New Netflix drama, Toxic Town, starring Doctor Who and Broadchurch actress Jodie Whittaker as Susan, tells the extraordinary story of the group of Corby mums who waged a landmark 10-year legal battle against Corby Borough Council, eventually becoming the first people in the world to prove the link between airborne poison and damage to foetuses.
In a town like Corby, with a population of around 60,000, you would expect to see just one such birth every three or four years – but a total of 19 babies were born with limb differences during the period 1989-1998.
She did eventually contribute to Graham’s article published in The Sunday Times on April 11, 1999, and was subsequently contacted by solicitor Des Collins, who offered to represent the mums in launching a legal battle against Corby Borough Council.
The Sunday Times journalist Graham Hind believed the abundance of limb differences in such a short period could be linked to the reclamation of a former steelworks in the town, which had closed down in 1980, but was regenerated by the council between 1984 and 1999 to create shops, parks and businesses.
Mum-of-two Maggie, now 53 and a teaching assistant from Corby, says: “The doctors put Sam’s foot in a splint when he was a week old, and he’d go into hospital every so often and they’d stretch it.
