A brand new Netflix drama covers one of the worst environmental catastrophes in British history – through the stories of brave mothers who never gave up on their David vs Goliath fight against Corby Borough Council.
Between the years, 1984 to 1999, the council was involved in the demolition, excavation, and redevelopment of the former site of Stewarts and Lloyds, a steel manufacturers firm. Industrial waste was transported to a quarry north of the site, in open lorries then travelled through populated areas.
The toxic sludge spilled out onto the roads, while large quantities of toxic dust hung, orange and ominous, in the air above the industrialised Northamptonshire town of Corby. It was around this time that a number of babies in the area were born with serious disabilities, including limb differences, and fatal heart deformities.
As detailed in Toxic Town, London’s High Court in London eventually established a link between the “atmospheric soup of toxic materials” and the birth defects following a 2009 hearing. And the historic ruling was all thanks to the determined mums often referred to as the ‘British Erin Brockoviches’.
Tracey Taylor
One of the most heartbreaking threads of the series is the story of Tracey Taylor, played here by Sex Education’s Aimee Lou Wood. Tracey, who began work in an office near the steelworks right after finishing school in 1989, recalled that, by the time of her first pregnancy in 1996, the air had been filled with red dust for years, settling on workers’ desks, and even their lunches.
Speaking with the NN Journal, Tracey recalled: “We noticed these sand storms more and more. On days when it was really hot – it would just fly over. It was coming off the trucks as they were driving around. None of them were covered. When it was wet it was like you were going through a slurry pit.”
In mid-April 1996, Tracey gave birth to her daughter, Shelby Anne. The little girl would live just four days. Speaking with Surrey Live, Tracey remembered: “Obviously, we were really excited; it was going to be our first child. Shelby was beautiful. They wrapped her up and gave her to me, and I gently pulled a piece of the blanket away because I wanted to see her face, and that’s when I noticed that she had a deformed ear.”
Medical staff expressed serious concern for the newborn, and it was then that Tracey was given some devastating news. Tracey shared: “They took her down to the special baby care unit and put her on oxygen, and that’s when the doctor said, ‘we honestly do think there’s something seriously wrong’.
“We called our priest who’d married us and asked him to come and baptise her and give her a blessing. And then they [doctors] came back and took us into a room and said, ‘Look, we’re really sorry, but unfortunately, she’s only got a two-chamber heart instead of a four-chamber heart. There’s blood being pumped straight into her lungs as opposed to her heart.”
Desperate mum Tracey pleaded with doctors to save her child, only to be told that Shelby Anne had over a 90 percent chance of not pulling through surgery. It was then that Tracey was faced with an impossible decision. She recounted: “We asked my Mum and Dad to come and see their granddaughter and say their goodbyes, to which they did. And we decided as parents we would take her off the life support machine.
“If she lasted a little while, then we would give her the chance of going into surgery and being operated on, knowing there would be many years of surgeries ahead of her. If she went, at least she went in our arms lovingly. And she only lasted five minutes.”
Susan McIntyre
In the new series, Doctor Who’s Jodie Whittaker plays leader of the group Susan McIntyre, a single mother who becomes suspicious after her baby son Connor, who was born without fingers on one hand – a birth defect that would become known as ‘Corby hand’.
In an interview published in The Times earlier this month, Susan, who’d worked at some of the factories around Corby, spoke of the difficulties she’d suffered during her pregnancy with Connor, who she gave birth to in 1996. Susan said: “Everything went wrong, from pre-eclampsia to gestational diabetes. I was in hospital for about five weeks up until when I had him.”
After Connor was born, Susan found herself a hospital room with another mum whose baby also had a birth defect. Then, a call from a reporter prompted her to take action. According to Susan: “The Sunday Times came to my door, and said, ‘We think there’s some problem in Corby with children born with deformities, could we tell your story?’ That was the start of it, and then it never stopped.”
As shared by Susan in 2020 BBC documentary, Toxic Town: The Corby Poisonings, Connor endured horrific bullying because of his hand – so much so that he even attempted to cut it off. Susan explained: “He just didn’t get peace from these children, he got bullied that much he would break down and cry and say ‘Mum I don’t want to go out because people are looking at my hand.
“He started biting his hand, tried to cut it off. But I think it was a cry for help. All Connor wanted to be a normal kid, to be a man and get on with his life. But nobody ever gave him a chance.”
In another interview with ITV Anglia in 2004, Susan said: “Connor will always be the way he is, no matter what. Nothing will change that; as long as it doesn’t happen to any other children. I didn’t like it when it happened to me and I certainly wouldn’t like it to happen to anyone else in the future.”
Maggie Mahon
Another mother whose story is explored in this series is Maggie Mahon, played by Bridgerton’s Claudia Jessie. As detailed in Toxic Town, Maggie’s son Sam was born with a club foot, after a pregnancy spent beating dust from her husband Derek’s work clothes. After reading about the scandal in the newspaper, Maggie realised there could be a link.
You can stream Toxic Town on Netflix now.
Do you have a story to share? Email me at [email protected]