This Toxic Town has a few new residents. Netflix has just announced a new limited series, titled Toxic Town, along with several of its core cast. According to Deadline, the limited series will tell the story of one of the UK’s largest environmental scandals, Corby poisonings. The new series will star Aimee Lou Wood of Sex Education alongside Jodie Whittaker, who is fresh off of her Doctor Who role.
Along with Whittaker and Wood, the series will also star Robert Carlyle of Once Upon a Time and The Full Monty, Rory Kinnear, and Downton Abbey fan favorite Brendan Coyle. The series comes from writer Jack Thorne, and will tell the story of the toxic waste spills in Corby and the legal battle that followed. Production on the project will start later this month in the UK. The film is under an Equity union contract, meaning the production will not go against ongoing US labor strikes.
The Real-Life Story of a Toxic Town
Toxic Town will tell the tragic, real-life story of toxic waste poisonings that occurred in England in the late 20th century and the legal battle fought by three mothers who fought for justice. The case revolved around the 1980s and 1990s policy of transporting toxic waste through heavily populated areas via open containers. Due to this practice, the rate of upper limb birth defects among children born in Corby was much higher than in surrounding areas. A total of 18 families ended up filing a lawsuit that saw them reach a legal victory in 2009.
The series will consist of four episodes and comes from Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones under the Netflix-backed Broke & Bones. Thorne, who wrote the series, also wrote a similar Channel 4 series titled The Accident. Jones has described Thorne as the “voice of a generation, bringing an intelligence, intensity, and empathy to the human story behind the landmark case.” Thorne wrote all episodes of the series and co-wrote episode three with Amy Trigg.
There is no word on where the series will land in the United States. However, with the upcoming dirth of domestic content due to the ongoing strikes, streamers are more than eager to pick up internationally produced content. Projects such as House of the Dragon Season 2 have been spared the delays of ongoing strikes because they, like the Toxic Town project are working under the Equity union.
via Collider