At the very beginning of 2024, a mild-mannered ITV drama threw a grenade into the British establishment. Mr Bates vs The Post Office brought an otherwise little-known scandal smack bang into the public eye when a number of subpostmasters were accused of theft (‘false accounting’ is the polite term that’s adopted) when the reality is that a shiny new computer system they were forced to start using was horrendously faulty. Within days of the broadcast, their stories had reached the press and then parliament, with initial small steps towards recompense being taken. 

Toxic Town has a whiff of the next Mr Bates. The terrible true story of the Corby mothers who gave birth to babies with similar physical defects around the same time pointed to something murky in the system. That something turned out to be poisonous particles released into the air from construction sites where the old steelworks once stood, often ferried around by vehicles which merely spread the toxic materials around town (pretty much hence the name). 

Directed by the brilliant (and excellently named) Minkie Spiro (credits include Better Call Saul, Fosse/Verdon and Barry), you’d probably have an inkling already that this will have been written by either James Graham or Jack Thorne (if you guessed the latter, you win). The acting is largely flawless with Jodie Whittaker an absolute revelation as the ferociously determined and in-your-face Glaswegian who slowly realises that her son’s birth defect is not an isolated occurrence. Aimee Lou Wood plays another young mother who, it’s easy to argue, is left with even deeper trauma, while Rory Kinnear stumbles into proceedings as the well-meaning lawyer who takes on the case because of his personal connection to the area as well as feeling a burning sense of injustice.

Without being painted as ghoulish archetypes, it’s easy to spot the baddies, led by a staunch Labour council leader played by Brendan Coyle (the actor was born in Corby) who demands people fall in line or hell will mend them. It takes a while but Robert Carlyle’s seasoned councillor Sam eventually stands up to his boss, managing to let a little bit of Begbie out there to steady the nerve. Maybe the dour young engineer, whose job was to monitor a proper clean-up and whose dad was a hardcore steelworks guy but now needs breathing apparatus to survive, will save the day?

Ultimately, the link to Mr Bates can’t quite hold. The Corby mothers have had their day in court and if you’ve avoided reading about how all this is concluded, it would be unfair to spoil it here. The four-parter is not exactly what you’d call binge-worthy given its harrowing subject matter and heart-rending scenes of loss and despair, but you may well tear through it to see whether justice prevails. In your heart you want the mums to win but the nagging doubt is forever there that a compromise, a deal, or part-justice will be the best that comes of it.

Toxic Town is available now on Netflix.