Toxic Town’s ending hinged on whether or not the lawyers representing the women who had been affected by Corby Borough Council’s mismanagement of toxic waste could prove that their analysis of the damage caused by the poisonous dust from the site was correct. All the way back in the ‘90s, the Corby Borough Council and a private company named Rhodes and Miller were in charge of clearing up the site where a steel plant used to be so that the location could be used to build a water park. But they didn’t follow any of the safety guidelines that had been outlined for the proper dumping of the toxic waste, which led to the spreading of harmful dust all over Corby. While the officials moved on, cases of malformed babies started cropping up, and women like Susan McIntyre, Tracey Taylor, and Maggie Mahon, along with lawyer Des Collins, tried to connect the dots between the mismanagement and the congenital abnormalities. Given how the case dragged on for over a decade, facts and data got warped and became disputed, with the most pivotal one being that of the calculation of the effects of the cadmium-laced dust. So, how did the tides turn in favor of the mothers of Corby, and what does their journey say about capitalism and the resilience of the working class? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Tracey’s Testimony
There were a lot of complications during the lead-up to the final moments of the case of the claimants appearing on the Register of the Corby Group Litigation vs. Corby District Council. Des and his professional partner, Dani Holliday, were under the impression that they had such an airtight case against the council that the latter wouldn’t dare to take them to court and would instead go for an out-of-court settlement. But Roy Thomas and his legal advisor were so arrogant and egotistical that they refused to settle, as they were sure they’d win against the women whose lives they had ruined. Given how Des had been advised to only represent those mothers whose children had congenital abnormalities, he had to bench Tracey because her daughter, Shelby Anne, had died a few days after she was born, and Tracey went on to give birth to a pair of healthy twins a few years later.
That drew a wedge between Tracey and, well, everyone who was fighting the case. But then Des needed her back on the roster because every fact (that had been thoroughly checked by experts) that he, Dani, and David Wilby QC (the leading counsel for the women of Corby) were presenting before the judge was simply being refuted by the Council’s team with another set of facts; hence, they needed Tracey’s account to make their case a bit more emotionally robust. Sure, you can call it manipulative and whatnot, but it was true that the irresponsible way in which the Council acted led to the spread of the dust, which went into Tracey’s body and killed her child. She didn’t mix it with any kind of lie. And it’s always good when the truth sways the verdict in the favor of justice.
Maggie Spoke for Derek
Maggie’s husband, Derek, refused to testify at court that, as a driver for Rhodes and Miller, he and his crew had flouted all the safety norms—thereby being instrumental in ruining the life of not just his own child (Samuel), but the lives of several other children in his borough as well—just because he owed Pat Miller for giving him a promotion. But when he visited the site where it all began, the realization dawned upon him that if he had followed all the guidelines, even though nobody else on his team did, he wouldn’t have been part of such a heinous crime.
Derek had disappointed Maggie several times for not standing up for what was right, but the fact that he wasn’t in denial anymore about his hand in the scheme of things was enough for Maggie to speak on Derek’s behalf at court. She underscored the fact that Derek and drivers like him weren’t technically guilty because the importance of the rules that were supposed to be followed for the safe transportation of the toxic was never made apparent by the Council and Rhodes and Miller. Speed was what was prioritized. If the drivers packed up the muck properly, that’d take time. So, instead of 10 round trips between the demolition site and the dumping ground, they would be able to make maybe 5. Less round trips would mean less money; more round trips would mean more money. And it was up to the judge to decide whether it was drivers like Derek who were the guilty party or their employer (Rhodes and Miller) who forced them to deliver toxic waste in an unsafe fashion.
Positive Masculinity in Toxic Town
The finale of Toxic Town showcased the brief reentry of Susan’s ex, Peter, into her life, and his prompt exit as soon as Susan and her two sons, Connor and Daniel, found out that he was after the compensation money they were about to receive when they won the case against the council. The way Connor and Daniel stood behind Susan underscored the miniseries’ nuanced portrayal of positive masculinity, despite being a woman-centric story. Connor had gone through hell because Susan wanted to “fix” his hand and give him a “normal” life. So, he could’ve easily gravitated towards Peter, who was planning to use the money that Connor would get to live out his unfulfilled male fantasies. But Connor understood that the time his mom had dedicated to his well being was way more important than the hollow promises that his (absent) dad was making.
