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Jodie Whittaker seen trying to expose Corby toxic waste scandal in trailer

The four-part series also stars Sex Education’s Aimee Lou Wood and Trainspotting actor Robert Carlyle.

By contributor Hannah Roberts, PA Entertainment Reporter
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A scene from Toxic Town
The four-part series focuses on the group of mothers who fought for justice (Netflix/PA)

Doctor Who actress Jodie Whittaker can be seen attempting to expose an environmental scandal in the trailer for a new Netflix series.

Toxic Town, also starring Sex Education’s Aimee Lou Wood and Trainspotting actor Robert Carlyle, is based on the Corby toxic waste scandal, which was blamed for causing birth defects in the area.

The four-part series focuses on the group of mothers who fought for justice, with Whittaker playing Susan McIntyre, whose son Connor was born with a deformed hand.

Whittaker’s character says her son “has been in pain his entire life and it wasn’t his fault”, in the trailer.

She is seen fighting for justice alongside Wood, whose character Tracey Taylor says: “I’m here for them (the children) and the damage my council did them.”

The series, written by Jack Thorne, also stars Skyfall actor Rory Kinnear, Downton Abbey’s Brendan Coyle, Bridgerton’s Claudia Jessie and Skins actor Joe Dempsie.

In a landmark High Court ruling in 2009, Corby Borough Council was found negligent in its management of toxic waste at the former steelworks site in the town during the 1980s and 1990s.

Toby Eden, left to right, Jodie Whittaker and Matthew James Hinchliffe starred in the four-part series Toxic Town (Netflix/PA)

The council denied it was negligent and that there was any link between the removal of waste to a quarry north of the site and deformities affecting hands and feet.

But Mr Justice Akenhead found there was a “statistically significant” cluster of birth defects between 1989 and 1999.

The council later agreed to pay compensation to the children affected.

Toxic Town will be released to Netflix on February 27.

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