David Thewlis, Jason Watkins Asim Chaudhry and recently announced BAFTA Rising Star nominee Posy Sterling are leading the cast for upcoming Channel 4 factual drama Dirty Business.
The three-part series, which is produced by Partygate outfit Halcyon Heart, is based on a decade-long investigation into England’s water companies and the real stories of whistleblowers and victims who believe their lives have been destroyed after encountering sewage-polluted water.
Dirty Business follows the story of two unlikely detectives who notice that the fish in the river running through their idyllic Oxfordshire hamlet are dying. They contact their water company to find out why and the company’s strange and evasive reply sparks an investigation that remains ongoing to this day.
Thewlis plays Ash, a concerned citizen and former police detective, and Watkins plays his neighbor Peter, a biology professor who uses his scientific knowledge to establish that their local sewage works is not treating sewage correctly, and is frequently dumping raw, untreated sewage into local waterways. Chaudhry, meanwhile, features as a whistleblowing sewage plant worker.
The series also follows the true story of the Preen family, wracked by grief when their 8-year-old daughter Heather dies after contracting e-coli 0157. Heather had been playing on a beach where, days earlier, a nearby storm pipe had discharged into the sea. The Preens believe Heather’s death was the result of her coming into contact with the raw sewage. It also follows the story of young surfer Reuben who believes his chronic illness, Meniere’s disease, is the result of surfing in polluted water.
Multi-BAFTA winner Joseph Bullman (Killed By My Debt, Partygate) writes and directs the project. Producers are Laura McCutcheon and Meeshan Saxena. Aysha Rafaele exec produces. It’s commissioned for Channel 4 by Head of Documentaries Alisa Pomeroy and Factual Entertainment and Commissioning Editor Rita Daniels.