As mentioned before, Derek’s evolution from a husband who undermined Maggie and Samuel’s plight to a man who actively showed remorse for his actions was a welcome sight. However, the best of the lot was Mark. Yes, he didn’t have a whole lot of show-stopping moments or anything. That said, the way in which he supported Tracey through everything, helped her with her bouts of anxiety, and remembered Shelby Anne like the way Tracey wanted to—instead of telling her to move on or just cope with it—was heartwarming. Des Collins and his mix of confidence and vulnerability were great too. And, yeah, the show needed all these men to counteract the vileness of Roy Thomas.
The Women of Corby Win Against the Council
In Toxic Town’s ending, Dr. Tony Cox informed Dani and Des that the analysis of the dispersal of the dust from the demolition site that had been done by the expert, Leslie Heasman, that the Corby Borough Council had consulted, was wrong. Apparently, the equation that Heasman had used in the government-sponsored report was based on a German research paper. Now, I’m not sure if the German thesis was flawed or if Heasman’s usage of it was faulty. Either way, Heasman’s equation, which gave the council the clean chit as it proved that the dust from the demolition site couldn’t have traveled to the residential areas, was missing a digit. I guess since Heasman was citing an authentic research paper, nobody really questioned if the final result was wrong; well, nobody except Cox. Even though the council had been essentially defeated on the scientific front, Wilby still had to prove that the likes of Roy Thomas knew about the harmful effects of the cadmium that was in the dust that was emanating from the site, and yet, they did nothing. That’s where Ted Jenkins came in.
Ted’s father, Lenny, had dedicated his life to the British Steel Corporation in Corby and died of cancer, which was most definitely a side effect of working at that factory. Ted worked for the council and tried his best to make sure that the industrial waste from that place was dumped safely. When his voice was muffled by his higher-ups, he leaked information about the mismanagement to Sam Hagen, an upstanding member of the council. Ted was eventually fired, due to which he entered a prolonged period of depression. However, when he saw the tides turning in favor of the claimants, he mustered the courage to go to court and testify against Roy Thomas and Pat Miller. Cox’s analysis and Ted’s testimony motivated the judge to rule in favor of the claimants. Des had a final confrontation with Roy before heading to celebrate the verdict with the mothers of Corby, where he highlighted the fact that it was easier to become a corrupt official, and it took a lot of grit to be a righteous upholder of justice. Tracey was missing from the party, though. Susan knew that she was at Shelby Anne’s grave. So, she went there and ensured that Tracey knew how pivotal she had been to their victory before the credits rolled on the miniseries.
If you are an optimist, you’ll probably see the sweetness of this ending because you have positive and courageous working-class people like Susan, Maggie, Tracey, Des, Dani, and more defeating a monster like Roy. There’s nothing wrong with that because that’s the effect that the show wants to have on the viewers. I won’t lie; even I got teary-eyed during the closing moments of the show. However, the truth of the matter is that the Corby toxic waste case didn’t bring about any change. Nobody really learned anything from it. This case concluded in 2009. We are in 2025, and you’ll still hear factories being constructed near residential areas, industrial waste being dumped into rivers, mishaps leading to leaks and deaths, and facts and figures being distorted; it’s all happening. All this for what? So that capitalists can make so much money that they won’t be able to spend it in this lifetime or the next. With recession and unemployment on the rise, more and more people are welcoming this sort of unethical development that’s being done by governments and businessmen because they have to make ends meet. Can’t exactly blame the working class, to be honest. I can blame the authorities, though, whose job it is to ensure that villages, towns, and cities are sustainable. And I can hope that people will understand that they don’t have to worship them just because they are giving them jobs right now while ruining their future and pushing the upcoming generations towards their doom.
