In 1984, Corby began the process of dismantling a steelworks factory that marked one of the major sources of employment for the town and for people coming from over 100 miles away. They swiftly transported orange sludge and brown mud to Corby and dumped it into landfills. The resulting environmental damage from the brown mud, such as dust-filled skies and contaminated water runoff, led to birth defects in infants living nearby.
“Toxic Town Watch Here Free on Fmovies” depicts mothers fighting for environmental justice along with council corruption through a four part series revealing deep negligence driven greed culminating into a compelling successful lawsuit tale. The superb cast features Jodie Whittaker playing Corby’s mother Susan McIntyre. With one son already, born disabled and now painfully optimistic about life; Connor comes into the world with suboptimal left hand fingers leading to him being read as disabled.
Based on real-life residents, Tracey Taylor (Aimee Lou Wood) is a few wards down birthing Shelby Ann welcoming her deformed ear along with an absent left kidney while having two chambered heart instead of expected four.
Tracey scrubbing rust-colored dirt from her daughter’s gravestone is the only glimpse we get of Shelby’s death which is perhaps the saddest moment in the series. Maggie Mahon (Claudia Jessie) has a husband, Derek (Joe Dempsie, great as always), who drives for a lorry-driving company that carelessly transports sludge to a pit over town that pays him for every emptied sludgy load. The faster he drives, the more sludgy loads he delivers and thus earns. Their son Samuel suffers from clubfoot.
Brendan Coyle elegantly navigates away from the over-the-top cheesiness of “Downton Abbey” in his role as Roy Thomas which is inspired from several individuals, one being the apathetic Corby council leader Kelvin Glendenning. While describing the economic revitalization proposal with all the gall of a carnival barker, he nonchalantly brushes off senior engineer Ted Jenkins’ (Stephen McMillan, Excellent) muted worries about toxins in the air and ground. There is a pattern where every time he submits an report, it gets suppressed. He faces various bribes which he declines. That brews rage and frustration and leads him to Sam Hagen (Robert Carlyle) the only town councillor not morally bankrupt who in real life blew the whistle on Corby’s terrible business and environmental dealings.
But their efforts add to a growing pile of vandalised cars and mysterious evidence being set ablaze. It isn’t until journalist Graham Hind starts writing stories about them in the Sunday Times that attention is drawn toward them. Des Collins roars into action legal battles by representing these women a tender from the mothers claiming court.
Although the family’s tragedies began in the mid-1980s, it was not until 2009 that a judge finally heard the case in court.
Some of Minkie Spiro’s direction is to be frank and a bit overboard. In addition to Maggie scrubbing the sills of their home along with Derek’s uniforms in the garden, countless close-ups reveal streams of filth pouring into the municipal sewers. The villains are leaning toward over-the-top characterization like Pat Miller, played by Ben Batt. Jack Thorne's dialogues at times come off as overly stylized – particularly in the final parts of the series where characters lose subtlety; while bluntness has its power, they could have been more reserved and still expressed conviction while keeping their distrustable nature hidden.
Like many British series, the performances more than compensate for any creative oversights. Dempsie enthralls as a father coming to terms with the fact that his plans to improve the family’s finances may have irrevocably harmed his son. The stillness of the anguish that plays through Susan and Peter as they fetch Connor is riveting considering how much the children’s disabilities shape each parent’s marriage. However, Whittaker and Wood have delivered even greater collaborative performances. Susan's sharp wit and brutal harshness balance out Tracey’s self-assured calm, and both these actresses moved this writer to tears.If you spend time analyzing American shows, you are likely to miss the unique style of British television. There are no elaborate scenes, no long-winded speeches, and certainly none of the "Perry Mason" court-side theatrics. British critics, for instance, found the series tone “tacky,” but in comparison to American dramas, I felt these four episodes were among the most restrained out of any series I’ve watched recently. While there is some writing and directing improvement needed, the simmering tension that often pales just beneath boiling over brings to mind “The Crown’s” ‘Aberfan’ episode or random moments in “Chernobyl.” So much relatively calm carnage marred by desperate shooting makes “Toxic Town” both profoundly painful as it is without enduring mothers compensation settlement payments of £14.6 million after years of perceived claim exploitation capstone it all with fury.