I'm Rebecca LaVoy, and this is You Can't Make This Up.

You Can't Make This Up is the podcast where we uncover the true stories behind your favorite Netflix documentaries and films.

On today's episode, we take a closer look at the Netflix series, Toxic Town.

No one ever listened to me. I'm just a mom. So I had to make them listen.

In the 1990s, mothers in the English industrial town of Corby noticed their children were born with similar disabilities.

Could they have been poisoned during their pregnancies by toxic waste being removed from the old steel mill?

Led by Susan McIntyre, the group rallied to seek justice, but the borough council denied there

was any connection between the children's health issues and the reclamation project essential

to the city's future. The mothers hit stone walls in their quest for the truth,

but a crusading lawyer and a disgraced whistleblower might have the information vital to their case.

Jody Whitaker, Amy Lou Wood, and Rory Kinnear lead an all-star cast in the Netflix series Toxic Town.

Based on the true story of the groundbreaking environmental negligence case,

the series follows the efforts of the women as they fight powerful forces to get recognition

and compensation on behalf of their kids.

For the firm and the council involved, having these sites clear for redevelopment as fast as humanly possible is all that mattered.

They broke every rule.

Thank you very much for having me.

So Toxic Town is not a documentary. It's based on a true story of the toxic waste case from

Corby. I know most Americans are unfamiliar with this case. Did you know a lot about the case before

you began? I did not. I knew nothing at all, which was part the reason I wanted to write it.

It was one of those things where you go, surely this should have got more attention. I did not. I knew nothing at all, which was part the reason why I wanted to write it.

It was one of those things where you go, surely this should have got more attention than it did.

...