Toxic Town Review
Director: Minkie Spiro
Date Created: 2025-02-27 17:00
4.5
Toxic Town Review: Written by Jack Thorne and directed by Minkie Spiro, this four-part miniseries is an adaptation of the ghastly Corby toxic waste case—a real-life ecological disaster that caused birth defects in children as a result of the gross negligence of the Corby Borough Council. Featuring Jodie Whittaker, Aimee Lou Wood, Claudia Jessie, Robert Carlyle, and Brendan Coyle, among many others, believe me, all of them give a performance that is so raw and real. Netflix’s Toxic Town is a series that lingers in your head long after you have watched it.
Before I even go on to my thoughts, let me just say—this is not an easy watch. It’s not the type of show that you have on in the background while you scroll through your phone. Toxic Town requires your undivided attention, and trust me, it’s worth it.
Toxic Town Review
If you’ve seen movies like Erin Brockovich or Dark Waters, you might think you know where this tale is headed. There’s a system that’s not fair, a band of victims demanding justice, and a protracted and agonising battle in court. And in some sense, the format is familiar.
The Toxic Town series does a fantastic job of making you feel the gravity of what occurred in Corby. Initially, it introduces you to the town and its residents in a manner that is warm and intimate. It nearly lulls you into a false sense of security. And then, gradually but inexorably, it peels away the sheer horror these families endured. Mothers giving birth to children with horrific deformities, the council dismissing concerns, and the torturous struggle for justice that took years. It’s utterly infuriating to watch, but that’s also what makes it so compelling.
This is a gut punch because this isn’t some manufactured story to add drama. This is the truth. And regrettably, it continues even today somewhere on the planet. Toxic Town left me reminded that these stories must be retold over and over again until others finally pay attention.
One of the things that truly surprised me about the show was the way it balances tragedy and humour. That may sound strange for a show about an actual environmental tragedy, but somehow the writing does manage to allow moments of humour to seep through—particularly in the exchanges between the three lead women. Jodie Whittaker, Aimee Lou Wood, and Claudia Jessie have such natural chemistry on screen that, even during the saddest of moments, you can’t help but laugh through tears.
This balance is so crucial because if the show had been relentlessly dark, it would have been draining to watch. Rather, those moments of levity make the punch-to-the-gut moments land even more effectively.
I just can’t sing the cast’s enough praises. Jodie Whittaker is just phenomenal—she has so much raw emotion in her character that I genuinely felt like I was observing a real mother struggling for justice. Aimee Lou Wood, whom I had only ever watched in Sex Education, utterly blew me away with her devastating performance.
And then Brendan Coyle, who is so smug and corrupt a functionary that I literally wanted to throw something at my screen whenever he showed up. That’s how talented he is. And naturally, Robert Carlyle is fantastic, as usual. Whether he’s the hero or the bad guy, he just has this presence that dominates every scene he’s in.
I also need to tip a hat to production design because the show gets the late ’90s and early 2000s look so right. Everything from the apparel to the hairstyles and makeup subtly changes from one episode to another and looks true to form. It’s that kind of in-the-background period detail that doesn’t hit you over the head but contributes to the immersion without feeling overt.
Summing Up
Overall, this series is a heavy read. One that makes you think, and one that gets inside your head and by the time the last episode wrapped up, it has the ability to make you infuriated. Not with the show, but with the fact that this story even exists. There are so many such stories out there. We’d like to believe that things have changed and that governments and corporations are held accountable nowadays, but the reality is, that such neglect is still being carried out, just in a different way. Toxic Town is just such a vital series. It’s not entertainment—it’s an eye-opener.
Toxic Town 2025 is now streaming on Netflix.
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