Channel 4’s new factual drama Dirty Business lays bare the criminal activity of Thames Water and other English water companies
As we saw with ITV’s Mr Bates vs The Post Office (2024), TV can be powerful and result in real change.
But whilst that awful miscarriage of justice has seen over £1.3billion paid in compensation, that’s nothing compared to the reparations owed to victims of England’s water companies – the target of Dirty Business.
Based on a decade-long investigation, factual drama Dirty Business follows real-life heroes Ash Smith (David Thewlis) and Peter Hammond (Jason Watkins) as they notice that their local patch of the River Windrush in The Cotswolds is becoming polluted.
But when the water company sends over inconsistent data in response to their inquiry, the unlikely detectives begin an investigation into this environmental scandal that has resulted from England’s water being owned and run by multi-million international corporations.
That investigative storyline – which is assisted by Thames Water whistleblower Mickey (Asim Chaudhry) - is emotionally undercut by the story of Julie (Posy Sterling) and Mark Preen (Tom McKay) whose eight-year-old daughter Heather dies just days after coming into contact with raw sewage whilst on holiday in Devon in 1999.
Who stars in Dirty Business?
David Thewlis as Ash Smith
After retiring as a police detective, Ash Smith began investigating water companies and regulators when he discovered that the river near his home was becoming polluted due to illegal sewage dumping by water companies. He subsequently founded Windrush Against Sewage Pollution (WASP) in 2018 – a grassroots group of activists which specialises in investigation into water companies and regulators.
Jason Watkins as Peter Hammond
Former Oxford Professor Peter Hammond proved invaluable in deciphering the data that the water companies eventually provided and was able to identify patterns of questionable behaviour on their part. As a result of his and Ash’s investigation, Pete has also become an activist and member of Windrush Against Sewage Pollution.
‘I’m very proud to have played someone who did such incredible work in raising awareness about how awful this situation is,’ says Jason Watkins of playing Peter in Dirty Business.
Asim Chaudhry as Mickey
Another hero, whistleblowing sewage plant worker Mickey partners with Ash (David Thewlis) and Peter (Jason Watkins) and begins to supply information on the critical failures of the water company that he works for: Thames Water.
The character of ‘Mickey’ is based on a real individual who provided a similar role in the investigation.
Posy Sterling as Julie Preen
Julie Preen and her husband Mark (Tom McKay) are wracked by grief when their eight-year-old daughter Heather dies after coming into contact with raw sewage and contracting E.coli.
Tom McKay as Mark Preen
The husband of Julie (Posy Sterling) and father of Suzanne and Heather, Mark’s world is torn apart when Heather dies of E.Coli poisoning.
What makes Dirty Business so powerful is that everything that you see in the factual drama is true. The water companies really are illegally dumping sewage into our rivers in England 1,600 times a day and facing no consequences for their actions.
This truly is one of the greatest corporate and regulatory scandals in our country’s history and hopefully TV shows like Dirty Business will result finally in some action being taken and water companies like Thames Water being held to account.