Aimee Lou Wood and Jodie Whittaker met with the women whose stories are at the heart of their new Netflix drama Toxic Towns for a deeply moving chat.
The four-part series delves deeply into the tragic story of the Corby poisonings – one of the UK’s most devastating environmental disasters.
It tells the heart-wrenching tales of mothers whose children suffered disabilities due to the scandal as they tirelessly fight for justice.
On the release date of the series on Thursday, Jodie and Aimee met with the real-life mothers – Susan McIntyre, Tracey Taylor, and Maggie Mahon – in an emotional gathering.
Talking about the actors, Tracey said: ‘They have done us all proud, they have done the children proud.’
Meanwhile, Aimee, who plays Tracey in the drama, added: ‘I’m so honoured that I got to play you.’
Aimee Lou Wood and Jodie Whittaker have met with the women whose stories are at the heart of their new Netflix drama Toxic Towns, in a deeply moving encounter
On the release date of the series (27 February), Jodie and Aimee met with the real-life mothers – Susan McIntyre, Tracey Taylor, and Maggie Mahon – in an emotional gathering
Talking about the actors, Tracey said: ‘They have done us all proud, they have done the children proud’
Tracey, whose daughter Shelby Anne tragically passed away at just four days old, spoke to Aimee about the emotional impact the series has had on her and what it’s like to see the actress portray her story.
Fighting back tears, she said: ‘What you have done for her (Shelby), I am in debt to you because you have done her justice, and you have done us justice, and we will be forever grateful.’
She then went on to open up about Shelby Anne’s birth, which is portrayed in Toxic Town.
Tracey said: ‘Obviously we were really excited, it was going to be our first child. Shelby was beautiful. They wrapped her up and gave her to me, and I gently pulled a piece of the blanket away because I wanted to see her face, and that’s when I noticed that she had a deformed ear.
‘They took her down to the special baby care unit and put her on oxygen, and that’s when the doctor said ‘we honestly do think there’s something seriously wrong’.
‘We called our priest who’d married us and asked him to come and baptise her and give her a blessing. And then they [doctors] came back and took us into a room and said ‘look, we’re really sorry but unfortunately she’s only got a two chamber heart instead of a four chamber heart. There’s blood being pumped straight into her lungs as opposed to her heart.’
Tracey continued to reveal that despite pleading with doctors to operate, she was told there was a over 90 percent chance that her daughter wouldn’t survive.
This sadly led her to make the heart-wrenching decision to take her daughter off the life support machine.
Tracey, whose daughter Shelby Anne tragically passed away at just four days old, spoke to Aimee about the emotional impact the series has had on her and what it’s like to see the actress portray her story
Fighting back tears, she said: ‘What you have done for her (Shelby), I am in debt to you because you have done her justice, and you have done us justice, and we will be forever grateful’
Aimee plays Tracey in the drama (pictured during their emotional chat)
She recalled: ‘We asked my Mum and Dad to come and see their granddaughter and say their goodbyes, to which they did. And we decided as parents we would take her off the life support machine.
‘If she lasted a little while, then we would give her the chance of going into surgery and being operated on, knowing there would be many years of surgeries ahead of her.
‘If she went, at least she went in our arms lovingly. And she only lasted 5 minutes.’
In other conversations, Maggie, Tracey, and Susan reflected on the court case they became entangled in.
Susan remembered it as a ‘really scary moment,’ though she was resolute in wanting to ‘tell God’s honest truth.’
Maggie said: ‘We were the underdogs, and that is the magic of the whole story,’ before Tracey added: ‘All the years of fighting then finding out that, yes, that the judge believed us mums and we were right, was such a big sense of relief because we didn’t do anything and it wasn’t our fault.’
In other conversations, Maggie, Tracey, and Susan reflected on the court case they became entangled in
Toxic Towns follow the tragic story that captivated the nation.
In 1980, Corby experienced one of the biggest child poisonings cases and exposed children to a high volume of toxic waste, which saw more birth defects in this period than ever – the worst foetal poisoning scandal since thalidomide.
The local council attempted to remove the waste – an attempt that led to contamination spreading to populated areas, impacting the health of locals.
A case was subsequently brought against Corby Borough Council, which found the waste disposal had led to birth defects, with a far above average number of babies born in Corby with upper-limb defects.
Alongside Jodie and Amiee, the drama also stars Brendan Coyle, Robert Carlyle, and Rory Kinnear.
Toxic Town’s writer, Jack Thorne, said: ‘The Corby toxic Waste case is one of those moments in history that is defining.
‘It showed our ability to close our eyes and ears to the safety of our people. It also showed the remarkable way that people will fight for what’s right.
‘Toxic Town tells the story of these funny, brave, incredible women and the way they scrapped for their children.’
