Dirty Business

Dirty Business is a three-part "factual drama" being broadcast on Channel 4 on this coming Monday to Wednesday at 9pm and no doubt also available for streaming.

It has already been compared with Mr Bates v the Post Office and has received a lot of coverage from the national press but, for those who are more selective in their reading matter, it tells the story of how Widford residents Ash Smith and Peter Hammond notice the river near their homes becoming brown and use their combined detective and scientific skills to uncover the way that Thames Water was illegally dumping untreated sewage in the Windrush.  This led to the discovery of a major scandal of how other water companies were acting in the same way in many other rivers and the sea and how ineffective was the supervision of the authorities charged with protecting the environment.  The repercussions of this are still being felt.

In the fact-based drama the two heroes are played by well known actors David Thewliss and Jason Watkins.  Their story is interwoven with that of eight-year-old Heather Preen who dies of E. Coli poisoning after swimming in the sea in Devon although the fact that this resulted from sewage pollution was not finally proven.

Editors