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Corby toxic waste scandal to become Netflix drama

Pip Jodie WhittakerPip
Jodie Whittaker, best known for playing the 13th Doctor in Doctor Who, will star in Toxic Town

Doctor Who and Sex Education actors will star in a new Netflix drama about a landmark toxic waste case.

In 2010, Corby Borough Council admitted it had made mistakes in the clean-up of the Northamptonshire town's steelworks.

Many families reached an out-of-court settlement after they said their children were born with defects.

A drama about the case - Toxic Town - has been written by Jack Thorne and will star Jodie Whittaker and Aimee Lou Wood. Production starts this month.

Robert Carlyle, Rory Kinnear and Brendan Coyle - who comes from Corby - will also appear in the four-part series, from the writer of television programme His Dark Materials and stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Getty Images Aimee Lou WoodGetty Images
Toxic Town will star Aimee Lou Wood, who won a Bafta for her performance in Netflix show Sex Education

He said the "incredible story" would focus on "these funny, brave, incredible women and the way they scrapped for their children".

Executive producer Annabel Jones, who worked on Black Mirror, praised the script, which "compassionately explores the interplay between a local community's desire for economic prosperity and the environmental and human cost".

It took 15 years to demolish Corby's former steelworks and remove waste from the land after British Steel announced plans to stop operations in 1979.

Council contractors employed to clean up sites were said to have had little expertise in dealing with toxic waste.

PA The iron and steel works in Corby shortly before its closure in 1980PA
The iron and steelworks in Corby, photographed shortly before their closure in 1980, was a major employer in the town

Eighteen families claimed their 19 children, who were all born over the same 15-year period with upper limb defects, were affected by the removal operation.

All the mothers said they had come into contact with dirt from the clean-up while pregnant in the town.

One parent, Mandy Wright, previously said: "If you went down to the Sunday market to do your shop you'd come back and your shoes would be covered in a fine orange dust."

In 2009 the High Court found Corby Borough Council negligent in its management of toxic waste.

Corby Borough Council disputed the claim and attempted to appeal the decision, before finally admitting negligence in 2010.

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