Real-life stories of Toxic Town Netflix series | Global News Avenue

Netflix’s new drama Toxic Towns revisits one of the UK’s biggest environmental scandals: the Corby Toxic Waste case.

series It tells the story of families fighting for justice after children in small Northamptonshire towns, believed to be caused by industrial pollution.

Corby’s steel industry expanded rapidly in the 1930s with the construction of Stewarts and Lloyds’Steelworks.

By the 1970s, half of the town worked in the mill, but when the steel factory closed in the 1980s, toxic waste in the demolition process was inappropriate, resulting in widespread pollution.

In 2009, after a long legal battle, the High Court ruled that the Kobe Municipal Government was negligent in managing waste.

The affected families won unpublished financial settlements in 2010 until the children turned 18.

Apart from the drama, the BBC Radio Taipei Amputon podcast series uses original court transcripts and newly discovered documents to gain a deeper understanding of real-life events.

The podcast is hosted by George Taylor, 32, who was born with upper limb defects in connection with the case, with a podcast with testimony and interviews with people with direct influence.

These are some of the key voices behind the story.

George Angus Taylor was born on March 11, 1992 in Fiona and Brian, to Corby.

Brian worked at Stewart and Lloyds steel mills, a work that left him covered in dust and debris at the end of each shift.

Former Boot No7 Beauty Consultant Fiona vividly remembers George’s birth, an event that will change their lives forever.

Born in “Naval Blue”, he was caused by circulation problems before the jet, and he was immediately ventilated and placed in the intensive care unit.

Then Fiona noticed something unusual.

“I remember seeing only his little hands; his little finger ring finger and middle finger.”

“Like a fist; do you know how a baby makes a fist? Then his index finger; his thumb sticks out.

“I kept thinking, ‘He’s here because of me,’ you’re just blaming. You look, the first person you want to blame is yourself.”

At the age of 14, the doctor discovered a tumor in George’s hands, so much so that amputation became a real possibility.

The experimental surgery at that time was painful. “When I woke up, I was filled with morphine.”

“They said it was like Everest without practice – my body was closed.”

The experience, especially the smell, leaves lasting memories. “They burn the meat when they are (operated): very quiet hissing, like the sausage in the pan. That’s the smell that comes from time to time.”

Despite all, George was determined to move forward. “I wasn’t shocked when I first saw my hand; I wasn’t sad. It’s better than before.”

But George is not alone. Kobe’s other children are born with similar conditions.

Lisa Atkinson is a security guard at Corby Steel Mills, where her duties involve outside the patrol team, checking parking permits, and often having to move dust that has been installed on all objects.

On June 27, 1989, she gave birth to her daughter Simone at Kettering General Hospital.

Simone was born with three fingers on each hand.

The doctor reassured Lisa that the only thing she could not do was play the piano.

Like Fiona Taylor did to George, Lisa initially questioned whether she was responsible for her daughter’s condition.

“I probably had a part of me sitting there and going, ‘What did I do? Did I do that?'” she said.

“Because I had a few miscarriages before Simone…I always thought maybe I was lucky; maybe I got Simone… but she wasn’t perfect. But I was lucky to have that kid, not the two before.”

Despite her initial self-doubt, Lisa “knows” that she did nothing wrong, because she was neither drunk nor smoked during her pregnancy.

She recalled the lack of follow-up care or investigation of her daughter’s condition.

“You come into the world with a little different child,” she said.

“But there is nowhere to go. There is no follow-up or anything; there is no ‘we’re going to study it.’ So you can only deal with it because you have to do it.”

Lisa quickly adjusted her life through Simone’s condition, saying: “It shocked others, far beyond me. I really got used to it very quickly.”

Winning subsequent legal cases against the Borough Council attracted great attention.

“I’m not famous, but I think that’s something celebrities have to feel…it’s crazy.”

Growing up, Simone, now 35, faces ruthless bullying.

“I had a great family and friends…but (school) was hard. I wasn’t a very confident kid and I was easily targeted.”

Simone responds with humor. She joked that mom chopped her fingers, or that she was part of an alien, turning her differences into something interesting.

“It’s a little ahead, because if I’m kidding myself, no one else can. Just accept who you are; that won’t change.”

At 18, she underwent surgery to remodel her hands, but refused.

“They admit they really don’t know if it would help. By then, I’ve adapted. I’ve had pain every day, but I don’t want to take the risk of making things worse.”

She met her current husband, initially hiding her own hands, skillfully positioning herself to avoid discovery.

Eventually, she told him – through a long message and sent him a link to the 2020 Horizon documentary about the case.

His answer? “It’s no big deal.”

Today, she thanks her family for the legal battles she struggled with. “It cheered me up for life,” she said.

“I was able to start my own life and go to college. I had my own house, the best start in my daughter’s life.”

Lewis Waterfield was born in 1994 and has deformed hands.

His father worked near the contaminated ruins as a roofer, where his pregnant mother often visited him.

“My father noticed something wasn’t right,” Lewis recalled.

As a kid, he endured destructive hospitalizations, including an attempt to successfully hold his toes to create a functional finger.

“I have undergone extensive surgery, but there are limitations on what can be done.”

In the legal struggle, Lewis’ parents worked hard to prove the link between industrial pollution and birth defects.

“I remember the Council was dismissive. It felt like we were inconvenience to them.”

Lewis, now a senior lecturer in public health at the University of Northampton, admits how his experiences shape him.

“Every time, someone asked me about my hand, which made me come back immediately,” he said.

“But I don’t mind. It’s part of who I am.”

The Corby Borough Council no longer exists when it merges with other authorities to become the Northamptonshire Council in 2021.

In 2010, then-CEO Chris Mallender formally apologized for the scandal.

It said: “The Council expressed its deepest sympathy for children and their families.”

“While I accept that money cannot properly compensate for the disability of these young people and all the troubles they have suffered so far and their problems, the Council sincerely hopes that this apology combined with today’s agreement will mean that they can now leave their legal struggles behind and continue their lives with greater financial certainty.”

BBC Radio Taipei Ampton’s eight-part documentary series Details: Toxic Waste Scandalavailable for download from BBC Sounds.