Everybody should know Toxic Town story, says star

Bafta-nominated Toxic Town star Jodie Whittaker said everybody should know the true story behind the drama.

The Netflix series follows the real-life battle of families in Corby, Northamptonshire, whose children were born with defects in the 1980s and '90s.

In court, it was argued that toxic airborne pollutants from the town's demolished steelworks had harmed unborn babies.

Whittaker said: "I didn't, shamefully, know anything about it before I read the script."

In 1980, millions of tonnes of contaminated waste were taken to Deene Quarry, on the outskirts of town, as part of clearing the steelworks.

In 2009, 18 families took Corby Borough Council to the High Court.

A judge ruled in their favour, and the council was found negligent in managing the waste, after the court was told the heavy metal cadmium was identified at the former steelworks.

Whittaker, 43, was nominated for her role as real-life mother Susan McIntyre.

Speaking on the red carpet ahead of Sunday's awards, she said: "I think what [writer] Jack Thorne has done has put this story [out there] and shared it with everybody in a way that has been completely accessible.

"We should know about this, this should have been the shame of the century in a community.

"The mothers are incredible and have absolutely shared all of their personal trauma and journey through it, and we were lucky enough to be able to play the roles of the real people."

The show also starred Aimee Lou Wood, as Tracey Taylor, and Claudia Jessie as Maggie Mahon - also real-life Corby mothers.

Rory Kinnear played solicitor Des Collins.

Whittaker lost out on the leading actress Bafta to Narges Rashidi, who also played a real-life person: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in BBC One's drama Prisoner 951.

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