Susan thought her baby's birth defect was her fault. Then she met a friend's newborn on the street.

In the industrial heart of a small town in England, between 1985 and 1998, a devastating environmental scandal was quietly unfolding.

The demolition of Europe's largest steelworks in Corby would become the catalyst for one of Britain's most significant environmental legal battles, led by a group of determined mothers from Northamptonshire who refused to stay silent.

Netflix's new top-rated drama series Toxic Town is the story of the people at the heart of the Corby poisonings. Focusing on a group of mothers who battled for justice, the series traces the years of their fight as a terrible truth came to the surface. The show's writer, Jack Thorne has spoken about how inspiring he found this true story.

"It's a genuinely working-class story," Thorne said. "It's a story of people who are not part of the system that have never thought the system would work for them, working within the system and [fighting for] the result they deserved."

Watch the trailer for Toxic Town. Article continues after video.

The series stars Jodie Whittaker, Aimee Lou Wood, and Claudia Jessie, as three mothers who band together to challenge their town's council.

Toxic Town primarily follows three young mothers: Susan McIntyre (Whittaker), Tracey Taylor (Lou Wood), and Maggie Mahon (Jessie). The characters are based on very real woman from Corby.

Susan and Maggie's children were born with limb differences, while Tracey's daughter was born with a two-chamber heart. She died at four days old.

At the time of the heartbreaking tragedies, the numbers were impossible to ignore — 16 children born with severe birth defects, all within a 15-year timeframe that coincided with the steelworks' demolition. Their deformities included missing or underdeveloped fingers, shortened arms, and fusion of joints — all affecting their upper limbs in strikingly similar ways.

All the mothers claimed to have come in contact with dirt from the clean-up while they were pregnant in the town.

The massive clean-up operation involved moving toxic waste across Corby. Trucks, often uncovered, transported contaminated materials through residential areas. The council's contractors treated the operation like a standard demolition project, showing little regard for the hazardous nature of the materials they were handling.

Toxic Town is the story of the people at the heart of the Corby poisonings. Image: Netflix.

For the mothers, the fight for justice would span nearly two decades.

In a landmark case that made legal history, they proved that toxic particles in the air during pregnancy had caused their children's birth defects. The court heard evidence that the rate of upper limb defects in Corby was 10 times the national average during the reclamation period.

In 2009, the High Court delivered its verdict: Corby Borough Council had been negligent. The ruling marked the first time in the world that a court had recognised a link between atmospheric toxic waste and birth defects. The following year, the council publicly acknowledged its role in the tragedy and reached a settlement with the families.

"We had to show we were strong independent women who were going to prove that what they did was wrong and we were not going to be lied to," Tracey Taylor has reflected on the win.

"All the years of fighting and then finding out that yes, the judge believed us mums and we were right it brought a real big sense of relief because it was like "I didn't do anything wrong, it's not my fault."

In 2010, the council formally acknowledged their negligence. Image: Netflix.

The case set a crucial precedent for environmental law and public health protection. More importantly, it proved that ordinary people — working-class mothers who had never imagined themselves as activists or legal pioneers — could challenge powerful institutions and win.

This story of environmental justice, which Netflix now brings to screen in Toxic Town, serves as a powerful reminder of how institutional negligence can affect generations, and how the courage of a few determined individuals can force accountability from those in power.

Feature Image: Netflix.