s where the long-gestating legal case gathers steam against the town council for their negligence that poisoned local pregnant women with toxic waste. But, like a lot of landmark legal wins, it’s not an easy road – after years of campaigning, episode 3 begins in 2002 with the Regional Health Authority releasing a report that falls short of the high burden of proof needed to prove that Corby Borough Council knew of the toxic contamination at their steelworks reclamation site and they wilfully covered it up. What’s more, a report from Anglian Water concludes that the contamination never reached the women’s own water supplies, so that rules out waterborne poisoning.

Susan is convinced that their lawyer Des Collins won’t stick around after such a hefty blow to their case, but he’s undeterred – he’s sure the report was incompetently handled. Still, feathers are ruffled among the mothers – Susan kicks off at head councillor Roy Thomas when the report is presented to the claimants and Maggie is persuaded to walk out of the meeting by her husband Derek (Joe Dempsie), who wants to protect his own career with the construction company implicated in the scandal, Rhodes and Miller.

(Sidenote: many of the names and persons in this series – like Rhodes and Miller or Roy Thomas, were invented, probably to avoid costly libel suits levied at Netflix — which they now know something about. It makes sense, but you can’t help but feel like writer Jack Thorne has softened the sharpness and anger of Toxic Town’s intended societal critique.)