“Toxic Town” is a Netflix series starring Jodie Whittaker, with Robert Carlyle, Aimee Lou Wood, Rory Kinnear, and Brendan Coyle. The show plunges us into a real environmental scandal, with four episodes taking us to Northamptonshire (England), in the small town of Corby, where several children are born with deformities due to industrial waste.
The series, created by the powerful team of Jack Thorne and Amy Trigg, with Minkie Spiro at the helm of direction, skillfully balances the political intrigue of corporate misconduct with deeply personal and heartbreaking narratives.
Plot
The story unfolds after the closure of the Corby steelworks, as the area undergoes a redevelopment process. What should have been a new beginning for the community turns into a nightmare when toxic substances, including dust contaminated with cadmium, pollute the land. The consequences are devastating: pregnant women in the town begin giving birth to children with debilitating physical differences.
The actors
Jodie Whittaker plays Susan McIntyre, a mother whose son is born with underdeveloped fingers. Whittaker embodies the series’ shifts in tone, balancing moments of levity with heartbreaking revelations. Her portrayal of a woman who transitions from a concerned mother to a relentless activist is simply fascinating.
Aimee Lou Wood brings a heartbreaking vulnerability to Tracey Taylor, whose son is born with malformed internal organs. Claudia Jessie, known for her energetic roles, surprises with a restrained and powerful performance as Maggie, a mother struggling with her son’s limb difference while her husband works at the contaminated demolition site.
About the series
“Toxic Town” is an ensemble series that covers all aspects of the tragedy: four women defending themselves against an injustice and denouncing an environmental crime that has affected their pregnancies.
A series that knows how to avoid moralizing, gratuitous lessons, or easy drama: “Toxic Town” approaches the tragedy from different perspectives and manages to give a global vision of why these events occurred and what happened afterward.
Beyond being a series that aims to denounce the crime, “Toxic Town” knows how to bring us to the characters and delve into the complex web of protagonists. Without avoiding controversy or denunciation, it doesn’t fall into easy drama and shows us what happened with realism and, moreover, achieves a balance between the characters and the cinematic aspects.
A well-directed series, with an intelligent script that also calls on the audience about environmental awareness in a smart and well-presented way, based on a solid narrative of well-developed characters and dialogues that are both real and effective.
Perhaps the most notable aspect of “Toxic Town” is how it manages to be both a scathing denunciation of corporate and governmental negligence and a celebration of community resilience. It’s a delicate balance, but one that the series maintains throughout its four episodes.
As we face current environmental crises and debates about corporate responsibility, “Toxic Town” not only seems timely but necessary.
Where to Watch “Toxic Town”
