‘That Navy Blue was born’: Real -life stories behind the toxic town Netflix series

Netflix’s new drama toxic town reflects one of the biggest environmental scams of the UK: Corbi Toxic West Case.

Series The story of families fighting for justice after justice is believed to be due to industrial pollution after justice arises after being born with the defects of the birth of children in Northamptonshire Town.

The steel and iron industry of Corbi expanded rapidly in the 1930s with the construction of steelworks of stewarts and lloyds.

By the 1970s, half the cities worked in mills, but when the steelworks were closed in the 1980s, the demolition process incorrectly kept the toxic waste, which led to widespread contamination.

In 2009, after a long legal battle, the High Court ruled that Corbi Boro Council was negligent in the management of waste.

The affected families won an unknown financial disposal in 2010, until the children turned 18.

Along with the play, a BBC Radio Northampton Podcast series provides a deep look in real -life events using tape and new open documents of the original court.

The host by George Taylor, 32, which was born with an upper limb defect associated with the case, Podcast provided testify and interview with directly affected people.

There are some major voices behind the story here.

George Angus Taylor was born on 11 March 1992 to parents Fiona and Bryan in Corbi.

Bryan worked at Stewart and Lloyds Steel Plant, a job that covered him in dust and debris at the end of each shift.

Fiona, a pre -booted NO7 beauty consultant, clearly recalls George’s birth, an event that will change his life forever.

Born “Navy Blue” as a result of pre-fottle circulation issues, he was immediately ventilated and kept in intensive care.

This was when Fiona saw something unusual.

“I remember that she only sees her small hand; her pinky ring finger and middle finger,” she says.

“It was like a fist; you know how the children make a fist? Then his index finger; his thumb was sticking out.

“I just kept thinking,” he is here because of me, “and you just look for the blame. You see, and the first person you are convicted is himself.”

At the age of 14, doctors discovered a tumor in George’s hand that the dissection became a real possibility.

At that time experimental surgery was severe. “When I woke up, I was full of morphine,” he misses.

“He said that it was like climbing Everest without any practice – my body just stopped.”

Experience, especially odor, left permanent memories. “They burn the meat because they (operate): very cool sizzling, such as sausage in a pan. And it is the smell that still comes to you from time to time.”

Despite everything, George was firm to move forward. “The first time I saw my hand, I was not surprised; I was not sad. It was better than before.”

But George was not alone. Other children in Corbi were born with equal conditions.

Lisa Atkinson Corbi Steel Mills had a security guard, where his duties were involved outside patrolling, checking the parking permits, and often settled on everything to move dust.

On 27 June 1989, he gave birth to his daughter, Simone at Catering General Hospital.

Simone was born with three fingers on each hand.

The doctors assured Lisa that the only thing she would not be able to do would play the piano.

The way Fione Taylor did with George, Lisa initially questioned whether she was responsible for her daughter’s position.

“Maybe I had a part who sat there and went, ‘What did I do? Did I do it?” “She says.

“Because I had done some miscarriage before Simone … I always thought that maybe I was lucky; maybe I was given Simon … but she was not right. But I was lucky that he was a child and not the last two.”

Despite her early self-doubt, Lisa “Knowing” did not do anything wrong, because she was neither drunk nor smoked during pregnancy.

She recalls follow -up care or lack of investigation in her daughter’s position.

“You let you go out in the world with a child that is a bit different,” she says.

“But there was nowhere to go there. There was no follow -up or nothing; no, we are going to see it.” So you just deal with it.

Lisa quickly adjusted life with Simon’s position and said: “It gave more shock to other people, it caused me more shock.

Winning the later legal case against Boro Council came with it.

“I am not famous, but I think how famous people should feel … it was crazy.”

Growing up, Simone, now 35, is facing tireless bullying.

“I had a great family and friends … but (school) was difficult. I was not a very confident child, and I had an easy goal,” she remembers.

Simone fought using humor. She would joke that her mother had cut her fingers or that part was foreign, she turned her differences into some entertaining.

“It was a front, because if I make a joke about myself, no one else can do. Just accept who you are; it’s not going to change.”

At the age of 18, surgery was offered to reopen his hands, but refused.

“They admitted that they really didn’t know what it would help. Until then, I am customized. I live with daily pain, but I did not want to risk making things worse.”

While meeting her husband now, he initially hid his hands, put himself in a subtle position to avoid detection.

Eventually, he told him – through a long message and sending him a link to the 2020 horizon documentary about the case.

His response? “This is not really a big deal.”

Today, he is grateful to the legal battle that his family fought. “It establishes me for life,” she says.

“I was able to start my life, and I went to the university. I have got my home and my daughter made the best start in life.”

Lewis Waterfield was born in 1994 with deformity in both hands.

His father acted as a roof near the contaminated site, and his pregnant mother often went to meet him.

“My father saw something directly not right,” Louis misses.

As a child, he attempted to stay in a disruptive hospital, including a failed attempt to graft a toe on his hand to make a working finger.

“I have done extensive surgery, but what can be done, it has limitations.”

During the legal battle, Lewis’s parents fought to prove a link between industrial pollution and birth defects.

“Council, I remember, was rejected. It seemed as if we were an inconvenience for him.”

Now a senior lecturer in public health at the University of Northampton, Lewis admitted how his experiences shaped him.

“Everybody now and again, someone asks about my hands, and it takes me back.” He says.

“But I have no objection. It’s part who I am.”

Corbi Boro Council stopped in existence in 2021 when it merged with other officials to become the North Northamptonshire Council.

In 2010, its then Chief Executive Chris Mallender released a formal apology on the scam.

“The council increases its deep sympathy towards children and their families,” said this.

“Although I accept that money cannot compensate these youth properly for their disability and for all those who are suffering to them till date and have their problems in the future, the council is honestly hoping that this apology, together with today’s agreement, means that they can now do their legal battles behind them and move forward with a large degree of financial certainty with their lives.”

BBC Radio Northampton’s eight-part documentary series In detail: toxic waste scamBBC is for download from sounds.