The alarming story is based on a real incident, when people in the English town of Corby inhaled toxic dust that was later linked to birth defects in a cluster of children. The 2009 ruling against Corby represented the first time a civil court in England made the connection between birth defects and the negligent management of toxic waste in the air.

The show dramatises the real-life legal battle families waged over birth defects in a steel town.

Claudia Jessie stars as Maggie Mahon in Toxic Town, who is based on a real-life person. Her husband worked driving one of the lorries and, as shown in Toxic Town, she would have to beat all of the dust off of his clothes.